Photo post

I thought this picture greatly represented Pip's life during the first two stages of the novel. During the beginning, Pip experienced his major troubles and hardships, having many dead relatives, being riby someone the very person he loved most dear and his shame of the position he was at socially. Along the way however, he becomes wealthy and changes not only financially but in his character. But what Pip doesn't at first realize, is that if he weren't the poor unfortunate kid he was, he never would have become rich. He may have never met that convict, and if he hadn't helped him let alone meet him, he probably would have not become so succsessful.
''So, I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.'' (Chapter 38). Through good and bad times and life altering days, failure and success were both essential in making what Pip has become.

Posting connections and making a picture

A work I found similar to Great Expectations, was none other than Harry Potter. I thought it could tie in for a couple different reasons. You see, just like Pip, Harry has a mean relative (three actually).  Like Mrs. Joe Gargery, Harry's aunt, uncle, and cousin Dudley, are strict and mean. Pip and Harry are also similar because they are both orphans, and live with other relatives. The settings of the two books also take place in the same general area. England. The plots are also somewhat the same. You see, both of the kids grew up with crummy lives, Pip being ashamed of home, and Harry being abused. But one day, they both get their golden ticket....Pip receives his great expectations and Harry is told he is a wizard. Both of them have a life changing day (and to add even more similarity, both are told by an unknown person, who later becomes a strong character in their lives, about their good tidings. For Pip it is Jaggers, and for Harry it is Hagrid). And some time along the way, they both go to a special place, London for Pip and Hogwarts for Harry, a life changing experience for the both of them. I think I could stop the blog here if I wanted to.
     While Pip and Harry are at their special places, they both meet friends and foes along the way. Harry meets his two best friends Ron and Hermoine, and also encounters the nefarious Draco Malfoy and that one freak named Snape. Pip meets Herbert, whom he already had known as "the pale young gentleman," and Biddy too. Pip meets a couple of different enemies, such as Trabb's boy and Estella, to name a few, however, none are as extreme as those in J.K. Rowling's work. I think Harry also sees more dangers, trouble, and a fair bit more of action than Pip, but it doesn't mean Great Expectations has no suspense at all. Pip sees convicts fight, scary old ladies, and comes across mystery at every turn. I did think both of the books did show some good mystery. Harry handles situations better, he is brave and outgoing, while Pip is shy, timid, and sensitive, even in his older years. In Harry Potter, you are always left wondering when Snape is going to become the teacher of dark magic, if he is, why is he even in the book, or if Harry ever will face Voldemort and how a battle between them would turn out, and of course, why would J.K. Rowling ever kill Hedwig, Dumbledore, and Dobby. Suspense doesn't mean a thing if the only way you can put it into writing is to kill the most beloved characters of a book.
     I hope now that you have read these examples, you now see why I chose Harry Potter for this subject.

Stage 2

The novel shows how Pip, the main character, grows up and matures and how he acts differently when he is a young adult, as opposed to him when he was a child. (Though it is kind of hard to follow how much time has passed during the book, there are occasional brief pieces of information giving an idea about how old Pip is). As Pip grows older, he starts liking girls, learns proper manners, being a gentleman, things like that. But, like some of the other upperclass men in the book, he also begins to become full of himself. Is this a step up or a step down from being a kid? Was it better to be poor and have shame, or have money and be stuck up?
     For example, Pip shows his snobbiness at its best when he sees Joe in London. Instead of a happy family reunion, Pip acts as though Joe is inferior to himself.  “As to his shirt, and his coat collar, they were perplexing to reflect upon – insoluble mysteries both. Why should a man scrape himself to that extent before he could consider himself full dressed? Why should he suppose it necessary to be purified by suffering for his holiday clothes?” (The quote was on page 221). I thought here, Pip was making fun of the way Joe was dressed. Pip should know better than to do so. He experienced sad feelings when Estella made fun of how he looked, and Joe probably felt the same thing. This clearly shows how Pip acts when he gets older, and how money can make someone behave for the worst.