Great Expectations

                I read a book called Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It’s a very long book; it took me half the year to read it. Now I’m finally finished! The book is about a boy named Pip whose parents died when he was a baby and his older sister and her husband, Joe Gargery, raised him. Pip had expectations that he would grow up and be a blacksmith, just like his sister’s husband. However, as his life unfolds, those expectations change. In the middle of the book, he starts on a path to becoming a gentleman and marrying Estella, the beautiful girl he loves.  At the end of the book, Pip’s expectation is to live a normal life, in the middle class. I believe these expectations were appropriate to where Pip was in life.

                In the beginning of the book, Pip is learning to be a blacksmith and at first he doesn’t want to do it; Joe convinces him that it will get easier the more he tries. He never really thought of his life going farther than what Joe does for a living. Joe is his best friend; so he wants to grow up just like him. When Pip went to see Miss Havisham with Joe, she told them that Pip was an apprentice. “Gargery is your master now.”

Pip then decides to become a gentleman. He only wants to be one to marry Estella, the girl he loves with all his heart. Estella doesn’t love him because first, he’s younger than her and second, he isn’t a gentleman with lots money. Pip’s thoughts are that if he became a gentleman and has enough money, Estella would consider marrying him, but it doesn’t work out. Instead Estella marries someone else. Pip ends up with no money and in debt, plus he doesn’t get the girl.

When the expectation of becoming a gentleman was over, Pip was just a normal guy. He became middle class and got a job. His friend Herman, who he met along the way, hired him. He never got married in the end, but Joe named his son Pip to make him feel happy! It sure would make me happy if a relative had the same name as me. Living the rest of his life comfortably, while spending time with little Pip, is the last expectation Pip has for his future.

Pip’s expectations changed throughout his life. I knew Pip wouldn’t be a blacksmith because it just wasn’t him. Pip was meant for something more than just a blacksmith! At first I thought he would marry Estella, but then he didn’t. I believed that, because he always talked about how beautiful she was. In the end, he became a middle class citizen. He isn’t poor or rich, but he’s living a happy life. All of Pip’s expectations were different. What are your expectations?