Why do we need money? To pay our bills, to buy food, to have an education, to
support our loved ones and to afford nice things. Money is what keeps society
functioning to a certain extent and what motivates people to go to work every
day. Clearly one must have money to live a comfortable life, but how much money
is really necessary? It seems that people always want more and more money in
order to be happy, but does money really give people happiness?
In “Great Expectations” it appears that money brings the complete opposite to
the main character Pip. Before becoming wealthy, Pip may not have had the
easiest life, but he definitely did not have all of the problems that he ran
into once he was on his way to being a prosperous gentleman. Before moving to
London, Pip may not have had money, but he had two very loving friends who were
always there for him even in his worst moments. These two friends were Joe and
Biddy. Joe has always cared for Pip and has always been right by his side
whenever his sister felt the need to punish him for simply being born. He was
there to suffer with him and he was his voice of reason when he did bad things
like when he lied after returning from Miss Havisham’s. Biddy, on the
other hand, was Pip’s source of education. She accepted his request to teach
him everything she knew without even questioning him or asking for anything in
return. She even listened to his problems and heart troubles.
Pip knew that these people loved him and that they were his only real friends.
So why then, may I ask, did he give up on them? The answer is simple: his need
for money and a wealthier lifestyle to impress Estella drove him to neglect the
ones he loved and to leave them behind while he moved on to greater things. In
my opinion, Pip’s so called great expectations were set up for failure from the
beginning because his motivation was an unrequited love and he
was too blinded by his feelings for Estella to see that she would never be able
to love him back. It is this vain hope to gain her love that led him to push
away those closest to him despite his conscience telling him that his actions
were wrong. By asking Biddy to teach Joe to be more proper, he was admitting that he didn't think Joe was good
enough for his new lifestyle and although he did ask Biddy for help, he did not
see her as good enough either. He also neglected Joe by not taking the time to
visit him and by being ashamed of his status as a blacksmith when in reality
this was Pip’s intended future before Magwitch secretly intervened.
It
seems that Pip knew that he would never be able to court Estella unless he had
all the qualities of a wealthy gentleman, but I wonder if maybe there was an inner
part of him that wanted all these nice things just to make himself feel like
part of a superior group of people. He clearly had an issue with status and was
ashamed with where he came from because of Estella’s very first remarks about
his hands and boots, but I wonder if maybe there was some small part of him
that wanted wealth even without his love for Estella as an influence. However,
it does not quite matter which drove him to neglect his friends and family
because he did so anyways and I think the ending to Pip’s story was well deserved.
We've
all heard the stories and seen the movies where people wish for more money and
better lives, but after realizing that in this new life they've deserted their
friends and family they instantly wish to go back to normal. In the movies this
is possible, but for Pip it isn't. By the time he realizes that his fortune
dies along with his benefactor, it is much too late for him to go and fix
things. Luckily for him, Joe is still a
true gentleman at heart and stays loyal to Pip by helping him when he is ill
and by paying his debts. I think this action gives Pip hope that he can just go
back to his hometown and everything will return to normal just like in our
movies, but such hope was foolish.
Clearly, Charles Dickens most likely had a very dark sense of humour and
enjoyed the idea of irony because Pip’s great expectations ended up, well in
simple terms, not so great… I think that Pip
finding Joe and Biddy on their wedding day was priceless. It might sound harsh,
but I think it was exactly what he deserved because it was only after his loss
of money and of Estella that he decided that Biddy would be good enough for him
and he should just go back and marry her. It was as though he thought she would
just fall into his arms, but instead this woman found her own love and did not
pine over the neglectful Pip. In addition to this, I honestly think Pip should
have seen this coming; he really did push these two together by asking Biddy to
teach Joe and by neglecting them and forcing them into a common situation.
After it all this,
it has become clear to me that relying on money to get yourself to higher
places and to gain someone’s love is a huge mistake. Money has different
influences over us all and as we saw it Pip’s situation, these influences are
most likely negative ones. You’ve all seen how I feel about Pip’s story and on
the influence of money so now let me know how you feel. Do you think Dickens
was too harsh on Pip or that Pip got what he deserved in the end? And, do you
think it is right to rely on money to get you “further up” in society? If not,
what other actions could you take to make your great expectations a reality?
Works Cited:
Image 1:
Grant, Amy. “Money
Spiral Image For Post”. Photograph. July 14th, 2011. gemalto . Web. March 8th,
2014. < http://blog.gemalto.com/blog/2011/07/06/there-is-no-winner-in-the-case-of-bank-vs-customer/money-spiral-image-for-post/
>.
Image 2:
“Unreturned Love”. Cartoon. n.d. Fanpop. Web. March 8th, 2014
<http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/unrequited-love/images/31051498/title/unreturned-love-fanart
>.
