Great Expectations

Published in 1861, Great Expectations was Dickens's 10th novel. The opening chapters are somewhat reminiscent of David Copperfield. We find a young hero telling the story of his life from the earliest days of his remembrance. But there the resemblance ceases. Copperfield is "early Dickens" crowded with a kaleidoscope array of picturesque characters and a constant succession of small incidents, some tragic, some hilarious. In Great Expectations Dickens is more serious. There is still the old vigor and freshness-but the characters are more subtly drawn as the action is concentrated on Pip's career and the moral lessons it teaches. In earlier novels, Dickens had criticized the injustices of the class system. His people found themselves the hopeless victims. If only they could break the fetters and transcend class lines. But in Great Expectations we find an individual who is given the rare chance to break out of the system… And the novelist demonstrates that breaking away is not the solution. For, although Pip does rise above his humble beginnings, he comes to find that he himself is corrupted in the process. Social advancement, Dickens seems to be telling us, is not the answer to the problem of happiness; that lies deeper within the human heart.