The novel, “Great Expectations” is deemed to be one of the greatestEnglish classic novels of the literary heritage. Charles Dickens, theauthor of Great Expectations is thought to be one of history’s finestwriters and has contributed to English literature in many ways. ‘GreatExpectations’ is Dickens’ thirteenth novel and is based loosely on hisown experiences. He did this with many of his novels, including hispartly auto-biographical piece, “David Copperfield” (with Dickens’sown negligent mother and father being closely depicted in hischaracter, David’s parents).
“All the Year Round” was a magazine that Charles Dickens had founded.In late 1860, the sales of the magazine were dropping, and so Dickensbegan publishing “Great Expectations” in the magazine in December toincrease sales.
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“Great Expectations” displays many of Dickens’s ideas and views whichwere the results of experiences in his life. Dickens’s family wasnever well off and in fact, John Dickens, Charles Dickens’s father,was sent to Marshalsea Debtors Prison when Charles Dickens was onlytwelve. As was the tradition in those days, Charles Dickens was sent,along with the rest of his family to work in a factory to help repayhis father’s debt. This changed the way he viewed poverty and thisview is displayed in “Great Expectations”.
The story evolves around the life of Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, whois the protagonist and the narrator. We meet him as a young boy whoone day encounters an escaping convict and helps him. He then grows upto have ‘great expectations’ as an unknown benefactor provides himwith the luxuries of a gentleman’s life, of which Pip has dreamt,since meeting the beautiful and apparently upper-class Estell…
…e with each other and that no form ofprejudice against money and background would exist. This is adifficult goal to obtain, as it is part of human nature to haveprejudice in some form, though some may argue that it is taught. Ithink that some prejudice is natural, though most is actually taught.A person may believe that they are superior to another because ofwealth, and it is difficult to change the beliefs of a person. Even ifthe Prime Ministers abolished the term ‘class’, the actual behaviourwould still exist because the money is still there.
I do agree with Dickens’s message on class, as I feel that class isnot an important feature in life. I think we should not be separatedby something as petty as class, but even though many may share myviews, there will always be those who believe in superiority and thatalone can divide us into classes.
