Great Expectations. How Does the Relationship Between Pip and Joe Change and Develop as the Novel Goes on? What Is Dickens Saying About Society at the Time?

“Great Expectations” is set in Victorian England. It is apparent when we read the novel that Charles Dickens expressed many of his own views when writing the narrative, using a strong authorial voice. This is particularly clear when he addresses certain issues concerning the social and cultural concerns of the time, and through Pip’s desire for social change. The development of the relationship between Pip and Joe is crucial in realising the complexity and importance of their relationship because their friendship is affected by many external factors which are beyond the control of the beholders. In order to explore the change and development I must also consider how society inspired Dickens to write such a powerful novel.

Initially, the relationship between Pip and Joe is portrayed as an artificial friendship, combining two people merely because they have one thing in common; they are both ‘fellow sufferers’ at the hands on Mrs. Joe. Yet Pip’s extreme loving views of Joe provoke the reader to start questioning such ideas,

“He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going,

foolish, dear fellow - a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in

weakness.”

Pips recognition that Joe has strengths as well as weaknesses is further endorsed when he says;

“…can crush a man or pat an eggshell,

In his combination of strength with gentleness.”

The complex range of sentences, and the extreme use of pathetic fallacy in the opening chapters are essential to consider when exploring the relationship of Pip and Joe; they suggest that like the description, Pips and Joe’s relationship is also very complex and is not based on such a minor reason; that they are forced together by the fact that they are ‘fellow sufferers’.

Right from the start of the novel, we see such an effective use of symbolism that when Mrs. Joe serves Pip and Joe some bread for supper, Dickens deliberately illustrates that the two pieces of bread are equal, and that this routine “never varied” is clearly representative of Pip and Joe; even though their relationship undergoes certain changes, the love between them never really alters. Being rather like a child himself, Joe would always join Pip in a game of comparing their slices of bread and how they both ate it. Pip was never judgemental of Joe’s immature nature, so the fact that Pip isn’t judgemental is crucial in seeing how their relationship changes and develops, because later in the novel, Pip is extremely judgemental of Joe. For example,

“…dropped

so much more than he ate, and pretended that he hadn’t dropped it

…I felt impatient with him and out of

temper with him.”

unlike when Pip is learning to write and discovers the only thing Joe can read or spell;

“Why, here’s a J,” said Joe, “ and a O equal to anythink! Here’s a

J and a O, Pip, and a J-O, Joe.”

Here, Pip is patient and kind towards Joe emphasizing the fact that he is respectful and loving towards Joe no matter what at this point. Another example is when he is describing Joe’s clothing, although he recognises that they are shabby and worn, it doesn’t seem to matter to him.

When Mrs. Joe receives news that Miss. Havisham (an extremely wealthy woman) would like Pip to go and play at her house, the journey from Mrs. Joe’s to Miss Havisham’s is a symbolic emotional journey which marks a change in Pip’s life. He embarks on a journey through life, and from this point he cannot “retrace the by-paths” the he and Joe had “trodden together”. When he first arrives at Miss Havishams he sees it as a gloomy and dismal building rather like a prison,

“…which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many

iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those

that remained, all the lower were rustily barred.”

This prison-like building is very much emblematic of Pip’s life after he enters the building; he will be cut off from Joe, Biddy and indeed his old lifestyle both physically and emotionally. When he returns, he lies to Mrs. Joe, Mr. Pumblechook and most importantly Joe. It is Joe’s astounded reaction