The Individual’s Purpose Within Society: A Coming-of-Age Story
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a coming of age story of the main character Pip who grows up poor, but, is given enough funds for him to get educated by a secret benefactor which results in Pip trying to fit in with the upper class, by becoming a gentleman and marrying the woman of his dreams. The story communicates the great divide between social classes in the mid-nineteenth century, which was caused by the effects of long hierarchal history in England as well as the effects of the Industrial Revolution. The novel signalled out many problems surrounding the issue of social class in this society. One problem that is highlighted the most by the author is the corruption of wealth and status and how it can stain a person’s character. The novel also criticizes the justice system through the relationship between Magwitch and Pip. Not only are these problems occurring in Pip’s time of the 19th century, but also in today’s society which proves that the author’s critiques are valuable. The author does not really propose how society, in general, can destroy these toxic class structures, but, he does offer a realistic solution to individuals which helps lessen the corruption of society.
The vision of society that the story communicates is one where the social divide is especially prominent. The story takes place in 19th century England and is narrated by a young, lower-middle-class boy named Pip. Pip lives in the marsh country along with his sister Mrs. Joe and his sister’s husband Joe who works as a blacksmith (Dickens 3). He describes the house that he lives in along with his sister as “a wooden house, as many of the dwellings in our country were” (Dickens 8). Later on, Pip visits the Satis House where Estella and Miss Havisham are introduced. Miss Havisham is described as “an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house” (Dickens 51) by the people in Pip’s town, her wealth was presented to her by her own father who ran a brewery. When Pip visits the Satis House, he presents great imagery to the readers as to how dark and immense the house is (Dickens 55-57). The Satis House and Pip’s house are a great juxtaposition to show the gap between the rich and the poor in the 19th century. While the story makes it clear that the gap is very remarkable, the time period that this story takes place in suggests that it was easier than before to get above your social standing. The story takes place in the late 1800s which is after the Industrial Revolution. Before the Industrial Revolution, England had a hierarchy where in order to be rich, you need to be born into a rich family. In the Industrial Revolution, however, you could become part of the upper class by becoming a factory owner. It is noted that Miss Havisham’s father was an owner of a brewery business which means that her father became rich during the time of the Industrial Revolution. With this background information, Pip’s society that Dickens creates is a society where it is possible to move up a social ranking and gain enough wealth. This possibility is enough for Pip to venture off and believe that if he becomes wealthy enough, he could marry Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter, Estella.
Despite which class system they belong in, one thing Pip and Estella have in common is that they are both abused and treated unfairly by their parental figure (Dickens 9). Pip’s sister Mrs. Joe abuses him constantly by yelling at him and using harsh terms to describe him. On the other hand, Miss Havisham adopts Estella and trains her to break the hearts of other boys and to become cold and rude (Dickens 304). Miss Havisham never gave Estella a parental love and affection but instead, trained Estella to avoid her biggest mistake all throughout her life. The mistreatment of these two characters is important to the time period because it symbolizes
Pip’s introduction to the character of Estella made him develop a massive desire for her and in fact, his infatuation with Estella becomes so prominent in the novel that he ends up leaving his past life to marry her. Joe and Biddy, for example, are two characters that were poor but were great friends with Pip. After getting anonymous money to fund his education, Pip starts to become more of a snob and he starts treating his two friends badly because he thought he was above them (Dickens 143). Pip’s infatuation with Estella, however, was one-sided. Estella was raised from a young age to be cold and bitter by her adoptive mother Miss Havisham because Miss Havisham herself experienced heartbreak first hand (Dickens 304). Estella did not show affection to Pip the same way Pip did. In fact, when Pip lost the card game the first time they met, he felt that she probably denounced him as a “stupid, clumsy labouring-boy”. Estella, later on, becomes courted by Drummle, who is rich but has a cruel and harsh attitude (Dickens 311). He was described as someone who felt superior to others because he was of the nobility. Through these three characters, Dickens explores the social relations between those who are wealthy and those who are not through the interactions of these three. Pip’s character changing the same time his social status changes is an accurate depiction of how a higher social status can corrupt the minds of an individual.
Through characters like Pip, Estella and Drummle, we see how power in society can corrupt the minds of an individual. However, Dickens also entails another flaw in society and that is the justice system. At the beginning of the book, young Pip runs into a convict named Magwitch who tells young Pip to bring him food and a file (Dickens 5). At this point, readers are intimidated for the young and innocent Pip because criminals are seen to be indecent people according to society. As the story continues, Pip becomes close with Magwitch and no longer sees him as a potential threat. It is revealed that Magwitch becomes the reason why Pip is able to get an education which gave Pip a comfortable life at the end (Dickens 321). This is when the readers and Pip get to see that despite being a criminal, Magwitch has good moral intentions. This made Magwitch very likeable to the readers and it is why his exile to death by the court and his death in general, left a big impact on the theme of the story. The society that Pip lives in paints a stereotype on criminals and makes them look almost inhuman and a threat to society. It states just how corrupt the justice system is and that it does not really persecute individuals who are immoral or evil, but they also persecute those who were caught in the wrong place in the wrong time, in other words, unlucky.
So far, Dickens criticizes the individuals of Pip’s society and the institutions such as the criminal justice system. The individuals he criticizes the most are the people who are part of the upper-class system which are Estella, Miss Havisham and Drummle in the novel. He classifies them as prideful about their wealth and cold to the others who do not fit their standards even though the three characters had their wealth handed to them (Estella adopted by Miss Havisham, Miss Havisham has a successful father and Drummle was born into nobility). Dickens also uses Magwitch’s character to take a stab on the failures of the justice system for criminalizing those who are unlucky. These criticisms about society are valuable because not only do they relate to Pip’s society but also to modern society.
In today’s society, the division of people’s wealth (or lack thereof) still exists. They are categorized as lower-class, middle-class and upper class depending on the person’s income. In 2016, students from the University of British studied the habits of people (from different social classes of Canada) who donate to charities in Canada. They found that the richest group of people within Canada “donated when the charity's appeal was focused on their own personal goals” (Caruk). Again in 2013, Ken Wyman who is a professor at Humber College, reveals in an article that “the rich tend to bring to charitable practices the same “tough-minded skills” that brought them wealth in the first place” (Harris). This foundings creates the conclusion that empathy from the rich has not improved since then. Based on these findings, wealthier people in Canada only donated to a charity that will help benefit themselves in the long run. Similarly in the novel, it was Magwitch who helps Pip gain a better education and not Miss Havisham. Magwitch was a character who was not wealthy, but, was generous enough to share his funds with another individual who also lacked the money needed to improve his education. The issue towards the rich’s lack of generosity towards society’s unwealthy needs to be addressed. While individuals like Miss Havisham, who barely worked a day in her life, get to live comfortably in her massive mansion, other individuals like Joe has to spend most of their days in labour and taking care of their family but barely moving up the social scale of wealth.
Like the novel, Canada’s criminal justice is still corrupt. There are individuals like Magwitch who are accused wrongfully by the justice system and they cannot defend themselves well enough because they lack money. Late in the story, Magwitch reveals his background where he commits a crime like theft to support himself. He fell dominance under a criminal named Compeyson who has a better reputation than him and this reputation was what caused Magwitch to have a heavier sentence than Compeyson (Dickens 346). In Canada, institutions fail to protect individuals who have an unlucky past like the Indigenous community. Statistics in Canada show that in 2018, homicide rates of Indigenous people are “still approximately five times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people” (Roy and Marcellus). Not only that, but it was also concluded that in 2016 to 2017 “Aboriginal boys made up 47 percent and Aboriginal girls accounted for 60 percent of correctional admissions” while only eight percent of the population is made up of Indigenous youth (Malone). The main reasoning for this overrepresentation is due to assimilation (especially from Canada’s government) and colonial trauma faced by the Indigenous community. Historical events like The Indian Act of 1867 and Residential Schools are a few of the reasons why the Indigenous community has so much trauma. The government of Canada also exhibits assimilation to their community by forcing them to “prove that they could be self-sufficient and contribute by “European standards” such as farming, industry, and other business models of production” (Fast and Collin-Vézina 168). While the Indigenous faces problems with their own background, the institutions taught society to see them as a criminal to be intimidated by, just like how Pip viewed Magwitch during the beginning of the story.
Throughout the novel, Dickens never really implies any solution to these problems that society offers. However, we can learn to avoid the circumstances the characters end up with. In the novel, Miss Havisham dies and confesses that she feels guilty for breaking Pip’s heart the way Compeyson broke her heart the day of her wedding (Dickens 398). When her wedding dress burned right after Pip found out about her guilt (Dickens 401), it becomes a symbolism that her past is finally diminished and no longer plays a part in her own character. While Miss Havisham does not recover from the fire, Pip and the readers are given the idea that she has shown empathy towards others and learned from her own mistake. Drummle who is another upper-class character also dies, but in a way different from Miss Havisham. His death was caused “from an accident consequent on his ill-treatment of a horse” which is important to note because he married Estella and abused her throughout their marriage (Dickens 482). His impolite behaviour towards others continued throughout the story and is what ultimately caused his death. In the end, Miss Havisham is viewed by the readers as someone who has a good character while Drummle is seen as a villain until his death. The deaths of these two characters provide a meaningful lesson that although society has created a division between people’s income and how high up they are in a class system, an individual placed higher in this social scale should not act cruelly towards those who are born with less.
To add on, Pip becomes a symbolism of the lower-class while Estella becomes the desires of the lower class. The first ending of the book shows that although Pip becomes closer to Estella (Dickens 484), the readers know that Estella and Pip will never be together thus serving as a painful symbol for the realities of the lower-class. Like Pip, the lower-class can continue to work hard for their dreams but in reality, the jump to become part of a higher social class is impossible. The author does not provide a realistic solution as to how the lower-class can overcome this, however, just like Pip, the members of the lower-class can continue to work hard while appreciating what they have. Pip failed to appreciate Joe and Biddy and comes back to the marshes in an effort to win them because he realized that he was happier when he was with them (Dickens 482). Joe and Biddy leaving together peacefully despite being not part of the upper-class go to show that wealth does not equate to happiness. It provides a meaningful theme to the readers that the climb to become part of a higher class is impossible so you must do what it takes to appreciate your own social standings in order to become content.
Pip’s empathy towards Magwitch at the end of the story is something the readers can learn from. As mentioned, the justice system within Pip’s society and time period has remained corrupt and remains corrupt now. In order for the government to change this system, society’s attitudes towards those who are incarcerated must change. Like Pip, society needs to learn how to feel empathy towards the people who have an unlucky childhood or past. The success of humanizing these individuals instead of painting them as just criminals will give others the realization that the criminal system is imperfect and the government needs to address this issue. Many individuals like Magwitch fall under these circumstances today and it is the misconception towards their character is what is holding back the progress that can be done into the criminal system.
Dickens creates an idea that in order for society to improve, it must start within the individual. While the members of the 19th century are given the impression that the flight to become part of an upper-class is possible through the time of the Industrial Revolution, Pip’s own struggle proves that this is untrue. In his perspective, he has to withstand being mistreated by the rich such as Drummle, Miss Havisham and Estella. A modern example of the rich having no empathy towards the poor is seen through how the rich donate their wealth through charities that end up benefitting them rather than the community. Their attitudes are to be criticized by the author as well as the institutions of their society. The institutions such as the criminal system are corrupt in Pip’s society and are still corrupt today as seen through the unfair treatment of the Indigenous community in Canada. The author concludes with a solution that individuals need to be involved in the long-run in order to improve their own society by showing empathy towards other individuals.
