"To what extent do you think that Great Expectations is about ‘a search for a father’? 
To what extent do you think that Great Expectations is about ‘a search for a father’? Although Pip’s biological father died when Pip was young, Pip never went short in terms of paternal figures to guide him through his earlier years or later in adulthood. It could be argued that Pip actively found these father figures after having grown up with Joe to guide him, then finding him lacking when Pip’s expectations changed, therefore going to look for alternative father figures.
There are few things as important as the adults that surround a child when a child is growing up. Pip being a boy, he would naturally turn to a father figure to guide him in his; profession, actions, knowledge and morals. Looking over the book it could be said that there were five main paternal figures throughout the book; Joe Gargery, Magwitch, Jaggers, Wemmick and Matthew Pocket. The sheer concentration of fatherly figures could suggest that Pip’s expectations changed a lot throughout the novel. Yet, none of these newfound father figures could make up for Joe’s original kindness and paternalism that set Pip up for life and although Pip’s aspirations changed, he still went back to Joe in the end. Joe Gargery, Pip’s brother in law, represented the average man of 19th century England who worked all day as a blacksmith and then went to the local tavern in the evenings to socialise and escape from family life. Joe provided a friendly, reliable face throughout Pip’s earlier years, who helped him through Mrs. Joe’s ire and who was also a fellow sufferer of Mrs. Joe. The fact that Mrs. Joe brought Pip up ‘by hand’ therefore puts her in a motherly position, Joe being her husband then puts him in a fatherly position. This structure of parenting being brought in from such a young age, Pip would have grown up looking up to Joe and finding a role model in him, this is proven by the fact that Pip aspired to be a blacksmith until introduced to other ways of life and social classes. Before Pip meets
There are few things as important as the adults that surround a child when a child is growing up. Pip being a boy, he would naturally turn to a father figure to guide him in his; profession, actions, knowledge and morals. Looking over the book it could be said that there were five main paternal figures throughout the book; Joe Gargery, Magwitch, Jaggers, Wemmick and Matthew Pocket. The sheer concentration of fatherly figures could suggest that Pip’s expectations changed a lot throughout the novel. Yet, none of these newfound father figures could make up for Joe’s original kindness and paternalism that set Pip up for life and although Pip’s aspirations changed, he still went back to Joe in the end. Joe Gargery, Pip’s brother in law, represented the average man of 19th century England who worked all day as a blacksmith and then went to the local tavern in the evenings to socialise and escape from family life. Joe provided a friendly, reliable face throughout Pip’s earlier years, who helped him through Mrs. Joe’s ire and who was also a fellow sufferer of Mrs. Joe. The fact that Mrs. Joe brought Pip up ‘by hand’ therefore puts her in a motherly position, Joe being her husband then puts him in a fatherly position. This structure of parenting being brought in from such a young age, Pip would have grown up looking up to Joe and finding a role model in him, this is proven by the fact that Pip aspired to be a blacksmith until introduced to other ways of life and social classes. Before Pip meets