And So Pip's Adventure Begins: For The Right Reason?

     Reading through the first volume of Great Expectations, we get a sense that the main protagonist is unhappy with his life, only because someone insults him about it. With the first visit to Miss Havisham's, Pip meets the “ever so beautiful” Estella, who outright shoots him down. She criticizes him for who he is: a working-class boy. Pip begins to feel ashamed , and is driven to change who he is in order to impress Estella and fit in with her society. Her judgement of him is what drives him to be different, but clouds his mind of who he really is. As he learns that he will be able to become a gentleman, he begins to treat those that he loves with a little less respect than he used to. That change is something that we can see in our society today.

     I believe that although many of us are free to our own opinions and don't always follow what others believe we ought to be doing with our lives, I feel as though there are people who change who they are for the wrong reasons, like in Great Expectations. When we look at kids going through high school, we see a lot of transitions throughout the years. They'll follow whatever trend is on style, in hopes that no one will criticize them, or they'll follow what their friends tell them to do, so that they won't be left out. As someone who went through high school myself, I remember thinking that if I wore different clothing, acted differently, or maybe even listened to different music, I would be able to fit with a certain crowd. But what fuelled that desire to be the same as everybody else and not stay the way that I was? Well, for the most part, popular opinion played a big role. More often than not, people will follow what other people are interested in, in order to please those who they want to please, or not be an eye-sore to the rest of society.

      In the 80s movie, Some Kind of Wonderful, Keith, the main character, wastes his college funds for one outing in order to impress the school's most popular girl. He rents a limo, buys her diamond earrings, and takes her to a posh restaurant, only to show her that he is much more than he seems. What he learned in the end was that he was not the only one trying to be something he wasn't, for the girl he was trying to impress was also trying to impress those around her. In Great Expectations, Uncle Pumblechook can be a good example of how there are those who try to impress others in order for them not to see who they really are. He is seen as someone who knows much about everything and everyone, yet he doesn't really. We see this happen when Pip is asked about Miss Havisham, and Uncle Pumblechook says he knows of the things that Pip says, although he doesn't really since Pip is lying about his stay. Uncle Pumblechook is someone who puts himself on a pedestal in order to be above others, but he isn't the greatest human being either.

      Popular opinion has an impact on certain people's lives, but often just to impress those they believe to be above them. Pip is going to be a gentleman, perhaps to better his life, but mostly to change Estella's impression of him. I don't believe that a person should change who they are in order to please certain individuals' opinions. Though, with how popular opinion starts to worm its way through lives at a young age, it seems as though we'll be constantly changing in order to be able to fit in. In your opinion, do you believe that we live by the expectations of our dominating society? Or do you believe that we are our own critics?