Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Essay by glasscoin2011 January 2008

download word file, 6 pages 3.0

It is said that "Literature is the reflection of life". In the 19th century in Great Britain, there were many literature works showing the general picture of life and society at the moment. "Great Expectations" written by Charles Dickens did it, too and self-improvement, the outstanding characteristic of Pip is the most impressive factor which makes the novel successful.

Charles Dickens, the father of the novel, was born in London in 1812. During his childhood, he suffered a hard and wretched life and experienced working in bad condition factories in order to earn for a living. Those experiences obviously led to some very famous novels of him, "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield" and finally "Great Expectations" which mostly reflects precisely his own miserable and unhappy life. Also in most of his works do express the desire of a better life, a long for social advancements through the themes of ambition and self-improvement.

"Great Expectations" is a typical one.

"Great Expectations" was written in the most successful time of Dickens' career. It is the story about an orphan child named Pip. He helps a convict who has escaped from a prisonship by giving foods and a file to him but the man is soon recaptured. Then, he is often invited by a wealthy woman from the neighboring town called "Miss Havisham" to Satis House, her home. At that place, Pip soon falls in love with Estella, an adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, who is reared to be cruel and distance with the male sex. When Pip reaches 14, he is told to stop the visits and begin his apprentice time with Joe, his foster father, to become a blacksmith. Four years later, Pip discovers that he has "great expectations" from a...