Great Expectations

November, 2018

In Great Expectations, which Charles Dickens wrote in 1861, a young boy named Pip grows up with his sister and her husband, in a small town. After a run in with a rich, insane heiress who stays locked up in her house, and a prisoner who turns out to be more than meets the eye, Pip begins to live a life of luxury in London with his friend. He goes to plays and parties, forgetting about his overbearing sister back home in the countryside. This fortune that Pip suddenly receives came from an anonymous source, and so he searches for the donor of his wealth. Will Pip find out who generously gave him his riches?

Throughout the book, the main theme that is emphasized throughout the book is that loyalty and good morals are far better than class or standing or wealth. The author talks ion this theme throughout the book. “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.” “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule.” “In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.” “It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable, honest-hearted duty-doing man flies out into the world, but it is very possible to know how it has touched one's self in going by.” Also attached is an article outlining the life of Charles Dickens, who is one of the most influential British authors of all time.