Great Expectations- Summary & Personal Opinion

Pip is a 6-year old orphan raised by Mrs. Joe (his sister) and Joe Gargery "the blacksmith" (sister's husband). Pip goes to the graveyard and meets a convict who says that if he doesn't bring food and a file he'll cut his throat, next morning Pip steals what the convict demanded and sneaks. He meets a second convict and gets scared, he finds his convict and returned home. Pip feels guilty and expects that the police will arrest him, he has a not so pleaseant christmas dinner with his family Uncle Pumblechook and Mr. Wopsle. Police go into the house with handcuffs, Pip gets scared, but the police only want Joe to fix them for the escaped convicts, which Joe and Pip agree to help search. They find the convicts wrestling in mud, Pip's convict admits stealing from the blacksmith's house in order to protect Pip, both convicts get arrested. 

Mr. Pumblechook takes Pip to the Satis House where he meets a beautiful girl named Estella, he falls in love inmediately but her mother taught her not to love but to be loved, her mother made her cold-hearted. Miss Havisham (Estella's mother) demands to see Pip, Pip finds odd that this woman is wearing a wedding dress, sitting in front of an old mirror and surrounded by stopped clocks. 

Pip is taken back to the Satis House in which he goes to the garden and is asked to a fight by a pale young gentleman, Pip knocks him down in the first punch, Estella allows him to kiss her on the cheek.

Long time passes as Pip begins working with Joe, he becomes an adolescent and hates it there. And then there's Orlick, he has always worked with Joe as he has always been jealous of Pip. Later that same day, Pip went to Mr. Pumblechooks place to read about a play, on their way home Pip sees Orlick in the shadows and hears a gun fire, when they arrive home Mrs. Joe had been attacked.

Pip will soon become a gentleman, he had great expectations, lawyer Mr. Jaggers told him and Joe, he will soon inherit a large fortune, move to London and start the education of a gentleman inmediately, there's just one tiny detail: he can never ask or talk know about his benefactor.

Pip goes to London and finds it ugly, narrow and dirty. He meets his roommate Herbert, who ends up being the pale young gentleman he fought long time ago. Herbert explains Pip his relation with Miss Havisham, his father Matthew is Miss Havisham's cousin, the son of her father and the cook. Miss Havisham fell in love with a man that just played her to take a part of her fortune, Matthew tried to warn her but she didn't listen and demanded him to leave the house and never come back. The day of the wedding her fiancé left her on the aisle with only a letter, the rumor was that the fiancé had worked in conspiracy with her young brother, then Miss Havisham adopts Estella.

Joe visits Pip in London, Pip's not that happy because he's a bit of ashamed well let's face it, he is ashamed of Joe and also mad because he refers to Pip as Sir, also Pip obviously had to change his manners Joe hasn't and the way he dresses, eats, talks isn't helping Pip's image as a gentleman. Pip finds out that Estella is back at the Satis House, so he goes to his hometown with no intention of seeing Biddy or Joe.

A little while later Magwitch (the convict Pip helped) shows up in Pip's bedroom, he's been working hard and came to see what a gentleman he has created, Magwitch was so grateful that he did a fortune and gave it all to Pip. Want to know what happened to the second convict? Well, his name is Compeyson and turns out he was Miss Havisham's fiancé.

Magwitch wants to stay in London so that way he's closer to Pip. Estella gets married, even though Miss Havisham wanted men to get what they deserve she gave up, it wasn't worth it at all, she apologized to everyone she has hurt. Pip finds out Molly (Mr. Jaggers' housekeeper) and Magwitch are Estella's parents. 

Compeyson dies drowned, Magwitch dies in jail, Miss Havisham dies burned, Pip learns to value a human being for himself rather than according to his social position and no longer feels ashamed of Joe, Estella no longer feels the need to take revenge on men. 

"Bent and broken into a better shape..."

 

Personal Opinion

Honestly i think this book can teach anyone not to lose hope or to stop chasing your dreams, Pip is a great example! He was just a blacksmith that wanted to be someone in this world, since he was a kid he wanted to be a gentleman and so did he, why? Because he didn't lose his hope, also i think that if in real life someone does what Compeyson did to Miss Havisham he/she deserves going to hell. If you want fortune earn it, don't steal it.

But... it's just not about hope and dreams, Pip chased his dreams and i at first thought he deserved it but then, the way he treated Joe, The one who always protected him, his bestfriend, that was pretty tough. So, if you take and drag around your dreams or achievements too far, you're the one that's going to end up dead.