ipl-logo

The Importance Of Duality In Great Expectations

1029 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character analysis of great expectations

The way we present ourselves to our peers is often dependent on the company we are in. When around people we are familiar with our behavior will be more relaxed, showing that that is a comfortable environment for us. The actions of someone in a stressful situation are more forced, and usually, result in the person looking like they don 't know how to act. Though people have different layers of personality, their true colors will find a way to shine through the cracks in the mask they try to put on. We may try our hardest to conceal how we feel about the world around us, attempting to stay neutral, in an effort not to offend anyone around us. Though there are a few characters in Great Expectations that show this idea of duality, and how our private selves can differ from our public selves this essay will be focusing on Wemmick, and how he changes from his office self to his home-self. Different people have different ideas about how one should act when at work opposed to at home. When Dickens first introduces Wemmick, he is presented as a to-the-point person. Whenever Pip asks him a question, Wemmick responds with short, simple answers, and seems to be trying to convey as little information as he can. When asked if he knows where Matthew Pocket lives, Wemmick responds very plainly with, "Yes…At Hammersmith, west of London" (172). There is almost no warmth in that statement, it is merely factual in nature. Wemmick does not want to disclose any unnecessary
Show More
Related
600 Words | 3 Pages

The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury consists of primary elements involving the dual nature of humanity. In a basic categorization of the society of Fahrenheit 451, there are those who conform to the government without question, and those who do not. Those like the character Mildred (housewife of the protagonist Guy Montag) are slaves to the technology ( e.g. Seashells, parlour walls) shoved down their throats by the government, as an attempt to trick the public into thinking that they are happy when they are not. However, there are also characters such as Clarisse (17year old girl), Faber (former English professor), and Montag who question the lack of substance in society and the unspoken contract between the governors and the governed. The dual nature of this society is seen in how particular characters react to the lack of depth and meaning to their lives as a result of the conformity and censorship by the government.

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

The immediate community around people is the important reason that people act in the certain ways. Usually, what people being like at society is not what they are actually being like as themselves. From their immediate communities, people gain the impressions society gives to them. Some people may misunderstand themselves through being at the society; some people may become selfish by seeing other people act selfishly. Overall, people are changing when context is changing.

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

A personal experience i had, is as a child in middle school i was put under so much pressure to be the same as my peers. Even though I wasn’t the same, or didn’t fit into their category. Yet I tried hard to be and always worried about what people would say. Later in High school i developed a Panic Attack disorder from the stress of middle school. I was forced to try and be someone i wasn’t that I didn’t know who i wanted to be, or who i really

Read More
441 Words | 2 Pages

Society is slave to technology. As technology continues to advance we decrease our appreciation for the simple things in life. However, there are a few people left who enjoy the smaller things in life and choose to turn away from the “normal” of society. In Fahrenheit 451 we see these characteristics through both Clarisse McClellan and Mildred Montag.

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Mr. Jaggers notes Pip’s clothes as “working” and that he needs “new clothes” (Dickens 141). Pip’s working clothes marks him as a member of a lower class society. By replacing his old clothes, Pip isolates himself from his old society. With Pip’s moral degradation from isolating himself from his old society, Dickens shows the regressive effects of isolation from society. With the removal from one’s society, he loses the support network the society provided along with teachings from that society.

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

“Once More to the Lake” is an essay about a father and son tradition of going to a lake in Maine. The author recreates the experiences he had as a kid with his own son. In E.B. White’s essay “Once More to the Lake”, the big concept is White is able to accept that he has come to the closer to death when he sees that his son is growing up. E.B White has acknowledged that he will not live forever and the end is near. Throughout his essay, White uses a lot of duality.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee the author explores many different themes in different families such as poverty, ignorance and growing up in a community full of prejudice and different socioeconomic statuses. Harper Lee portraits two different kids behaviors and how they have been educated in the low economic class and the way the have been raised. Even though the kids are equally as poor, the children have been raised very differently. One of the kids Walter Cunningham is very well behaved and courteous to others. Meanwhile the other character Burris Ewell is disrespectful and uncaring about his life and the way he treats others.

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

So, everyone will eventually be put into difficult and stressful situations. Humans are individuals with varying personalities; everyone will react differently to their situation. Some individuals act like I did, the stress and emotions become too much and they want to give up. Others use that stress and their emotions to drive themselves forward and be the best they can be in that situation. Being able to handle that stress and the emotions it causes you is essential in living a happy and successful life.

Read More
369 Words | 2 Pages

I would agree with Snyder’s article since he does not take one side or the other about whether it is our personality or social behaviour in a situation that defines us as a person. To me, it depends strongly on the situation that I am in, how I am feeling that day, and how much I actually care about what is going on in how I will react or act. Snyder suggests that our personality comes out more in situations that encourage our personality and are comfortable with. This makes perfect sense since there is not a sense that people need to hide themselves or pretend to be someone else. It is also suggested that certain aspects of our personality are highlighted in tough situations.

Read More
1628 Words | 7 Pages

I try not to let my emotions show and be the best version of myself—this is something I’m trying to work

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

Picture this: a woman is getting arrested for shoplifting at the local Giant. As the cops take her away, a cluster of onlookers begins to form. Sure, they don’t know the story, but one thing for certain is that she really wanted that milk. She knows the story, however: that her husband just left her, leaving two kids and herself without a source of money. The conflict is that she shoplifted, so she committed a crime.

Read More
147 Words | 1 Pages

It is also characteristic of both Dickens and Griffith to have flashes of goodness in the morally evil characters, as well as the combination of comical and dramatic scenes. In Great Expectations, for example, the gothic dramatic character of Miss Havisham is mixed with funny characters like Herbert Pocket, we can even find Mr. Wemmick, a character that depending on the situation is comical or cold and serious. So, things changed radically: based on Dickens, Griffith creates the cinematic narrative system and explores its possibilities, which became a narrative language structured in the manner of traditional literary narrative of the XIX century. Summarizing, Griffith played a decisive role in the creation of a narrative film system by

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

Being yourself isn 't easy, though. You 've been conditioned all your life to conform to other people 's ideas and there are risks to expressing yourself honestly. The other person may be upset, and if it 's your boss, he might fire you, if it 's your girlfriend, she might leave you, and if it 's your parents, they might disown you. That means that being yourself isn 't without its costs, but the price you pay for pretending to be someone else is much higher. Even though I know all of this, I still catch myself sometimes lying occasionally about things I feel embarrassed about, and sometimes I correct myself immediately, and sometimes I hope the other person doesn 't

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip, an orphan raised by his cruel sister, Mrs. Joe, and her kindly husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith, becomes very ashamed of his background after a sudden chain of events which drives him to a different social class. Pip's motive to change begins when he meets a beautiful girl named Estella who is in the upper class. As the novel progresses, Pip attempts to achieve the greater things for himself. Overtime, Pip realizes the dangers of being driven by a desire of wealth and social status. The novel follows Pip's process from childhood innocence to experience.

Read More
1523 Words | 7 Pages

Thus the concept of personality has been used to explain what causes people to behave differently in some situations and to explain individual’s consistency in responding across situations. The basic assumptions of a person caught up in a constant conflict between drives within psyche and the demands and norms of the society (Meyer et al, 2008). Based on the case study, Susan once got angry when the neighbour’s grass went flying into her yard when they were mowing it and she did not talk to them for a long time.

Read More

More about The Importance Of Duality In Great Expectations

Related Topics

Open Document