An exceedingly important event which occurred in the second stage was Pip's arrival in London. Once Pip heard the news of traveling to London, he was excited and was looking forward to his journey. Not being what he thought it what would be, he was disappointed. He came to find that it was over crowded, dirty, and gloomy. The only really blissful thing that came out of the situation was being reunited with Herbert (the pale young gentleman). When having arrived in London, Pip narrates "While I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty" (pg.161). It becomes clear that becoming a gentleman in London isn't always perfect, let alone alluring. Dickens obviously didn't have "high expectations" of London or the upper class life and inferred that it would lead you to a life of dismal unhappiness.
Traveling and arriving in London all has to do with the central idea of Pip becoming a gentleman. At first when Pip was going to become a blacksmith like Joe, he saw it as a respectable job. As Pip grew older, he started to want more for himself and became ashamed of himself and his family's commonness. Now having the opportunity and fortune to fulfill his dream, of course he will do anything to pursue it. Hopefully, Pip will realize that "becoming a gentleman" is causing a negative effect on his personality and his life. Being a part of the upper class may have its ups, but it definitely has its downs.
I like how you talked about the first stage as well as the second, but I think that there are other reasons that Pip thinks his life is common, and wants to become a gentleman, like Estella. I think that Pip first starts out wanting to move up in society because he wants to impress and retalliate against Estella, but after awhile, starts to just think of self gain. Overall, I like youre idea and how you related it to the motifs.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I just threw out the general idea of his commonness, although that would probably be a good idea to include Estella. I didn't want to get too much into detail but instead focus on motifs and themes related to that idea as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI will try and be more specific next time if that helps.