Great Expectations

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

We’ve all heard of Charles Dickens. But how many of us have read his works?  Or, how many of us have read his works because we had to as opposed to wanted to (i.e. High School). My only exposure to his books is the too-often told tale “A Christmas Carol”.  Even with that one, I don’t think I ever actually read the book.  I’ve just seen countless plays and movie versions around the tale.  Fortunately, classics are easy and cheap to come by on the Kindle, and I was fortunate to discover this one – which many claim is his best work.

Published in 1861, this story tells the tale of “orphan” Pip. I put “orphan” in parenthesis, because he’s raised by his older sister and her husband. Somehow – that makes the term “orphan” more bearable to me. Anyway, one day young Pip (I’m guessing he’s about 10, but am not sure) is out in the marshes in the evening time and is accosted by an escaped convict. The convict demands food and a file. The scared Pip obliges, and our story is set in motion. On a completely different note, soon Pip is sent into town by his family to work for an elderly widow, Miss Haversham. His main task is to entertain her young adopted daughter Estella. Estella is a bit older than Pip, and is very stand off-ish. Of course, Pip falls in love with her.

There’s much more to this story. So much more. It would be unfair to state that what I’ve mentioned is the main theme of the book. This book has so many characters and so many plot lines, that it’s quite impressive that Dicken’s style doesn’t allow one to become lost. What our real story here is that as young Pip becomes more exposed to culture, he tends to want to leave his humble origins behind for good. Especially when he is told from a lawyer one day, that he has “inherited” a rather large windfall. Of course, he is expected to use this windfall to move to the big city and become more educated (hence the title of the book). I should mention that, around this time in the narrative,  Pip is now much older. 20 perhaps? I’m not sure. Dickens never really tells us. However, he never really needs to. That’s what makes this book so captivating.

Dickens does such a masterful job of not having to spell anything out for the reader, yet his subtle suggestions throughout the story give the reader just enough to not feel lost. This is why this author is considered a classic.  Would modern readers enjoy a tale written over a century and-a-half ago?  In some cases, yes. However, I really can’t see many high school students reveling in glee if assigned this by their English teacher. Of course, that’s sadly true about most assigned books to young people. Sad really.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s nice to take a break from modern story-telling once in a while.  And as I’ve already mentioned – mightily cheap in an e-book format.