The Effects of Fear
In Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, the protagonist pip, a feeble child has been made to feel insecure about himself. His sister, who "brought him up by hand" , mentally and physically abuses pip to the point that he has become "morally timid and sensitive"(63). Pip being made "morally timid and sensitive" has made his moral judgment weakened when threatened by fear.
First of all, Pip's sister, a woman full of resentment, has made pip morally timid and sensitive by physically and mentally abusing him. She regularly thrashes pip for minor offensives. For example, Mrs. Joe goes on a vile "rampage" because she couldn't find pip; for this minor offensives Mrs. Joe beats pip with the tickler, which is a wax-ended cane. Mrs. Joe not only physically abuses pip she also mentally abuses him. For example, when pip went to the churchyard to see his deceased family his sister was angry and said she would like it if he was barred there as well.
English: Miss Havisham, Pip, and Estella, in art f...
English: Miss Havisham and Pip, in an illustration...
English: "We sat down on a bench that was near" by...This comment makes pip feel insecure and not worthy of living. By making pip morally timid and sensitive it has made pip easily manipulated by others when fear is inflicted upon him. For example, in the beginning of the novel pip encounters the convict, a "fearful man" (9), who strikes fear into pip by physically abusing him. From the first moment he sees pip he turns him upside down to make him feel inferior. To make him feel even more inferior the convict tilts pip over each time he demands an answer out of him. Pip desperately has to hold on to a tombstone, where most of his family is barred, to try and prevent himself from crying. This tacit has such a powerful effect that pip become malleable to all his...