Great Expectations

"Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then" (272).

I first read an abridged version of Great Expectations as a middle school student, and what I remember most readily are the feelings that the prose invoked. There was something tragically romantic about the macabre living tomb of Satis House. Flames licked at its cobweb-bedecked corners and the smoky mirage rose like a specter before my eyes, drawing me into the contrasting worlds of England's jaded social elite and the misty moors of rural poverty. Reading the novel in its entirety further cemented my infatuation with Dickens' starkly illustrated worlds. Each setting's clarity of purpose actualized it in my mind as though I could see the shadows of such places, all around me, within the physical world.

My first night in London, nearly a decade later, I stepped out of the airport and imagined that the streets were fairly melting from the pages I'd read years before. Glowing streetlamps cast their yellow pallor upon rain-streaked cobblestone, leaving the buildings in shadow against the navy sky. Every ancient corner held echoes of living history, from Roman occupancy to modern existence. That image may have been a result of the jetlag, but the impression has stayed with me. All the elements that craft a story stand out with exactitude in a Dickens novel: the emotionally rich characters are placed in startlingly vivid settings, and they interact with veracity through the whole spectrum of relational and circumstantial potentiality.

1. "Miss Havisham's house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred" (48).

Setting. The setting is what first drew me to Dickens. Each tableau characterizes the lives of its inhabitants--innocent Pip lives in the bleak and windswept moors, describing the graves of his parents as his most formative memory. The impactful moment of change for him arrives in the form of the formidable shadow of Miss Havisham's crumbling edifice. He falls hopelessly (and I do mean hopelessly) in love with the beautiful, cold Estella, and seeks a doomed sentimental connection with her as he trades his humble familial allegiances for bustling London streets. The depressed and lackadaisical members of the city's elite care only for appearances, and they envelop Pip into their world begrudgingly. Each of these locales is utilized to its full extent and takes on the qualities of a character in its own right.

2. "These people hated me with the hatred of cupidity and disappointment. As a matter of course, they fawned upon me in my prosperity with the basest meanness" (159).

Character. Some of the individuals who populate Dickens novels are stereotypes in the sense that they evoke certain qualitative elements within the setting they populate. The aggregate of wealthy and self-absorbed family members lounging in Miss Havisham's mansion treat Pip with a contempt that he finds matched in the forbearance of his own sister and the townspeople of his childhood home. The difference in financial status may provide interesting contrasts, but ultimately, meanspirited and selfish people are found in every social stratum. Miss Havisham and Estella are an odd pair, one overwhelmed by anger and hurt to the point of absurdity, the other raised to feel nothing whatsoever. Herbert Pocket, the loyal and amiable friend, good-naturedly partners with Pip through all of his myriad troubles and joys. Dear Joe, the beating heart of Pip's story, provides a stalwart home to which he can (and does) return. The characters are human, full of faults and quirks and relatable nonsense that mirrors and enhances the world around us.

3. "After so many years, it is strange that we should thus meet again, Estella, here where our first meeting was! Do you often come back" (357)?

Plot. To avoid any spoilers, I will not unpack all of the revealed connections amongst the characters. Suffice it to say, I have a diagram drawn in the front cover of my copy that has lines of connection tracing each character's relationship to the others. These interactions are unfolded slowly, as time goes on and long-held secrets are revealed. Pip eventually pieces together the identity of his benefactor and the villains who pursue them both, Estella's biological parentage, and his own unlikely part in all of their stories. He is the protagonist and narrator, but the true drama of the plot really takes place around him as he becomes involved through a series of happenstances. What a world! The main character is himself somewhat of a side character in his own story. Pip does not take a backseat to all that occurs, but rather goes through a journey of growth that shows both his moral failings and ultimate development of maturity.

My only criticism is, with all personal consistency, that many of the descriptions of characters and daily goings-on can continue for what seems like an exhausting number of pages. Perhaps this response is the fault of the reader alone; 21st century consumers have certainly been trained into shorter attention spans and degraded tolerance (much less enjoyment) of any media that does not present only the most immediate and relevant information. Hold this opinion against me and not Dickens, as his novel is a beautifully constructed coming-of-age story with characters that will live in your heart and mind beyond the time you sit with them.