This was the first time I had read Great Expectations. I had a good friend who read it in high school and she raved about it. I was excited to find out what the big deal was. While reading I was disappointed. I could not figure out what was so "great" about this book. After having some time to reflect, I now love this book. It is a great story and has so many great and memorable characters. Among my favorites are the entire household of Wemmick. He works for Mr. Jaggers, lawyer. He has a marvelous house that they call "The Castle", it has a draw bridge and a moat. His father is old and deaf, he calls him The Aged. Wemmick loves his father very much and does whatever he can to make him happy, including firing a cannon every night just so he can hear something. There is also Miss Skiffins, she is engaged to Wemmick and they eventually marry. I love the description of their relationship, they are so sweet to each other and love each other very much and are waiting patiently for the time to marry. Until then, when they are together Wemmick attempts to put his arm around her and she gently uses her gloved hand to remove his arm and doesn't miss a beat whether listening or talking herself. Wemmick does not give up and keeps trying. When they are finally married and are at the wedding breakfast. He again puts his arm around her, but this time she does not do anything about it. This is exactly how virtue is to be kept. She smiles every time he puts his arm around her, she definitely would like to have him hold her, but she knows that it is not right Then after they are married and have made covenants and commitments she is able to enjoy his embrace all the more for never having experienced it outside of the bonds of marriage. Old Joe, Pip's brother-in-law and guardian is another of my favorite. He is probably the most pure in the book and the most deserving of happiness and I was glad that he found that with Biddy. Others on the list would be Miss Havisham, Estella, and Magwitch.
This is a story about a man’s life written as the end with perspective and understanding. Only after reflecting back does he tell the story. The details have not changed much, I think, but the insight into what was going on has. I enjoyed reading about the things that happened to him with the wisdom only time and experience can give. That is the first lesson I learned from this book; life gives perspective.
Keeping a journal is good, but writing a life story about the things written of in the journals is where wisdom comes from. I have fought against keeping a journal for a while now because I kept one all through high school and college and I am ashamed of some the things that I wrote in them. I love most of the experiences I had and would not change very much, they have made me who I am, but sometimes my reaction was so silly and just plain rebellious and wrong. I have not kept a regular journal since going back and reading them. What the story of Pip has taught me is that writing from perspective is more effective than writing during the heat or passion of the moment. I can keep a journal, but process experiences through prayer and meditation before I write about them. This does not mean that I will give a watered down or deceptive version, that is not how Pip wrote his story. As a narrator we get an insight into how he feels about his actions at the time they happened and when he is older. I can write the story and what I did at the time, but also offer what I have learned.
Another lesson that I took from this book is that just is not always right or fair. Magwitch is forced into a life of crime much like Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. Bother were born very poor with huge responsibilities placed on while young; Valjean the care of his sister and her children after the death of her husband and Magwitch the care of himself after the death of his parents. Both stole for survival and while in jail both became hardened, but both are turned around through contact with the innocent; Valjean with Petit-Gervais, Fantine, and Cosette, and Magwitch with Pip as a child. In reading both of these books I have become more aware of and concerned about the plight of those born into or forced into very unfavorable circumstances. I still very much believe in personal accountability, but also believe in mercy and redemption. The only justice that would be completely right or fair is that of God. We as men do not have the wisdom needed to make justice fair, therefore justice will always be flawed in this world.
The last lesson I wish to write about is that of overcoming our past. Pip spends his early life trying to overcome what he feels has been an inferior life with his sister and Joe. Once her realizes he is wrong in this endeavor he tries to overcome and repair mistakes he made while waiting for his benefactor to reveal himself. This is also true for many of the other characters in the book: Miss Havisham, Estella, Magwitch, and even in a way Herbert, each of these trying in a different way to overcome. This maturing and learning culminates in a way that when Pip and Estella meet up later in life they are ready for each other.
This is how I feel God works with us. He gives us experiences, we grow and learn, then we endure and later reflect back on them so that when he needs us or wants to bless us with something we will be ready, if only we will do our part. I also feel that Pip’s experience with Estella is an experience many of us have with blessings in this life. We want something, we desire it with all our heart, we work for it, and when we think it should be ours we try to take it, but the Lord’s ways are not our ways, his timing is usually not our timing. Pip may have always been intended for Estella, but until she had endured her trials and matured in the way she did having her would have just made him miserable, just like having something we want before we should would make us unhappy. The Lord’s desire is for us to have all he has and to be happy like he is and only he knows exactly how to make that happen for us. Our job is not to find what we want and expect it to happen we are to find out what he wants for us and then do all we can to make it happen in accordance with the Lord’s timeline.
