Great Expectations is a very old book and is not, strictly speaking, historical fiction. But it’s a classic, and it has a character named Pumblechook in it, and I’ll write about classics with characters named Pumblechook if I want to. Besides that, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to read how a classic author like Charles Dickens builds a story.
The narrator is Pip, a young boy who lives in the fenlands of England in the nineteenth century. He’s destined to be a blacksmith until a mysterious sponsor decides to elevate him to the status of wealthy gentleman. (Being a gentleman meant that one had “expectations.”) No one knows who this sponsor is, although Dickens leads the reader to believe it is a wealthy woman named Miss Havisham.
Trouble is, Miss Havisham hates men and never leaves her mansion. So, she has adopted a young woman, Estella, and invites Pip to her house, so that Estella can break his heart. (This is not my conjecture, by the way. She literally instructs Estella to break Pip’s heart.) Estella, it turns out, is rather good at living up to these instructions.
Some Surprises (Besides Pumblechook) in Great Expectations
When I picked up the book, I didn’t expect it to be as humorous as it was. Of course, the humor is mostly subtle in a nineteenth century way, but it’s there. I also did not expect Pip to be the flawed person he proved to be. His treatment of Joe, the uncle who raises him after his parents die, is atrocious after Pip’s elevation to gentleman status. Pip knows the treatment is atrocious, too, but can’t seem to do otherwise.
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Pip does have some moments where he makes up for his lousy behavior. But between him, Estella, and Miss Havisham, not to mention some lesser characters, Great Expectations has no shortage of flawed people. Which is real, of course, and something I liked about the story even if it provides a depressing tone at times.
Other Interesting Things, Like Pumblechook
Besides the surprisingly fun humor, no novel written by Dickens is complete without character names that seem ridiculous but somehow fit perfectly. Pumblechook, for instance. He’s a pretender to bourgeoise status who always wants to ride the coattails of others in the public eye. Pumblechook takes credit for things he had nothing to do with, only to slink into the background when things turn sour. Pip constantly mentions a desire to smack Pumblechook. Had I been Pip, I think I’d have actually pummeled the chump.
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The idea of people pretending to a status above their station, only to be proven phony, is a major theme of Great Expectations. Given that Dickens wrote in mid-1800s Great Britain, that’s understandable. Britain had plenty of people doing exactly that at the time. Besides Pumblechook and Pip himself, a number of other characters, including nearly all of Miss Havisham’s family, are scheming at wealth by some means other than working to get it. (Speaking of appropriate names, the surname of this part of the family is Pocket.) Most are clear phonies, while some are cleverer.
A few other things struck me. For instance the lawyer, Jaggers. He literally washes his hands of each client he sees. But perhaps the most interesting message is that characters who want to rise in society tend to be unhappy. Those who accept their situation are the opposite. Pip fixates on Estella, who he can’t have. Miss Havisham won’t even leave her house after having her heart broken. Joe, meanwhile, is somewhat simple and lacks education. Yet, he is happy and ends up with the best woman in the story. Likewise, the only people who do get ahead, even briefly, are those with a benefactor who aids them in their rise.
Who Should Read the Book
If you like classics, well, this is a good one. It’ll be even better if you have some familiarity with Britain in the 1800s, especially the way social classes worked in Britain at that time. But other readers can enjoy the book, too, understanding they may miss some of finer points along the way. Great Expectations features plenty of memorable characters and some nice plot surprises. Pip as the narrator is looking back over his life, and thus his actions in the story mix with his later experience, which is an interesting style. He knows how stupid he was at times as a young man and doesn’t shy away from admitting as much.
So, if you are willing to read a story that has some stylistic features and language particular to the time at which it was published, you could do a lot worse than Great Expectations.
To check out my other recent reviews, please read:
The Premonitions, by Michael Lewis
Spectacle, by Pamela Newkirk
The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner
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