Great Expectations Essay, Research Paper

Pip is orphaned at childbirth and is raised by his sister and her husband, Mr.& Mrs.Joe Gargery. He lives a pretty normal, happy life considering the circumstances. He sneaks around like a normal kid and one time he steals stuff to help an escaped convict. Anyway, one day he is called to Miss.Havisham’s house to play. There he meets Estella and she is like the only lively, pretty thing in that house. Pip loves her but she constantly points out his faults. Now he realizes what a common, uneducated, rough kid he is. From then on he is not really content with his life anymore.

He keeps going to Miss.Havisham’s because she gets this sick enjoyment out of seeing Pip tortured by Estella. When Pip is old enough, 14, he has to be apprenticed to Joe and learn how to be a blacksmith. Miss.Havisham pays the money that apprentices are supposed to give their masters and so goes life for awhile. Pip’s sister gets attacked and becomes an invalid. Biddy moves in to help out.

One day Jaggers shows up at Pip’s house and tells him that an unknown person has set up a fund for Pip to go to London to study and become a gentleman. This is like Pip’s dream and he is really pumped. He thinks he can make himself better for Estella. Pip assumes it is Miss.Havisham who has done this for him.

In London, Pip studies under this estranged member of Miss.Havisham’s family and becomes friends with Herbert, his roomate and new best friend. He is basically living the high life and spending way more money than he is supposed to. He kind of turns into a snob, he hires a servant and is pretty rude to Joe when he comes ot visit. Life continues.

Estella moves to London and Pip thinks that this is part of Miss.Havisham’s plan for him. He sees Estella every now and then but she is still pretty rude to him and she is always flirting with other guys.

Pip’s sister dies, and he is not really sad because she wasn’t very nice to him, but he is sorry she died. Biddy leaves the house because she doesn’t need to take care of the Mrs.Joe anymore. They decide that both Pip and Biddy will help Joe and keep him company. Pip never does.

Pip turns 21 and recieves 500 pounds a year from then on, from his “sugar daddy” (still not known). Pip starts making friends with Wemmick at his home, where he is very different from work. He lives in this strange castle with a draw bridge, moat, etc called Walworth. He is a strange guy but very nice to Pip. He helps Pip set up an account for his friend Herbert so that Herbert may get the job he dreams of.

Pip learns that Estella is dating this guy that he hates and he gets pissed. He goes home and finds some stranger hanging out at his house. It ends up being the convict that Pip stole food for years ago, and he is Pip’s “sugar daddy”!! (This is a big surprise to us and to Pip). Pip freaks out and doesn’t know what to do because the money isn’t really clean because this guy is still a con, etc. Pip hides Uncle Provis, that is the fake name they give him, for awhile. He learns that he has to get him out of England because if he is found there he will be killed. A lot of time is spent on making a plan to smuggle him out of the country. Herbert is very helpful in this plan. They hide Uncle Provis in a room at Herbert’s girlfriend’s house by the Thames (river in England). They row around in a boat by there everyday for awhile so people will be used to seeing them. Then they will row down the river and jump on to a big ship headed for Germany or somewhere when the timing is right.

Well, stuff gets messed up because Pip gets hurt trying to save Miss.Havisham from a fire. His arms are all burned up. He is pissed off because Estella is marrying the jerk he hates. Then, Wemmick tells him that there are people following him around. He gets freaked out and decides they need to get Uncle Provis out of the country soon! One more problem, he gets this note that says stuff about Uncle Provis and that Pip better come meet whoever wrote this note in a private place all alone. Pip, the idiot, goes and gets beat up by wacko Orlick who seems to have some whacked out plan of taking over Pip’s life. He had always been jealous of Pip. Luckily Pip’s friends found the note and saved him.

So, Pip is really weak and they set out to get Provis out of England. They are being followed as they row down the river and they don’t make it on to the big boat. The people following them jump their boat and Provis starts fighting this one dude, who is his old partner in crime. They really hate each other and that dude was just trying to screw Provis over by getting him busted for being in England. Well, Provis kills him while they fight and this attracts a lot of attention so he has to go to jail. Jaggers can’t help him out and he is executed.

Pip is all sick and weak from all the trauma lately and he goes into a coma for awhile. When he wakes up Joe is there and has been taking care of him the whole time. He has paid all Pip’s debts so he won’t have to go to jail. Pip and Joe make amends. Joe gets married to Biddy. Pip goes to the colonies with Herbert to start a new life.

Years later Pip comes back to see Joe and Biddy. They have a little boy they have named Pip, and Pip just loves him. He goes to where Miss.Havisham’s house was, she died years ago, and he sees Estella. Her marriage is over and she shows signs of having some feelings and compassion. It ends leaving you thinking that they are going to get together.

Bibliography

THe book great exp. by dickens