Great Expectations Joe Gargery

Response to Essay Question Two Throughout Great Expectations we are introduced to many interesting and compelling characters. Some of the characters are quite charming and lovable while others are very vile and repulsive. Perhaps the best example of a positive and lovable character is Joe Gargery. Joe is a blacksmith and a sort of father to Pip, considering the death of both of Pip’s parents. Joe is a simple man who is content with living the life of a “commoner”. This contentment and true happiness that Joe holds creates a sort of parallel between him and the not so easily satisfied Pip. Joe is a true example of someone who is truly happy as he has learned to love himself and appreciate the things he does have and the people around him rather than wishing for more. Joe is shown very early on in Great Expectations to be a very caring and kind man. Joe tries to help Pip when his wife, Pip’s sister, is beating Pip with a stick. Joe also tells Magwitch that he was welcome to the brandy and pie he had eaten as he claimed he did not wish death upon Magwitch, regardless of his crime. Even when Pip doesn’t deserve Joe’s kindness and affection, Joe still treats him with all the love and respect in the world. Joe attempts to pay for Pip’s meal when they come together
for lunch in London and he later pays off all of Pip’s debts. When Pip returns home, Joe doesn’t seem to hold any grudge. Joe was still very happy to see Pip again, even considering the ways in which Pip had treated him. Not only was Joe a very kind and loving man, he was also very content with his life. Joe was very persistent in his declarations of all the “larks”, or good times, he and Pip would have singing and blacksmithing together. He was also quite content with marrying Biddy after his hateful wife died. Biddy originally wanted to marry Pip but he had bigger and greater plans than marrying a teacher in the countryside. When Pip returned from London after he had been turned down by Estella, he realized that he could no longer have Biddy either as she had settled down with Joe. Joe was always very happy living his simple life with those he loved, as a sort of contrast to Pip who was woefully unsatisfied with his life and by those who were in it. In the end, Joe proved that contentment is the true path to happiness, not lust and money. In Great Expectations, the “gentlemen” seem to be anything but.
Joe provides an excellent example of what a true gentleman is. A true gentleman isn’t someone who is rich and stuck up who parties. A true gentleman is someone who is courteous and respectful; a true gentleman has proper manners and is a sort of idol, someone to look up to. It is true that Joe lived a rather mediocre life in terms of possessions and he may not have had the best manners, however, he was still always respectful and kind and he was able to pay for a “gentlemen’s”, Pip, bills. Joe showed that a gentleman isn’t a rich snob rather a kind and caring man who assures that everyone around him is okay before he even thinks about
himself. In conclusion, Joe was an excellent positive character in Great Expectations, a story riddled with negativity. Through it all, Joe’s positivity was able to shine through and prove to the audience that money isn’t the answer to your problems, contentment is. Joe was poor but he was happy; he didn’t need money, he just needed the people he loved. Pip, a very shallow and not easily satisfied chap, was always wanting more, something “better”. Pip felt he could do better than Biddy, he felt that Estella was better. As it turns out, Estella proved just how cold-hearted she really was and married Pip’s arch nemesis, Bentley Drummle, instead of him. When Pip returned home to marry Biddy, she had already moved on and married Joe instead. While Pip was always searching for more, Joe was making the best of his situation and that is the defining difference between these two characters and why Joe is so happy and positive.