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Fiction

Notes Part III: Chapter 19

Pip returns to his home town and is treated with certain coldness by the town that was so kind
to him when he was on his way to great expectations. He meets Pumblechook, who tells Pip
his misfortune is due to him because he was ungracious and ungrateful to his earliest benefactor
and friend — meaning, of course, not Joe but himself, Pumblechook.
Pip walks toward the forge, creating a picture in his mind of the simply happy life he will
have with Biddy.
Pip comes to the forge and indeed finds happiness — but the happiness is Joe and Biddy’s.
It is their wedding day.
Pip wishes them well, truly, and asks them for their forgiveness in all his actions. They
happily give it.
Pip goes to work for Herbert’s’ firm and lives with the now married Clara and Herbert. Within
a year, he becomes a partner. He pays off his debts and works hard.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Pip goes to Jaggers to verify that this man is his ......... .
2. Pip hurries to the ......... , who cannot imagine who could have been on the stairs.
3. Magwitch hates Compeyson with a self-sacrificing ......... .

4. Pip goes down to ......... to find Magwitch and Herbert.
5. Pip goes home and ......... takes care of his burns.
6. Pip attends to the ailing Magwitch daily in ......... .

Analysis

Poor Pip has one last lesson to learn and he learns it in Biddy’s marriage to Joe. The lesson
appears to be that one should not have expectations at all, simple or grand.
Pip, walking in his old neighborhood, is struck by the simple beauty of the place. He develops
expectations of the place as much as he creates an expectation of an idyllic marriage to Biddy.
The expectation fails because, once again, Pip is adhering to societal concepts of what is
happiness (this one taking place in a simple village with a simple wife) instead of seeing
people for who they really are and appreciating the relationship beyond its societal label.
Pip sees the simple village; he remembers his simple and happy life in the forge with Joe. The
idyllic vision in his head has nothing to do with the actual people involved, including himself.
Pip, in fact, is not thinking of Biddy when he imagines their life together. He does not examine
or appreciate that relationship for what it is. If he had been more attentive to the actual
relationships involved instead of his idyllic view of them, he would have seen Biddy’s love
for Joe and Joe’s love for her. He would have seen that Pip’s place at the forge was as a friend,
not as a husband or a brother.
In the end, there is a feeling that Pip’s life is actually just beginning. The journey through his
great expectations was in preparation for what would become a fuller life. Pip will now
adhere to the Victorian standards of working honestly for his money, of being loyal to his
friends, of being generous and kind even to those whom societal may view as low or common.

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