Great Expectations

Wow, I'm so glad I read this again. Either I'm misremembering how I felt about it in high school (which is entirely possible) or I got much more out of this story at age 30 than I did at age 16. Probably a little bit of both.

I had always remembered the incredible imagery of “Great Expectations” - the marshes, the graveyard where Pip first meets his convict, the opulent decay of Satis house - Dickens is one of the greatest scene-setters in the business. And of course the dream, so gripping and enticing to my 18-year-old self, of being marked with expectations, given a mysterious benefactor and made into a gentleman.

Fourteen years later, I am struck by the depictions of human nature and social class. The rich are uncaring assholes, willing to trod on anyone below them to gain a leg up in society, while the poor are often good and caring and just. Nowhere is this more painful to watch than in Pip himself, who abandons his family, spends frivolously, and generally acts like a complete toad in the first few years of his ‘expectations'. It's incredible how willing he is to look past people's true nature and see what he wants to see there (Estella, Miss Havisham, Magwitch upon their initial meeting).

I read this with echoes of my own life. There has been more than one instance over the last decade, as I've begun my career and made some money, that I've acted like Pip, or at least thought like him. Which is horrifying.

These are not one-dimensional characters which Dickens paints. I forgot about Pip's constant internal struggle, Miss Havisham's eventual realization and regret for what she'd done, and Estella's recognition of Pip's innate goodness and honor. And at the end of the novel, Pip's struggle resolving in favor of love and devotion to Magwitch, his return to Joe, and his humbling himself to become a clerk in Clarriker's house.

Lastly, who can fail to recognize our own modern society in the description of the unfair trial that Magwitch was given? His punishment being so much greater than Compeyson, even though Compeyson was the mastermind, because he could not afford good representation, and he ‘looked the part'. We still use class to help fill out our first impression of people, especially those convicted of crimes.

Finally, I love Dickens' constantly tongue-in-cheek tone, his satire and almost-caricatured descriptions of his characters. His general lightness leaves you unguarded for the more sentimental passages that he writes, making them almost surprising in their simplicity, directness, and beauty. For example, this line from near the end of the story:

Mindful, then, of what we had read together, I thought of the two men who went up into the Temple to pray, and I knew there were no better words that I could say beside his bed, than `O Lord, be merciful to him, a sinner!'

I love the arc of the story, the characters, the excitement of the plot, and the cautionary messages it leaves you with. Five stars.