Great Expectations Rhetorical Analysis

Aspiration; it means longing for something with great ambition, that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve what you strongly desire. Even if it means leaving behind part of your life, those whom you’ve grew to love, and even changing who you are inside. In the novel, Great Expectations, the author, Charles Dickens, introduces us to Pip, whose selfish aspiration for materialistic success and high power only lead him to later relive the life he was trying so hard to escape. Dickens uses diction and metaphors to illustrate Pip’s change of perspective, along with a feeling of guilt and eventual self destruction that he experienced as his desire for materialistic success became a necessity while rising in social status. As a young

Not only is he reminding us of this lesson, but to make us understand that, perhaps, our future, isn’t determined by our past like society wants us to believe, Pip continues to say “but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day” (Dickens, 72). Throughout Pip’s childhood, he was taught to believe that the key to happiness was humility and leading a simple life, but instead of following this belief, Pip’s heart was inclined towards materialistic wealth after a one day visit to the Satis house,and on this day, Pip felt like a link had clicked, yet, he also felt bound by the situation. Since a young age, Pip had a strong sense of empathy and really cared about what others thought, and telling Joe about his desire for wealth was hard, because even though Pip as determined to achieve and acquire a high position in social status , he still valued Joe and his words of wisdom; but not enough to live by them. The same day that Pip visited the Satis house, he began to realize his flaws as a low class boy, “I set

These feelings of guilt eventually lead Pip to live an undesirable life filled with guilt and shame, the one that he was so determined to leave behind as a young boy. Throughout his life in London, Pip always carried a strong feeling of guilt for becoming so wealthy, as if what he was striving for his whole life lost all of it’s worth once he achieved it. Pip felt bad for Joe especially, because they were now each part of a different social class, but despite the hardships that Pip underwent during his journey of seeking success, Joe said something very special, that always later reassured Pip when he felt ashamed, he said “Life is made of ever so many partings welded together… and one man’s a blacksmith, one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith. Diwisions among such must come, and must be met as they come… you and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet anywhere else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. It ain’t that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall see me no more in these in clothes” (Dickens, 224). Despite the hardships that come with