Great_Expectations_Essay

Great Expectations Essay One of the most prominent themes in Great Expectations was that a person’s worth lies in the goodness of his heart or the, content of his character, rather than in his wealth or social status. Dickens clearly makes this true throughout each of Pip’s expectations. In Pip’s first great expectation, Dickens makes it evident that the young ignorant Pip was truly happy and was a great person. During Pip’s second expectation, it is easily deduced that even when Pip had money he was still a kind and caring person. Lastly, in Pip’s third expectation, he encounters a truly humbling experience and learns that others too can be kind or cruel regardless of social status. Henry David Thoreau once said, “Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.” This statement is very true in Great Expectations. In the beginning of the story, Pip was not wealthy. However, this young boy was happy (as well as naïve). He had a good heat and was caring. Being naïve was probably the source of his happiness and kindness though. Before Estella and wealth “brainwashed” Pip, he was a happy, carefree boy. Afterwards, he was miserable and cruel to his real “family”, Biddy pip, great, expectations, wealth, true, status, pip’s, happy, worth, person, money, good, wealthy, truly, though, social, kind, joe, however, heart, goodness, expectation, dickens, cruel, character, caring, before, young, very, treated, throughout, source, regardless, person’s, one