GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Summary

In Great Expectations, an orphan, Pip, rises from being an unwanted ward of his domineering sister to a wealthy man. Through his journey he discovers money can't buy happiness and what he had before wasn't so terrible. The novel begins with Pip playing in a cemetery and marshes near his sister's house. While looking at his parents' graves, a convict accosts Pip. He wants food and a file to remove his shackles. Pip brings the convict his own dinner and mincemeat. He also steals a file from Joe's blacksmith shop. The next morning, Pip brings the items to the convict, warning him that he saw another convict as well.
During Christmas dinner, soldiers arrive at the door looking for a blacksmith just as Pip's sister was about to discover the missing pie. Joe helps the soldiers and goes with them to find the missing convicts. When the convict he was helping is found, Pip alerts him that he wasn't responsible. Later, the convict doesn't turn Pip in. He tells the soldiers he stole the food and file.

Later, Mrs. Havisham invites Pip to play. Mrs. Havisham is the wealthiest woman in Rochester, although she is a bit eccentric. Mr. Pumblechook, Joe's uncle sees the playdate as an opportunity to raise his own status, only to be turned away at the gate. Estella, Mrs. Havisham's adopted daughter, is Pip's playdate. Estella is beautiful but cold and aloof.
Through his relationship with Estella, Pip begins to see his poverty. From this point forward he desires for more in life than what his sister and Uncle Joe have. Joe continues to visit Mrs. Havisham, who ends up paying for an apprenticeship for Pip and Joe's blacksmith shop. Pip works for a few years in the blacksmith shop, but always continues to better himself as he hopes to become more than a blacksmith.

One night, his sister was attacked. She is left mentally deminoshed and Joe hires help for her. Biddy, the nurse, and Pip become friends as they care for Pip's sister. Then one night a lawyer visits Pip to let him know he has a benefactor that would like to help him become a gentleman. With his new wealth, Pip moves to London to study. While there he racks up a lot of debt, believing he will be able to pay it back later.
Pip assumed his benefactor was Mrs. Havensham. However, it was the convict he had helped years earlier. Unfortunately, the convict is re-arrested and is sentenced to death. However, he dies of wounds and is penniless. Pip's Uncle Joe pays Pip's debts. Pip becomes a clerk in a friend's business overseas. 
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Ian Brinton, Dickens’s Great Expectations (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2007).
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations: Deluxe Hardbound Edition (Fingerprint! Publishing, 2018).​

Charles Dickens

As many readers know, Charles Dickens was a prolific writer. Most are familiar with A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, but he wrote hundreds of short stories and fifteen novels. He was not only an author, but he was a journalist, an illustrator, and an editor. Dickens began many of his novels by writing monthly serial segments in women's magazines. Most working class couldn't afford a novel but could afford a magazine. Dickens often set his stories against the backdrop of the working class in England. Not only did this speak to his readers, it highlighted the difficult social conditions of the era.

​“Charles Dickens: Influential 19th Century British Author,” Biography, last modified September 20, 2023, accessed February 24, 2024, https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/charles-dickens.

A Few Themes Covered

Social Class 
​This novel is set near the end of the Industrial Revolution, at a time when industry and commerce experienced dramatic technological improvement, creating new opportunities for people born into the lower classes to gain wealth and rise to the higher classes. As a result of this new social mobility, the aristocratic system of the past is broken down. Dickens explores this new world by following Pip through the dying class system, which would have been impossible under the old rigid hierarchy.

Reputation
​Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens explores pride as a positive and negative quality, from Estella Drummle's arrogance to Joe and Biddy's righteousness. The crucial difference is whether pride is based on other people's opinions or comes from a character's own perceived achievements. Characters who adhere to the former variety are concerned with their reputation rather than integrity. There are several of them, including Mrs. Joe, Uncle Pumblechook, and the Drummles. To make themselves seem superior, these characters make comparisons with others and criticize others based on public opinion.

Ambition and Self-Improvement
Pip, the main character's name, means a tiny seed, something that starts out small and grows into something bigger. Hence Pip's name, as Great Expectations is a novel about the growth and development of its main character. Pip and many of Dickens' secondary characters are driven by their ambition to improve themselves, which is both positive and negative. He strives to make himself seem worthy of Estella by elevating his social class, but in the process he becomes someone who feels unworthy, is unkind to those who have been kindest to him, and destroys himself financially. Pip learns that self-improvement is also a spiritual and moral process through these humbling experiences. The self-improvement efforts of secondary characters like Joe and Ms. Havisham are echoed by Pip's own.

Course Hero, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Themes, 2019, accessed February 24, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OEO-GAjrys.

​Charles Dickens, Great Expectations: Deluxe Hardbound Edition (Fingerprint! Publishing, 2018).

Ian Brinton, Dickens’s Great Expectations (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2007).

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What was life like at this time period?

During the Industrial Revolution, the working class worked in factories, mines, and workshops for 12 to 16 hours a day for very low wages. It was becoming increasingly common for jobs to be mechanized, which created dangerous working environments for the often unskilled labor force.
Outside of work, life was also difficult. In England's cities, the working class lived in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions where disease was a constant worry. Many children worked in factories alongside their parents and did not have the opportunity to attend school. Despite a few charities' efforts, access to medical care remained a problem for the working class. Victorian England's inhumane conditions led to numerous movements and activism to improve conditions for the poor and working class.

Absolute History: The Real Victorians

WAbsolute History, What Were Normal Victorian People Really Like? | Britain In Color | Absolute History, 2023, accessed February 28, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lELsj7dtw3g.

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations: Deluxe Hardbound Edition (Fingerprint! Publishing, 2018).

Ian Brinton, Dickens’s Great Expectations (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2007).

A Recipe: Mincemeat Pie

Pip brought the convict mincemeat from the pantry. What is mincemeat? Although not popular in the United States, mincemeat is still served for Christmas dinner in Britain today.
Mincemeat first appeared in England in the thirteenth century when the aristocracy stored dried fruits because fresh fruit could not be stored due to seasonal changes.  Apart from adding variety, dried fruits also helped disguise stale meat.
​Today, bakers continue to use an original mincemeat recipe which includes lean rump steak, beef suet, brandy, raisins and currants, sugar, lemon and orange peels, nutmeg, and apples. These ingredients are mixed and stored in glass jars in a cold dark pantry for two weeks. 

djhbolton, “Foods: Dickens’ Great Expectations,” Human Ecology: People, Foods, Travel, Culture, and Social Justice, November 12, 2020, accessed February 28, 2024, https://peopleandcultures.blog/2020/11/11/foods-dickens-great-expectations/.

Mrs. Beeton’s 1861 Mince Pie Recipe (copied verbatim from source below)
Makes 12 Pies – Tip: make the mincemeat up at least 1 to 2 weeks in advance to let it mature – store in the fridge.

Recipe Ingredients:For the pastry in the pies:

• 500g of a good quality shop-bought puff pastry (enough for 12 pies)
• 2 tbsp milk (for sealing)
• 1 egg white (beaten for the glaze)

For the mincemeat recipe: makes enough for about 36 mince pies.

• 200g shredded suet (fresh or packet)
• 100g of minced beef (lean)
• 1 large Bramley apple (300g) peeled, cored and chopped small
• 200g currants
• 150g raisins
• 150g candied citrus peel
• 100ml brandy
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 200g soft brown sugar (demerara or muscovado)
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Recipe Method:To make the mincemeat:
See this post for more details on making the mincemeat: Mincemeat 1861. If you are using fresh suet, chop up finely and shred. Combine all the ingredients (except the brandy) in a large non-metallic mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Make sure everything is cut up small and then evenly mixed in, and the lean beef mince is small and broken up. Pour over the brandy and give another good stir. Cover the bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.
The next day sterilise one or two air tight preserving jars. Preheat the oven to 110°C. Wash the jars and lids well in hot clean water and place on a baking tray (do not put any plastic or rubber seals in the oven). Put the jars and lids in the hot oven for 10 minutes. After leaving the jars to cool, divide the mincemeat between the jars, seal and label. You can store the mincemeat in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

To make the mince pies:
Tip: To make the mince pies, you will need a 10cm round, plain pastry cutter (or you can use a small ramekin) a smaller 8cm round, plain pastry cutter and a deep 12-hole muffin tin or deep pie tin. To store, cool the mince pies, then keep in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 5 days.
Preheat the oven to 190°C
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Divide the puff pastry into 2 unequal pieces, about two-thirds to one-third (500g will just about give you enough for 12 pies, if you roll the pastry out thin). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the large piece of pastry to about 3mm thick. Using a 10cm round, plain cutter (or ramekin), stamp or cut out 12 circles, re-rolling the trimmings, if necessary. Carefully mould into a deep pie tin – don’t worry if the pastry bunches together slightly, simply smooth out with your fingers. Divide the mincemeat between the pastry cases, filling each one three-quarters full.
Roll out the smaller piece of pastry as before on a floured work surface and use an 8cm round, plain cutter to stamp out 12 lids. Brush the edges of the pastry bases with milk, lay a pastry lid on top and press the edges together to seal. Brush each mince pie with a little beaten egg white and sprinkle over some powdered icing sugar. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 190C or until golden and piping hot. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack.
Serve the mince pies warm or at room temperature, dusted with a little more powdered icing sugar.

“Mince Pies | 1861 Recipe,” OAKDEN, December 10, 2011, accessed February 28, 2024, https://oakden.co.uk/mince-pies-1861-recipe/.

Tasting History with Max Miller, Victorian Mincemeat With Actual Meat, 2021, accessed February 28, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRH5DODIgE0.

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