Deceiving Expectations

      Charles John Huffam Dickens is one of the most prominent English writers and social critics who was born in 1867 at Portsmouth. Dickens is best-known for his novels and short stories during the Victorian era. Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Dickens which was published in 1861 and presents the three-life phases of pip’s expectations. Reading Great Expectations from a Historical approach provides the best understanding of the plot.

      Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1901. For this reason, the period is often known as the “Victorian era”. At that time, England witnessed a growth in industry, consumer boom, and new markets as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization brought with it people from the middle-class who wanted to higher themselves to be a part of the upper-class, as social ranking was highly significant. Thus, the expectations of Pip, the protagonist, were a result of how the society views and appreciates gentlemen, in the contrary, underestimates “common laboring people” (Dickens 52).

      Child labor was also common in the Victorian era. People used to employee children because they were weak and powerless, besides, they accepted any given salary and did not revolt. Children were used to crawl into small work spaces in jobs such as mining and chimney sweeping. These jobs were extremely dangerous and exhausting, it also caused many diseases such as black lung and phossy jaw as well as death cases resulted from suffocation. Furthermore, there were no laws to prevent long working hours or child abuse. Pip himself was the apprentice of a blacksmith, Joe Gargery: “When I was old enough, I was to be apprenticed to Joe” (Charles 37)

      Another point to be highlighted is education. Education was not a main concern in people’s lives in the 19th century, and it was proven by Dickens throughout the use of language in plenty of the dialogues said by Joe and Magwitch: “now lookee here” (Dickens 4). Aristocrat used to monopolize education for their offspring as a mean of stating power and authority upon common people. This hierarchical system is shown in the novel when Pip could not be able to get a proper education without obtaining a sufficient wealth.

       In addition, women education was limited to the domestic matters and being marriageable ladies. Contrary to Pip, when Estella travels to London, it is for the sake of being a lady, excluding intellectual or financial education.  

        To sum up, Great Expectations by Dickens is a masterpiece in terms of morals and meanings that it carries. It also emphasizes the idea that a man’s nobility stems from his attitude and mindset not his appearance. Furthermore, I admired how Dickens tied up the story by the fact that expectations may be deceiving.