Pip Encounters Great Expectations

Pip Encounters Great Expectations Great Expectations, a novel by Charles Dickens, is a complex, and at times, humorous tale of the love, fortune, and expectations of a Mr. Philip Pirrip. “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my christian name being Philip, my infant tongue could make of both nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. (Dickens 3) “ Pip”, as he calls himself, is a dynamic character who undergoes much change, both in his surroundings …

…merely confirming and interpreting what we already know, Great Expectations helps us to the supposition that there may be something else at work of which we may have been unaware. Reading Great Expectations is therefore an exercise not in resolving problems but in generating ways of thinking about certain aspects of life and literature. As it catches and stimulates our curiosity, Great Expectations thus teases us into thought about our common human condition." (Professor Baumgarten)