Dirt And Filth With Criminals example essay topic

352 words
In the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens utilizes dirt and filth imagery to symbolize the immorality of society and display the differentiation between Pip's previous life and his life in London. In illustration, when Pip first comes to London with his preconceived ideas of a rich and flashy city, he sees rather the opposite: "I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty" (151). Between London's dirtiness and Mrs. Joe's profuse cleaning of the house, the apparent opposition indicates the imminent feeling of differences in expectation of the city of London and future for Pip. After seeing it for himself, he receives the actuality with disappointment and disgust, and later, he often affiliates the dirt and filth with criminals. In evidence, as he waits in Mr. Jagger's office, Pip observes that "the clients seemed to have had a habit of backing up against the wall, being greasy with shoulders" (151).

These greasy shoulders not only exhibit the outside demeanor of the criminals, but they also symbolize character of those dealing with Mr. Jagger's. Constantly washing his hands, his eccentric habit also indicates that he does not want to involve or fraternize with these people. Furthermore, when Pip decides to take a trip around London after he arrives, he again describes the dirt near the prison: "the shameful place, being all a smear with filth and fat and blood and foam, [which] seemed to stick to me" (152). Dickens specifically displays the prison as a dirty place to distinguish it from Mrs. Joe's house as he presents that house with taintless ness. People in the prison stand in the same class as Pip's relatives, not wealthy, just common, but their values differ and cause Pip's aversion towards them. In conclusion, Dickens's imagery of dirt and filth penetrates the peak of abhorrence of those nefarious dealers with society, placing them in an analogy with scum, and uses the contrast between Pip's childhood and London to display his abhorrence toward the displacement of people's values.