Young Pip example essay topic

The Curse or Blessing? Fate. Predetermined destinations. Morals. God. Whatever you call it, there are times in life in which we feel guided through our choices.

Something inside which turns our head toward one path instead of the other and help us along the way. "Great Expectations" is a story about this. It follows the travels and adventures life brings through the eyes of a young Pip who is ready to face the world. Pip morphs and molds himself, trying to become what he thinks he wants until he is left to deal with what has become his (and all of ours) ultimate truth. It is not the phenomenon of the future that guides us to our outcome, but our own haunting pasts restricting the way through fear. Fear of failing, achieving, being wrong or ending up unhappy.

It is everywhere. It is inside of me, inside of you, of Pip, the girl playing down the street, the boy sitting doing his homework. It is our very own skeleton hidden away in the closet of our minds. That little insecurity sitting on my shoulder where no one can see but I can feel, defining who I am and who I am going to be. Early on in our story Pip is miserably depressed due to his uncommon social status, complaining about a newborn relationship with Estella built through jealousy at her ability to be "dreadfully proud" (70). Pip later finds himself trapped in the paradox of this book, while striving to lead an "uncommon life" he is unable to shake off his miserable outlook and ends up begging Biddy to teach him how to live a "simple" (common) life again.

This leaves him trapped with his gnawing fears resulting in a state of perpetual unhappiness. Pip's eventual realization of this leaves him in the situation, which at one point in time we all find ourselves stuck in, wishing he had seen earlier that bigger is not always better, and running away can only get you so far. Pip is a bright, young boy who is thrown into a life where he dreams of being appreciated. He yearns to be important since that is what he sees is missing from his life. These plaguing thoughts are implanted by what can be one of the worst of all the pains: a young mentor / crush.

Pip and Estella have their first meeting in Chapter 8 of the first volume, which gives launch to an incredible battle of proving himself worthy. From her cynical initial remark attempting to refuse playing cards with a "common laboring-boy" (60). Finding himself infatuated with the idea of being, or being loved by the upper middle class, this boy had just discovered what would make him "important". She became the epitome of where pip thought he wanted to stand in the social circle, allowing him not only to accept all the taunting and ridicule she threw out at him, but he actually thrived in it.

Pip fell victim to the game of greed secretly believing every word Estella said. She would open her mouth and shoot out darts, which would seep and fester under his skin until he held his life with such contempt. Pip's goal became a hazy line between pushing himself to be a better person, and proving himself to Estella, and later, everyone else. However, upon setting out on this journey to seek happiness it becomes apparent that his goal was not to change is life but, rather, to reinvent it.

So, he packs up his bags and walks away from his home thinking he was walking away from everything that goes along with that home. Trying to start over the young Pip passed through life keeping his hands in his pockets holding hidden secretes. Once after years of running, he feels free from all that made him ashamed and embarrassed only to find the past is not written on a chalkboard and cannot just be erased whenever a mistake is made. Not only dealing with the constant internal battles which were scratching away at the base of his neck, Pip now had to deal with his convict returning from what was thought to be the distant past. What he considered representative of everything he needed a break from ended up being what controlled his "new" life. He could either continue on to becoming a gentleman while living the life of a liar or fess up to his past and start over again.

This shock sent him head fist into a brick wall in the end of the second volume. After years walking down his unknown road to better himself Pip finally gets a clear view of all the sacrifices he has endured with a smile on his face, reaching for his "happiness". Once an obsession which has taken up all the space in your thoughts for 10 years has been erased, Pip is left feeling what often hides beneath our smiling goal and desire oriented faces: anger and shame. Being faced with a reminder of the truth who was real and not something he can twist around in his head this young but experienced boy is left with horrifying thoughts. Suddenly, what he had been trying to convince his brain was important did not seem to matter at all. Miss Hav isham, Estella, Satis House, being a gentleman, he was still ashamed with who he was.

Not only had he been holding these people and opportunities on such a pedestal, he had gone the extra step and left the two people who always loved and cared for him because they were too plain and common for his own ambitions. He is left alone struggling with the thoughts of "no wisdom on earth could have given me the comfort that I should have derived from their simplicity and fidelity; but I could never, never, never undo what I had done". Once again our young friend pip is left with what he has been desiring for so long wishing he had never learned the truth. Now he is left to answer the question that we all try to ignore; Is happiness a position in life? Or is happiness being true to yourself even when others might not be as receptive to your decisions? It is easier to look on for a "better" life instead of looking at oneself objectively, flaws and all.

Pip takes every aspect he does not like about himself and tries to become the exact opposite of that, therefore making him happy. The process of reinventing oneself is a seductive idea, however, it is seductive because although appearing the solution, the hope of becoming a completely different person with a new environment, job and life requires bringing none of your past self along for the ride. Ironically the uneducated, common, dull Joe teaches Pip the most important lesson everyone needs, if he could only listen to him. The wise and "foolish" Joe in a moment of hurt moralizes this book and tells Pip "there's one thing you may be sure of, Pip, namely, that lies is lies. However they come, they didn't ought to come... Don't you tell no more of 'em Pip... looked here at what is said to you by a true friend.

If you can't get to be uncommon through going straight you " ll never get to do it through going crooked" (71). Sadly it is impossible for Pip, as it is hard for everyone sometimes, to be himself when he is looking at the world and himself through contacts tinted with doubt. Our lonely child already in over his head cries out to the world through the pages of Dickens with the wisdom of his future self observing "We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back. And I went on". (160) Pip is everyone. The simple-minded child inside of us who is falling two steps back to every step taken forward.

Going through life on the roller coaster of our fears until the starting point seems better than where we are now. We spend our entire lives building up our defenses, just so they are the only things that allows us to be controlled. It is a vicious circle that has driven some to unreturnable points. The true key is to thrive in the fears and insecurities so as not allowing them to control what we do not do. Your past is your past just as your family is your family.

Get the skeletons out of the closet and sit down for dinner with the flaws. Because every flaw is a life experience that is your own and should be embraced so lessons can be retained. And the further you climb up the ladder with your baggage on your back, the harder the fall will be once the time comes to come to terms with it all. "Great Expectations" was captivating due to the reality it held. Just an average boy living an average life with expectations of grandeur until finally realizing the greatness he had all along. His great expectations of success were what was holding him back and allowing his past to dictate his future.

In the end, life goes on. Pip continued on his way just as I will finish this paper and continue on with my night. Change is inevitable. Happiness will flicker. But it is too late and too far for anyone to have to backtrack and start over, it is not an option.

This leaves us with the option to go forward and see how we can do with half our potential being used to cover-up mistakes, or we can just lay all our cards on the table and see what happens.