Pip's Worldview Examples

Solomon Kim
Mrs. Kraai
English 2
27 May 2014
Pip 's Worldview
Many people who become wealthy suddenly change. They forget who they are, what background they come from, and what real friends are like. In 1861, Charles Dickens wrote a book called Great Expectations, a bildungsroman novel, in London, England. It is about an ignorant, uneducated child, who grows up to mature in great wealth and prosperity. He receives a large amount of money to be raised up as a gentleman in London, where he leaves his family and friends behind to live the lifestyle of a gentleman. Pip’s worldview changed from ignorance to experience, as he becomes wealthy and learns how to become a gentleman. One prominent example, demonstrating Pip’s worldview changing,
can be exemplified through Pip’s great expectations changing once he became wealthy. At first Pip did not expect he would or be able to marry Estella, but after he received the money from the benefactor he thought was Miss Havisham, Pip thought she wanted him to marry Estella. But when Pip discovered Miss Havisham was not his benefactor, he expounded to her: “When you first caused me to be brought here, Miss Havisham; when
I belonged to the village over yonder, that I wish I had never left; I suppose I did really come here, as any other chance boy might have come--as a kind of servant, to gratify a want or a whim, and to be paid for it?” (Dickens, 788). Miss Havisham had used Pip and played with his heart and his mind and treated him like a servant. The cold-hearted, malignant, Miss Havisham feels no remorse for Pip after all the years he has visited her and Estella.
A salient example of Pip maturing is when Pip looks up to Joe.
There are many people who look up to friends and family members they know in their daily lives. Anyone who is either educated or uneducated, someway, somehow, can influence someone in some way. An example of someone who influences Pip is Joe. Although Joe is uneducated, he influences Pip because he is such a good father figure. Joe had taken Pip as his apprentice at the forge and had a special father-son type of relationship with him even though Pip was not his actual son. Joe is always there for Pip through thick and thin. When Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, scolds and abuses Pip, Joe is always there for him and makes Pip feel safe and keeps him company. Pip admits to himself that he admires Joe: “Young as I was, I believe that I dated a new admiration of Joe from that night. We were equals afterwards, as we had been before; but, afterwards at quiet times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart.” (Dickens, 687). Pip thought Joe was an equal to him because they were both beat by Mrs. Joe Gargery, but then Pip starts to admire Joe because of how kind Joe is to him. A good father figure is always there for his son. To Joe, Pip is like a son. Joe treated Pip like he was his
own.
A final example of Pip’s wealth changing his personality and ignorance is when he thinks he is on top of the world.
Pip acts like an ignoramus to his friends and family, mainly because he thinks they are ignominious. When Joe visits Pip in London to deliver a message by Biddy, Pip patronizes Joe for being so uneducated and thinks Drummle might look down on him because of Joe’s ignorance and the background he came from. Pip had strong animosity towards Drummle and on top of that had to deal with the embarrassment Joe had brought upon him. Joe realizes Pip is embarrassed because of him, so he goes on to say: “Diwisions among such must come, and must be met as they come.....You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet anywheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends....I 'm awful dull.... And so GOD bless you, dear old Pip, old chap, GOD bless you!” (Dickens, 746). Before Pip can apologize, Joe leaves, and Pip realizes he let money get to his head and forget who he really is and where he came from. He forgot who really loved him for who he was, whether he was rich or not, and that was
Joe.
The worldview Pip had before he was wealthy was greatly different from the worldview he has after he becomes wealthy. Pip was an innocent young boy who only wanted to work in the forge as Joe’s apprentice, but after he received money by his benefactor, he became cocky and put down the people he grew up with because he did not think they were good enough for him. Pip let money get to his head and made his friend Joe avoid him. Wealth can bring change upon anyone, just like Pip.

Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.
"Criminally Self-Conscious: Pip 's “Great Expectations"" Criminally Self-Conscious: Pip 's “Great Expectations" N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
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"Pip 's Great Expectations." Pip 's Great Expectations. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.
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Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.
"Criminally Self-Conscious: Pip 's “Great Expectations"" Criminally Self-Conscious: Pip 's “Great Expectations" N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
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"Pip 's Great Expectations." Pip 's Great Expectations. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.
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"86.01.03: Familial Relationships in Great Expectations: The Search for Identity."
86.01.03: Familial Relationships in Great Expectations: The Search for Identity.
N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2014. .
"Pip 's Playing at Life." Pip 's Playing at Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2014.
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"Defining Characters by Their Chosen Environment." Defining Characters by Their
Chosen Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2014.
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