70 pages • 2 hours read

Great Expectations

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1861

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-14

Chapters 15-19

Chapters 20-26

Chapters 27-33

Chapters 34-40

Chapters 41-48

Chapters 49-56

Chapters 57-59

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Symbols & Motifs

Great Expectations

The phrase “great expectations” is first introduced in when Mr. Jaggers reveals that Pip will receive a “great” sum of money to finance his transition to the upper class. While the phrase initially refers to money in a very literal way, the text repeats it many times and in many different contexts. Its meaning subtly evolves with each repetition. At some intervals in the novel, “great expectations” becomes a shorthand for big dreams or lofty aspirations. For example, when Herbert Pocket first speaks to Pip of his hopes to build his own trade business, Pip remarks that Herbert might have “greater expectations than [his] own” (412).

At other intervals, the phrase seems to stand in for high ideals that did not pan out as hoped (or “expected”). For example, at the beginning of Chapter 34, Pip reflects that he has “grown accustomed to [his] expectations,” and thus hardly notices their effect on him, though he recognizes that they’re not all good. He goes on the reflect on the many ways he might have been better off if his “expectations” had never come to fruition.

British imperialism

Numerous cultural theorists, such as Edward Said, have interpreted Great Expectations in terms of postcolonial theory, examining signifiers of British imperialism within the novel. One of the most commonly referenced imperialist details is Magwitch’s escape to—and return from—Australia, a British penal colony which was linked to convicts and other British outcasts. In the novel, Pip rejects Magwitch’s income as illegitimate when he learns where its source, feeling like a “fraud” as a gentleman. Alternatively, Pip deems Herbert’s work in Cairo—and his offer of a clerk position—legitimate because of its connections to a British trading post. Thus, the novel reinforces imperialist ideals of what constitutes legitimate work and who is allowed to profit in society.

Home

Over the course of Great Expectations, Pip’s personal moral development is frequently linked to his changing ideas of “home.” In the beginning of the book, Dickens marks Pip’s transition from a content young boy to a man who aspires to “something more” by Pip’s discomfort in his humble old home, having visited the grand Satis House.

As a gentleman, Pip initially tries to avoid returning to his old “home” village as much as possible. When he does return—for major events such as his sister’s funeral—he experiences a great deal of unsettling uncanniness seeing his former surroundings and neighbors, to the degree that shopkeepers stare at him and children follow him through the streets. Even in the presence of his closest friends, Biddy and Joe, Pip no longer feels like he belongs in his old home, and he feels only guilt for having neglected his friendships. He often wakes at night feeling conflicted, on the one hand nostalgically musing that “there [is] no fire like the forge fire and the kitchen fire at home” (612), but on the other believing there’s no way to reverse his changes in habits, perceptions, and perspective since becoming a gentleman. In other words, Pip feels ideologically “homeless.”

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This “homeless” state is vividly illustrated when Pip receives a note from Wemmick in Chapter 44 warning him, “DON’T GO HOME” (818). Pip reflects that he has felt unable to “go home” for a long time, as he has been incapable of either making a home with Estella or returning to the home of his childhood village. Pip then makes a play of conjugating the phrase “DON’T GO HOME,” recalling both his recent lessons with Matthew Pocket and his childhood lessons with Biddy. This exercise reminds the reader that Pip’s education as a gentleman has played a major role in establishing this “homeless” sensation. Pip was not born a gentleman, but he now feels incapable of undoing his gentlemanly education, even to return home. While he isn’t entirely a gentleman, having gotten his education fraudulently and having no money, he’s no longer a blacksmith’s apprentice either.