Final Thoughts on Great Expectations.

When I first started reading I was dreading the next 400 and something pages. It didn't interest me and I kept thinking how so many books had convicts in their stories. I also got bored with the way Dickens's wrote the novel. The bad English from Joe grated my nerves to an extreme degree. As the pages went by and the plot was more developed, I started to really like his style of writing and the characters. It wasn't like all the teen books I spend my time reading now. None of them have crazy, heart broken woman in them. All of them have the same style of writing and the vocabulary is for people who have limited knowledge of words. The setting really had no effect on me. It couldn't of been any big city and I wouldn't of minded. I know a lot of people loved biddy or the convict, but my favorite had to of been Miss Havisham. She brought a lot of color to the book and spiced it up. I think her life story was the most interesting and had a long lasting impression on me. I always felt so sorry for her that the one person she loved only used her for her money and then just wrote her a note confessing that he didn't want to get married. That's like kids now days that break up with there significant other over text because they can't face them in person. I never felt bad for Pip. He brought a lot of the not so good stuff that happened to him upon himself. I liked figuring the mysteries out on my own. I didn't want spark notes to interfere with any good parts of the book. It ruins books when you cheat yourself by getting the answers before they happen.
I made sure to read every night like the sheet said. There was only one night where I forgot to read and it was a big mistake. I didn't like having to read extra. I finally started reading the weekend chapters on Thursday night's. Even though it added on to my already stressful homework load before Friday, I discovered that I liked being ahead of the game. There was never a certain time I would read. It just happened whenever I found the time to do it after I finished the rest of my homework. I usually do my homework at the kitchen table because I like being in the warm kitchen with my mom when she cooks. That wasn't always the most peaceful place to read. I would get distracted easily which didn't help with understanding the book. Also having my phone with me was a HUGE distraction. Whenever I got a text, I would be more focused on reading that than Great Expectations. The number one best place to read was in my room, late at night, when I had my phone not by my side. No one bothers me when i'm in my room so there was no one to come in and take my mind off the book. When it was late the house was silent and I could concentrate the best. If my phone wasn't by me, I wasn't interested if I got a text or not.

Great Expectation Photo Post (:

 

 A important concept is broken hearts. There are too very obvious characters who get their hearts broken by love for other people. Those two are Miss Havisham and Pip. Miss Havisham tortures others for how she was treated. Her daughter, Estella, and Pip end up receiving a lot of wrath because of that. The effect of her heart is she never wants to see the light of day, won't change out of her bridal dress, and has her mind set on taking revenge on any human who is of the male sex. Her daughter grows up being an extremely cold because of it and can never let herself love. Not even have that feeling for her own mother. Pip gets his heart broken because of Estella being so cold. He feels he will he was chosen to get to spend eternity with her. He is being fooled and lead on for many years of his life. He finally has to face the conclusion that he has to watch the girl of his dreams marry a man he hates.

Not only is there broken hearts of that nature, but you also have people like Provis, who experienced a different kind of heart break. Even though he does not come out and say it, you know growing up being homeless and treated badly had to take a toll on him. Also, the fact that his fathered abandoned him as such a little boy probably does not feel good. You know he feels sad inside if he is just so grateful to a little 6 year old boy who brought him food and a file if he is willing to turn his life around by making him into a gentleman. 

There is also like unfortunate characters like Joe. He had a wife who was mean to him and abused him, but he still loved her whole heartily. This man had to live with the fact that his one and only family member left got beat down and made her basically into a vegetable. It ultimately took her life in the end after a few years of living like this. Death of a loved on, especially your spouse, has to make your heart just explode with depression.

Connections!

One book that relates to Great Expectations is Gone With the Wind. In both novels, there is the motif of convicts. They both help out the main Characters. Like Pip's character gives him money for helping him and he keeps running into him. Scarlett uses convicts throughout the story to help her make money. Both stories have the convicts help them achieve the life they want to live. Pip becomes a gentleman from receiving expectations from his and Scarlett is rich and glamorous because they run her mill.

Another connection is the feeling of being ashamed of home. Pip doesn't want to be a blacksmith and wants to only be a gentleman who doesn't work. When Scarlett becomes poor she doesn't want to have to work in the fields like the slaves and not wear fancy clothes. She wants to be rich again and be a lady that all the higher class people want to be around. They both fantasize on becoming wealthy and think about it often. They ruin relationships just to achieve what they think will bring them utter happiness.

Money is a big deal in both stories. For those two characters they discover money can't buy you happiness. Pip talks about the sadness he feels and that he had done wrong by everyone that he couldn't go back to his old life. He had enough money to buy anything he wanted but that's not the same feeling you get when your with people you love. The thirst for money gave her a bad reputation and she lost a lot of friends. She bought everything she could imagine, but in the end of the story she is still not satisfied with her life.

Second Stage...

As the second stage begins, I feel not much has happened. It is important though to recognize the connections between the characters and motifs. Such as when Pip first gets to London and goes to the house he will be staying at for the night and he runs into the pale young gentleman once again. He teaches Pip manners he has yet to learn which goes along with the motif of becoming a gentleman. Also Herbert tells the story of Miss Havisham and why she is a creepy old lady who doesn't see daylight and wears the same old wedding gown everyday. He explains that her husband to be leaves her a letter calling off the marriage and only wanted her for the money. It wraps up part of the mystery of Miss Havisham but leaves Pip with even more mysterious questions. This all goes along with the motif of mystery.

In the middle of stage one Pip cannot come up with an answer of why Miss Havisham is a loony woman. She is very mysterious because she does not give any explanations to why she acts the way she does. While Herbert tells her story he gets his answers but gets more mystery as well. Along with this motif, becoming a gentleman is brought up over and over. As he learns manners and other gentleman ways he is becoming the gentleman he so hoped he would become one day. The more he learns of these ways the more condescending and rude his character is.

Pip's Changing Day

I feel when Pip says this, he is thinking back to the first day he was at Miss Havisham's house. its like a long chain of events that has brought him to who he is now. All the good and bad ( thorns or flowers) is all life altering. This day has altered him because he now sees that his life of wanting to be a blacksmith is not what exactly his dream. He wants to be higher up like the pale young gentleman. Pip is now different from the last few chapters because he is not as child like. He has grown up a little and expanded his thinking. He is striving to be older which is positive. I also think he is caring less about school and wanting to teach joe. That is extremely negative. Before I use to love Pip because he reminded me of myself when I was little. As he changes I like him less because he is not happy with what he has. Even though it is not quite the best life, he should still be content because it could be a million times worse. In the last two chapters I don't like how he keeps quiet about his sister being beaten. I think if he wants to be older he should start acting like it.

For me, my life altering day would be my first day of public school in fourth grade. It showed me there is more than what I was learing at my small little Christian school. That kids were not all well behaved children. I make a lot of mistakes and i'm okay with that. Before public school, I would beat myself up if I did on bad little thing or made a silly mistake. It also let me be okay with having divorced parents and how my family was. I now think its better that way because I have gained so many wonderful people because of it. I couldn't think like that the days that happened before my altering day.