Learning from Aging Youth: Dickens and Bildungsroman

Throughout the trials and tribulations of life, individuals seek to find themselves; to find who they are, and to find who they are to become. This transformation, evolution, and development are central to the human condition- a development full of ambiguities, pressures, responsibilities, and plight. This universal progression from is replicated heavily in the majority of literature, typically in the form known as bildungsroman. One of the purposes of literature is to track these patterns with the hopes of learning from multiple perspectives, and finding ways human beings are able to relate to one another, both young to old and vice versa. Through what ways does Dickens utilize the Bildungsroman form to understand a protagonist's transformation, or lack there-of? Throughout the bildungsroman tale Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip remains a figurehead of character transformations, both psychologically as well as socially.

To begin, what exactly is this form known as a bildungsroman? A bildungsroman is a form of prose which tracks the progression of a protagonist from youth into adulthood. Through this process, there arise several complications the main character must overcome, both internally, as well as externally. Thus, the character is never the same at the end of the text as they were at the beginning of the text, otherwise, it would not be a bildungsroman. The protagonist typically begins at an initial stage, then leaves "home," goes through a series of journey's, then later returns a changed character. Through this journey, the character fixes all of the psychological problems exemplified at the beginning of the text. Then, when they return, they find psychological comfort. This form remains extremely popular because it is universal- every individual has transformed from a child into an adult, and through this transformation, has been forced to overcome several obstacles in order to attain this position. Through the analysis of a bildungsroman, one gains insight into not only how a character changes psychologically, socially, and even physically, but also gains helpful insight regarding which characteristics and changes benefit an individual inside of specific societies. Thus, one gains knowledge into the author’s mind, for protagonists almost invariably exhibit the changes an author believes to be beneficial inside of the society they remain.

Great Expectations begins with Pip's very first character transformation- his name. Pip initiates the text by giving the reader background regarding the historical relation of his family name, and how his name came to be adjusted. Initially, the reader is introduced with this concept to show that names will become central to a character’s identity, both explicitly and implicitly. This is shown by Dickens’ authorial decision to begin his very first paragraph with this discussion. Pip explains his name is a combination stemming from both his familial history and his own creative brevity, "My father's name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip." (Pg. 9). By beginning the text this way, in a broad sense, Dickens begins to emphasize the idea that his tales are about a child, a child who grows into his own self, who creates his own image, who becomes his own man.

Obviously, Pip's tale begins with Pip as a young child, so young, in fact, he is incapable of pronouncing a name which was given to him. This foreshadows two things, firstly, just like his name, society will begin to push certain expectations onto Pip, he will be expected to be someone, to receive a title which is not necessarily innately his own. As a result, symbolized through his altercation of his original name, Pip will form fit such expectations to suit his own nefarious purposes. Secondly, Dickens foreshadows the fact that at some point in the tale there shall be a clash of inner and outer identities, one presented and one expected. This proves to be an extremely powerful way to begin a novel. First, Dickens’ exemplifies this bildungsroman will take on its strictest form, a protagonist's growth from infancy to adulthood. Secondly, Dickens’ text relates to a very broad audience- Pip's struggle both overtly and metaphorically relate to something every individual is capable of relating to- titles. The brevaciousness of Pip's name also suggests he shall have a talent for taking large ideas, which intertwine to several areas (EG his name's relation to his father and Christian nomenclature), and collapsing them into something minute and powerful. The text, from the very first paragraph, provides proof that the protagonist transforms.

Furthermore, Pip finds himself an adoptee, a conscientious authorial decision adding to Pip's earliest plights and causing readerly empathy. Not only is this bildungsroman a tale of a youthful figure growing into adulthood, but it's one where the character must overcome rarities an average person might fail to otherwise relate to. Pip is taken away from his parents and is raised by a man named Joe- a figurehead for the "average Joe." Nearly from birth, Pip begins his earliest character transformations- both from his names as well as from his status as an orphan. He begins as Philip, with parents connected to even his name, and transforms to an orphan named Pip, a name with only the remembrance of his family. Both of these elements combine to introduce the reader to this powerful form of a bildungsroman, two elements people are able to relate to, if nothing else. Technically, Pip's orphan hood and brevacious namesake is extremely rich with detail, both foreshadowing future changes, as well as showing changes from his past. This further exemplifies the bildungsroman's essence of continual transformative change, also from an early point in the novel.

Next, Dickens alters Pip’s identity once again. Pip becomes Mr. Pip. Biddy, probably his nearest friend, in addition to Joe, begin to give him a title of complete respect, one which he had not yet attained. To this, Pip responds, partially startled, and furthermore uncomfortable, “Not to mention your calling me Mr. Pip—which appears to me to be in bad taste, Biddy—What do you mean?” Although this statement was mid argument between the two of them, it is also significant to the progression of Pip’s character throughout the narrative. Pip becomes completely detached, which Biddy seems to be claiming is a Mr., yet Pip is hesitant as to whether or not this title is something he wishes to have. This stems from the religions inside of the text. One being Christianity, the other being Hinduism- one which prays for you to cling, one which seeks for you to let go. Of course, this also stems from his psychological state, one which pushes him to let go as a result of a reaction to his past, and the other side of society which seeks to Christianize him. The final progression seems to be Pip’s refusal to fall under the constraints to either side of the sphere, rather he becomes his own combination of both. For example, he refuses to get married, which is an extension of the Christian wish to cling to things, and also refuses to let go of his family completely. He is neither Mr. Pip, nor his child form of Pip, but instead, a bachelor without the need to cling or let go.

Through the study of psychological development stages one begins to understand the purpose for the bildungsroman form, humans, just like characters, tend to follow a very distinct path as they continue on in this living form. These stages, while they may be interrupted (which tends to cause psychological disorders), are parts to our lives where we are able to view another's individual changes and adapt appropriately. For this reason, if for nothing else, this bildungsroman form becomes extremely persuasive, inticing, and rhetorically powerful. A reader is able to develop through these stages with their characters, fix any type of disorders they have previously developed, and learn for their future. Through which developmental stages does Pip replicate as he transforms throughout the novel? Also, what might one stand to learn from approaching a bildungsroman tale from a lens of psychological development? Furthermore, how might one gain insight into psychological frameworks by tracking and understanding Pip's charactorial transformation? Might the beginning of the text also be meant to show a reader which development stages may have caused psychological fixation in Pip? Each of these are further questions to explore in addition to my initial question.

To begin with a psychological analysis, Joe, who is supposed to serve as Pip’s psychological buffer, exhibits an disequilibrium regarding his sensorimotor and perioperational development. This disequilibrium leads to his social awkwardness and his inferiority complex, most noticeably with his meeting with Mrs. Havisham.

“It was quite in vain for me to endevour to make him sensible that he ought to speak to Miss Havisham. The more I made faces and gestures to him to do it, the more confidential, argumentative, and polite, he persisted in being to Me.” (Pg. 82).

Pip’s reaction to his buffer’s psychological fixation could go one of two ways. He could either follow along with Joe’s psychological disadvantage, or he could recognize them and improve his own through observation. Pip exhibits a complication with his abstract Neo-Piagetian stages, mostly as a result of Joe’s perioperational unbalance, but also due to his status as an orphan. Pip struggles with intimacy, identity, and isolationism. This is shown through Pip’s seeming addiction to an unrequited love- by name, Stella. As Pip reflects on this romance, he gains insight to his own psychological problems, he states

“From Estella she looked at me, with a searching glance that seemed to pry into my heart and probe its wounds […] I saw in this that Estella was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on me, and that she was not to be given to me until she had gratified it for a term.“ (Pg.228-229).

However, this realization appears to be a turning state, for after this, Pip initiates his first progression away from his abstract multiplication deficiency. His final step away from this is his final talk with marriage to Biddy, symbolically representing his growth into a healthy abstract stage, one which is intimate and nurturing, though mostly with respect to male-female relationships as friends. This is further exemplified with the final scene of the novel, with both Estella and Pip’s decision to remain “friends apart.” (Pg 358).

Furthermore, by presenting this charactorial transformation, clearly symbolized through names, the neo-Eriksonian social mutuality works its way, extending into the text. Following a similar structural path as identity transformations, there are also two ways to view Erikson’s stage. To illustrate these views, some may view his adoption of a new name as a psychological response to coping with abandonment issues, basically trying to flee his identity, birthright, caste, and socio-economic position- whereas some may analyze the adaptation as grateful, an adaptation both respectful and gracious of his lineage regardless of his detachment from the original name. The narrative technique of exemplifying his youthful (near infantness) struggle with his name foreshadows a cyclical repetition of said identity transformations. As a result, varying interpretations of his "graciousness" arise in a parallel manner. These perhaps exemplify "Dickens'" own troubles battling betwixt inner/outer identities- such as his attempts to rid critics of his personal life, and his own difficulties distinguishing his authorial voice from his personal one.

Dickens also utilizes Pip criticize and satirize institutionalization- mainly through the form of religious satire. As a result, this becomes a direct play on Pip’s neo-Eriksonian stage known as socio-affective stage, which plays into the substage known as both trust vs. mistrust, as well as sociability vs. unsociability. Essentially, the transition became Dickens criticizing religious institutions for slithering their way into the lives and business of, well, frankly, anything they found controllable. Partially, Dickens’ criticizes them for their greediness, such as their self-inflicted need to take over every individual's life, as well as their obliviousness to hypocrisy. One of the most heartfelt responses from Pip comes fairly early in the text, where he claims

"As I passed the church, I felt (as I had felt during service in the morning a sublime compassion for the poor creatures who were destined to go there, Sunday after Sunday, all their lives through, and to lie obscurely at last among the low green mounds. I promised myself that I would do something for them one of these days [...]" (Pg. 115).

One of the central ideas here being as a result of Pip’s experience with the institutionalized system, he develops a conflict in his socio-affective stage, which causes him to not only mistrust and dislike institutions, but also causes him to wish to aid those who find themselves trapped inside of them. Dickens, whose focus is institutions in general, here makes a subtle self-promise to aid those who do not wish to support such causes, the relatively obscure who meander somewhere week by week because it has become what is expected. Most do not attend because they wish to, nor because they enjoy, nor because it gives them a feeling of love and joy and graciousness, no, here Dickens shows there are those who would become better people outside of instutionalized religious hierarchies. Pip is gracious, joyful, and kind. However, head figures from institutions tend to criticize Pip for his lack of graciousness. One thing which must be clarified- Neither Pip nor Dickens has stated people should avoid church, nor religious institutions, however, that individuals should not allow themselves to be institution alone; they must retain independence. This exemplifies a transformation in Pip because he progresses over the institutionalized way of thinking, overcoming his struggles regarding his socio-affective stage, and is later able to communicate freely and openly.

Pip's sister, "Mrs. Joe Gargery," replicates this strive to branch away from socially determined statuses, which exemplifies a fixation in her Neo-Piagetian stage known as abstract hierarchization. She essentially raises Joe, her husband, as well as Pip, her brother, through force. In this sense, she attempts to retain a position of power by any means necessary, regardless of her explicit and wild physical force utilized against household males. This is perhaps socially abnormal, divergent from timely social expectations. Psychologically speaking, she does this as a result of her inability to cope with social mechanisms and hierarchy systems. She becomes a character who resorts to force in hopes of gaining, guiding, and separating from her social role. Instantaneously, this caste separation (or attempt, none-the-less), provide the reader with sympathy for Pip and Joe, while subsequentially undermining their "masculinity." Both figures resort to a type of "turn the other cheek" philosophy- a flee rather than fight system of neurological reactions. Mrs. Joe repeatedly draws forth a wishful longing to be separated from her status as a "blacksmiths wife." Her desire to escape from her socio-economic position, one she compares to a slave, exposes her lack of graciousness with what she has attained "'Perhaps if I weren't a blacksmith's wife, and (what's the same thing) a slave with her apron never off, I should have been to hear the Carols,' said Mrs. Joe." (Pg. 23). Here, a heavy critique of society’s treatment of females in her socio-economic class is proposed. She becomes a family slave, one forced to the confinement of her house to wait, clean, and cook for the males. She is paid with housing and food, a house-mom and a slave, a fairly bitter metaphor. Whether within reason or not, this critique widely transcends the generation in which the text was written, even dabbling into the modern day house wife. Mrs. Joe's fixation becomes extremely important because her psycholigal trauama influences Pip's psychological trauma. Essentially, Pip's future female relationships are guided as a result of his interaction with her, and her psychological fixation becomes something Pip is attracted to, without understanding why.

To carry forth with a further exploration of Erikson’s stages of socio-development, he initially lays them out in 8 stages. The fundamentals of this being, all individuals, universally, transgress throughout each of these stages as they grow as an individual. Each, due to their environment, parenting structure, and institutionalized influence, develop slightly differently during each stage. However, when an individual develops any kind of charactorial flaw, so to speak, it can be paralleled to one of the stages. The first stage, which is typically from infancy to birth, is where a child’s dependency and independence is developed. If a child develops a fixation during this period, they will later be distrustful. If they are healthy during this stage, they will be trusting and confident. Pip, I would argue, exemplifies one who from early on has dependency issues, but later becomes a trusting individual. The significance of this, of course, is Pip’s progression out of this stage which is developed from infancy. Two examples to prove this are Pip’s inability to trust in his lover, Estella, and his later marriage to Biddy. Relationships, because they are so central to an individual’s heart and soul, become an extremely powerful way to understand one’s psyche. So, let us carry on with this further with the hopes of understanding Pip’s psychological mindset.

The psychosocial stage six is typically viewed during early adulthood, when children begin exploring with relationships. This stage becomes vital to their development of commitment and trust, intimacy and isolation, depression and joy. Now, this stage is not necessarily when a character begins to find romances, but it could be when they begin to make friends with the inverse sex. Pip does not ever have any friends who are female, up until Biddy. And Biddy isn’t even necessarily his friend, but both his school teacher and his maid of sorts. This becomes exceptionally interesting psychologically because Biddy, being his first female connection, also becomes his first wife. Prior to his relationship with Biddy, Pip wishes to be with Estella. Estella being both unnurturing, distrustful, and lacking any type of positive emotions toward Pip. Yet, Pip wishes to stay with her, but for what reason? I would argue it comes as a result of his relationship with Mrs. Joe. Mrs. Joe, his sister, who is his earliest female relationship, is abusive, cold, and unfriendly. Estella, too, is abusive, cold, and unfriendly. Psychologically speaking these characters fit a perfectly logical system- Pip first interacts with his sister, which causes him to find his first romance, Estella. His second interaction is with Biddy, which causes him to marry Biddy, probably as a result of her being the only female figure who has ever given him any type of positive energy what-so-ever.

The seventh stage of psychosocial development comes during adulthood, mostly as a result of career decisions. During this stage, one’s feeling of worth, productivity, and social roles arise. Those who are not positively reinforced during this stage begin to doubt their contribution to society at large, as well as their own feeling of worth internally. Pip seems to be fairly strong during this stage, mostly due to his positive reinforcement of gaining money and making it into a socio-economic class which is above his birth level. Pip is able to communicate well with others, even those older than him; he’s able to contribute to society, for example, by his attempt to get his roommate a strong position in society, and also gets into a healthy relationship, which enables him to contribute to others.

It is worth noting what is stated by Gerald Young in his New Ideas in Psychology paper, particularly when viewing these psychological stages in terms of a bildungsroman. Young states that

“The stages are no magical transformations that suddenly bring more advanced thinking across all areas of cognition once they appear, nor are they divorced from environmental influences and constraints. Nevertheless, they are valid inferences from the pattern of observations and empirical studies of children’s thinking and thinking across the lifespan.” (Pg. 5).

This idea is fairly central to understanding the psyches of characters, and the role of psychological changes characters exhibit. Pip, for example, develops complications in several of the stages, but overcomes them throughout the progression of the text. However, it is not instant. It is not some transformation where Pip has problems on Pg. 222, then overcomes completely on Pg. 223. It is, rather, a smooth and on-going transformation of character growth. The bildungsroman is of course, a tale regarding a youth becoming an adult. And, through the process, overcoming several obstacles, both internally and externally, to land in a position of psychological comfort. A few ideas here must be rose. Firstly, what this type of text does to a reader is fairly vast and often overlooked. As a result of narration, the reader becomes intertwined with the psyche of the narrator. The reader not only progresses through the action of the tale with the narrator, but also through these psychological stages. In this respect, a text becomes a type of psychologist, both forcing readers to attain knowledge of these types of disorders, and also helping them through them. So, read carefully! Otherwise, you may find yourself a bad psychologist who develops psychological trauma rather than restores them. Of course, the power and significance of such depends invariably on how seriously a reader immerses themselves into the text. Perhaps in the future, doctors will prescribe books rather than pulls; it is, after-all, a healthier alternative. Furthermore, if prose does this, imagine the power of a poem.

Furthermore, books become types of portals in and out of psychological states, and although most jump back and forth, they do not necessarily realize this. Thus, if you read a book, for example, Great Expectations, in which the author and characters have psychological issues regarding social statuses, cross sexual interaction, trust issues, abuse issues, and abandonment issues, it is more than likely your own psyche gets reformed in those directions, however, through reflection, one is able to move beyond them. Furthermore, this fine line between genius and insanity, one which tampers back and forth between psychological playing fields, is what people develop an interest for. It is because those who are normal are able to temporarily cross their own boundaries, explore another’s, and momentarily find their own inner genius through interaction with another’s.

To conclude, and to take a step away from Dickens and his texts, this bildungsroman form becomes central to psychological development and improvement. A form of alternate medication. We go through psychological stages, and get caught up on problems as a result of stories that occur. When we read a text, we also go through those stories psychologically. And, as a result, we are able to gain the same advantages a character progresses through, and also may learn from what mistakes we, individually, read into the text. Pills remain because they continually numb the problem, and when people try to quit, their lives get more bleak than before because they have a chemical imbalance. As a result, people do not wish to eliminate them as a solution. The problem is they are forced. However, if we prescribe books, it could promote an alternative which is focused solely around aiding individuals to overcome those stages which gave them a form of complication. Furthermore, as quickly as humans begin to trust one another, we might even let them diagnose themselves. What an idea!

Only the great overcome expectations

Only the good become expectations

Only the best make humor of them.

Travis Johnson

Hackenberg

Learning from Aging Youth: Dickens and Bildungsromans

Throughout the trials and tribulations of life, individuals seek to find themselves; to find who they are, and to find who they are to become. This transformation, evolution, and development is central to the human condition- a development full of ambiguities, pressures, responsibilities, and plight. This growth and universal progression from one stage to the next is replicated heavily in the majority of literature, typically in the form known as bildungsroman. Through the study of this form, one realizes even the youth experience their own problems, they are merely relative to circumstances and age. Essentially, every stage to life has equal strife, turmoil, and stress, it simply revolves around various matters relating to an individuals circumstances. This is not to say there is no transformation between childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, it is to say that one of the purposes of literature is to track these patterns with the hopes of learning from multiple perspectives, and finding ways human beings are able to relate to one another, both young to old and vice versa. This is the human condition- to learn from another through complete emotions of empathy, joy, celebration, and hope, regardless of age. How does Charles Dickens utilize this form of the novel known as a bildungsromans tale, and through what modes does the protagonist transform? Throughout the bildungsroman tale Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip undergoes several charactorial transformations both from innate desires and social expectations.

Great Expectations begins with, as might be expected, names. Pip innitiates the text by giving the reader background regarding the historical background of his family name, and how he came to adjust his name to formfit his own characteristics. Initially, the reader is introduced with the concept that names will become central to a characters identity, both explicitly and implicitly. Pip explains his name is a hybrid combination stemming from his familial history and his own creative brevity, "My father's name being Pirrrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip." (Pg. 9). By beginning the text this way, in a broad sense, Dickens begins to emphasize the idea that his tales are about a child, a child who grows into his own self, who creates his own image, who becomes his own man. Obviously, Pip's tale begins with Pip as a young child, so young, in fact, he is incapable of pronouncing a name which was forced onto him. This foreshadows two things, firstly, that Pip will have something else forced onto him, that he will be expected to be someone, to recieve a title which is not innately his own, and that he will formfit such expectations to suit his own nefarious purposes. Secondly, Dickens foreshadows the fact that at some point in the tale there shall be a clash of inner and outer identities, an explicit and implicit understanding of Self. This proves to be an extremely powerful way to begin a novel, first, through an infant, exemplifying this bildungsroman will take on its most classical form, from infancy to adulthood, and secondly, by showing the protagonist struggling with something every individual is capable of relating to- titles. The brevaciousness of Pip's name suggests he shall have a talent for taking large ideas which intertwine to several areas (EG his name's relation to his father and Christian nomenclature), and collapsing them into something minute and powerful. The text introduces the reader to several formalaic techniques, as well as this theme of charactorial change and adjustments.

Furthermore, Pip finds himself an adoptee, a conscientious authorial decision adding to Pip's earliest plights and causing readerly empathy. Not only is this a bildungsroman tale of a youthful figure growing into adulthood, but it's one where the character must overcome rarities an average person might fail to otherwise relate to. Pip is taken away from his family name, his father, his mother, and raised by a man named Joe, a name which symbolizes his averageness- a figurehead for the average Joe. Nearly from birth, Pip begins his earliest charactorial transformations- both from his names as well as his status as an orphan. He begins as Philip, with parents connected to even his name, and transforms to an oprhan named Pip, a name with only the rememberance of his family. Both of these elements combine to introduce the reader to this powerful form of a bildungsroman, two elements people are able to relate to, if nothing else. Technically, Pip's orphanhood and brevacious namesake is extremely rich with detail, both foreshadowing future changes, as well as hinting toward changes from his past. This further exemplifies the bildungsroman's essence of continual transformative change.

Through the study of psychological development stages one begins to understand the purpose for the bildungsroman form, humans, just like characters, tend to follow a very distinct path as they continue on in this living form. These stages, while they may be interrupted (which tends to cause psychological disorders), are parts to our lives where we are able to view another's individual changes and adapt appropriately. For this reason, if for nothing else, this bildungsroman form becomes extremely persuasive, inticing, and rhetorically powerful. A reader is able to develop through these stages with their characters, fix any type of disorders they have previously developed, and learn for their future.

 Travis Johnson

Gracious Social Expectations

Throughout the trials and tribulations of life, individuals seek to find themselves; to find who they are, and to find who they are to become. This transformation is one of the most difficult developments of the human condition- a development of ambiguity, pressures, responsibilities, and plight. This growth and universal progression from one stage to the next is replicated heavily in the majority of literature, typically in the form known as a bildungsroman. That is to say, characters who transform into citizens of age and experience. Obviously, there are stages to this transformation. Through the study of literature, it becomes apparent to us that even the youth experience their own problems, they are merely relative to circumstances and often times, age. Essentially, every stage to life has equal strife, termoil, and stress, it simply revolves around various matters relative to an individuals circumstances. This is not to say there is no transformation between childhood, middle age, adulthood, and old age, it is to say that one of the purposes of literature is to track these patterns with the hopes of learning from multiple perspectives, and finding ways human beings are able to relate to one another, both the young to the old, and vice versa. This is the human condition- to learn from another through complete emotions of empathy, joy, celebration, and hope regardless of age. Throughout the novel Great Expectations Charles Dickens utilizes several devices, such as foreshadowing, identity, juxtaposition, and institutional satire to develop the themes of love, graciousness, abandonment, and hope.

 Great Expectations begins with a character striving to find his name- a universal symbol representing identity. He shrinks his name from Phillip to Pip, allegedly depicting his transformation away from his original identity, his original birthright. Secondly, this replicates Great Expectations' central theme: a character, and individual development-a transformation form fitting implicit and explicit identities. There is his name "Phillip," a name he was born into, a name society has "given" to him, and than there is his newly crafted identity, "Pip." By begginning the novel with a focus around these two names, differently the same, a central premise to the novel is depicted- an identity which is expected, an identity which is presented. His step away from his full name Phillip into his new name Pip underlines and develops this theme of abandonment, both from his own namesake, and his parents' abandonment of him. Essentially, one abandons the other, so the other allows this abandonment to massage its way into one's identity.

Furthermore, by presenting this charactorial transformation, clearly symbolized through names, a further motif of "graciousness" works its way, extending into the text. Following a similar structoral path as identity transformations, there are also two ways to view graciousness. To illustrate these views, some may view his adoption of a new name as a psychological response to coping with abandonment issues, basically trying to flee his identity, birthright, caste, and socio-economic position- whereas some may analyze the adaptation as grateful, an adaptation both respectful and gracious of his lineage regardless of his detachment from the original name. The narrative technique of exemplifying his youthful (near infantness) struggle with his name foreshadows a cyclical repetition of said identity transformations. As a result, varying interperations of his "graciousness" arise in a parallel manner. These perhaps exemplify "Dickens'" own troubles battling betwixt inner/outer identities- such as his attempts to rid critics of his personal life, and his own difficulties distinguishing his authorial voice from his personal one.

To expand this theme further, graciousness is utilized in the text to criticize and satirize institutionalization- mainly through the form of religious satire. Essentially, the transition became Dickens criticizing religious institutions for slithering their way into the lives and business of, well, frankly, anything they found controllable. Partially, Dicken's criticizes them for their greedyness, such as their self inflicted need to take over every individual's life, as well as their obliviousness to hypocracy. One of the most heartfelt responses from Pip comes fairly early in the text, where he claims

"As I passed the church, I felt (as I had felt during service in the morning a sublime compassion for the poor creatures who were destined to go there, Sunday after Sunday, all their lives through, and to lie obscurely at last among the low green mounds. I promised myself that I would do something for them one of these days[...]" (Pg. 115).

One of the central ideas here being the repetitious behaviors of humans regarding institutions, their inability to change, and the almost tragic air hovering above them. Here, while the institution is not necessarily the target of heavy satire, the individuals who support them are. Dickens, whose focus is institutions in general, here makes a subtle self promise to aid those who do not wish to support such causes, the relatively obscure who meander somewhere week by week because it has become what is expected. Here, the religious institutes appear to turn their followers into monotonous zombies who return week after week because they are told if they do not, eternal suffering and damnation may be cast upon them (as if rebirth wasn't hell, already). Most do not attend because they wish to, nor because they enjoy, nor because it gives them a feeling of love and joy and graciousness, no, here Dickens shows there are those who would become better people outside of instutionalized religious hierarchies. Pip is gracious, joyful, and kind. However, head figures from instutions tend to criticize Pip for his lack of graciousness. One thing which must be clarified- Neither Pip nor Dickens has stated people should avoid church, nor religious institutions, however, that individuals should not allow themselves to be institution alone; they must retain independence.

Pip's sister, "Mrs. Joe Gargery," replicates this strive to branch away from socially determined statuses. She essentially raises Joe, her husband, as well as Pip, her brother, through force. In this sense, she attempts to retain a position of power , regardless of her explicit and wild physical force utilized against household males. This is perhaps socially abnormal, divergent from timely social expectations. She becomes a character who resorts to force in hopes of gaining, guiding, and separating from her social role. Instantaneously, this caste separation (or attempt, none-the-less), provide the reader with sympathy for Pip and Joe, while subsequentially undermining their "masculinity." Both figures resort to a type of "turn the other cheek" philosophy- a flee rather than fight system of neorological reactions. Through this juxtaposition of charactorial traits, two separate techniques of graciousness are paralleled. One, where force gains power developing graciousness. Another, a fleeting attempt to avoid ungraciousness.

Mrs. Joe repeatedly draws forth a wishful longing to be separated from her status as a "blacksmiths wife." Her desire to escape from her socio-economic position, one she compares to a slave, exposes her lack of graciousness with what she has attained "'Perhaps if I weren't a blacksmith's wife, and (what's the same thing) a slave with her apron never off, I should have been to hear the Carols,' said Mrs. Joe." (Pg. 23). Here, a heavy critique of societies treatment of females in her socio-economic class is proposed. She becomes a family slave, one forced to the confinement of her house to wait, clean, and cook for the males. She is paid with housing and food, a housemom and a slave- a fairly bitter metaphor. Whether within reason or not, this critique widely transcends the generation in which the text was written, even dabbling into the modern day house wife. While within reason, Mrs. Joe remains one of the least gracious characters. Or, to say the least, her graciousness is expressed more ambiguous than expected.

The narrative battles between outward and inward presentations- social and private appearances and presentations. The importance of this is how social expectations are filled, replicated, and brought to the forefront. For example, at Christmas dinner several guests repeatedly claim Pip (who serves to represent his "generation" as a whole) is largely ungrateful. Making a vast sweeping generalization, Mrs. Hubble inquires "Why is it that the young are never grateful?" (Pg. 26). This question, regardless of its philosophical ignorance, opens the text to a series of avenues; such as, to what extent would youthful figures embellish and replicate such expectations? Here, Dickens makes use of foreshadowing. Showing that expectations, great as they are, will probably be replicated and reciprocated onto another. However, is not Mrs. Hubbles lack of graciousness toward the youth ungracious? Thus graciousness, or a character's ambiguous lack of graciousness, develops thematic power throughout the course of the narrative.

 Travis Johnson

Gracious Social Expectations

Throughout the trials and tribulations of life, individuals seek to find themselves; to find who they are, and to find who they are to become. It becomes one of the most difficult transitions in life- from a child into the adulthood of ambiguity, pressures, responsibilities, and plight. However, it becomes apparent to us that even the youth experience their own problems, they are merely relative to circumstances and often times, age. This growth and universal progression from one stage to the next is replicated heavily in the majority of literature. That is to say, characters who transform into citizens of age and experience. Obviously, there are stages to this transformation. Some being more complicated in certain plots than others and some accepted more from one character than the next, however, these transitions become central to our existence as humans because we learn from mistakes and thrive through success. This is the human condition- to learn from another through complete emotions of empathy, joy, celebration, and hope. Also, to gain insight back and forth through both foreshadowing and retrospect. What about the individual who becomes uncertain of his name, his class, his implicit and explicit identities? Could a character ever be alone? Could a character ever be better than together? Throughout the novel Great Expectations Charles Dickens utilizes several devices, such as foreshadowing, identity, juxtaposition, and institutional satire to develop the themes of love, graciousness, abandonment, and hope.

 Great Expectations begins with a character striving to find his name- a universal symbol representing identity. He shrinks his name from Phillip to Pip, allegedly depicting his transformation away from his original identity, his original birthright. Secondly, this replicates Great Expectations' central theme: a character, and individual development-a transformation form fitting implicit and explicit identities. There is his name "Phillip," a name he was born into, a name society has "given" to him, and than there is his newly crafted identity, "Pip." By begginning the novel with a focus around these two names, differently the same, a central premise to the novel is depicted- an identity which is expected, an identity which is presented. His step away from his full name Phillip into his new name Pip underlines and develops this theme of abandonment, both from his own namesake, and his parents' abandonment of him. Essentially, one abandons the other, so the other allows this abandonment to massage its way into one's identity.

Furthermore, by presenting this charactorial transformation, clearly symbolized through names, a further motif of "graciousness" works its way, extending into the text. Following a similar structoral path as identity transformations, there are also two ways to view graciousness. To illustrate these views, some may view his adoption of a new name as a psychological response to coping with abandonment issues, basically trying to flee his identity, birthright, caste, and socio-economic position- whereas some may analyze the adaptation as grateful, an adaptation both respectful and gracious of his lineage regardless of his detachment from the original name. The narrative technique of exemplifying his youthful (near infantness) struggle with his name foreshadows a cyclical repetition of said identity transformations. As a result, varying interperations of his "graciousness" arise in a parallel manner. These perhaps exemplify "Dickens'" own troubles battling betwixt inner/outer identities- such as his attempts to rid critics of his personal life, and his own difficulties distinguishing his authorial voice from his personal one.

To expand this theme further, graciousness is utilized in the text to criticize and satirize institutionalization- mainly through the form of religious satire. Essentially, the transition became Dickens criticizing religious institutions for slithering their way into the lives and business of, well, frankly, anything they found controllable. Partially, Dicken's criticizes them for their greedyness, such as their self inflicted need to take over every individual's life, as well as their obliviousness to hypocracy. One of the most heartfelt responses from Pip comes fairly early in the text, where he claims

"As I passed the church, I felt (as I had felt during service in the morning a sublime compassion for the poor creatures who were destined to go there, Sunday after Sunday, all their lives through, and to lie obscurely at last among the low green mounds. I promised myself that I would do something for them one of these days[...]" (Pg. 115).

One of the central ideas here being the repetitious behaviors of humans regarding institutions, their inability to change, and the almost tragic air hovering above them. Here, while the institution is not necessarily the target of heavy satire, the individuals who support them are. Dickens, whose focus is institutions in general, here makes a subtle self promise to aid those who do not wish to support such causes, the relatively obscure who meander somewhere week by week because it has become what is expected. Here, the religious institutes appear to turn their followers who return week after week because they are told if they do not, eternal suffering and damnation may be cast upon them (as if rebirth wasn't hell, already). Most do not attend because they wish to, nor because they enjoy, nor because it gives them a feeling of love and joy and graciousness, no, here Dickens shows there are those who would become better people outside of instutionalized religious hierarchies. Pip is gracious, joyful, and kind. However, head figures from instutions tend to criticize Pip for his lack of graciousness. However, Dickens twists the reader's perspective enhanced with a form of Pip's universal love, where he only wishes to help those who require help, and graciously looks forward to the day he may. One thing which must be clarified- Neither Pip nor Dickens has stated people should avoid church, nor religious institutions, however, that individuals should not allow themselves to be institution alone; they must retain independence.

Pip's sister, "Mrs. Joe Gargery," replicates this strive to branch away from socially determined statuses. She essentially raises Joe, her husband, as well as Pip, her brother, through force. In this sense, she attempts to retain a position of power , regardless of her explicit and wild physical force utilized against household males. This is perhaps socially abnormal, divergent from timely social expectations. She becomes a character who resorts to force in hopes of gaining, guiding, and separating from her social role. Instantaneously, this caste separation (or attempt, none-the-less), provide the reader with sympathy for Pip and Joe, while subsequentially undermining their "masculinity." Both figures resort to a type of "turn the other cheek" philosophy- a flee rather than fight system of neorological reactions. Through this juxtaposition of charactorial traits, two separate techniques of graciousness are paralleled. One, where force gains power developing graciousness. Another, a fleeting attempt to avoid ungraciousness.

Mrs. Joe repeatedly draws forth a wishful longing to be separated from her status as a "blacksmiths wife." Her desire to escape from her socio-economic position, one she compares to a slave, exposes her lack of graciousness with what she had attained "'Perhaps if I weren't a blacksmith's wife, and (what's the same thing) a slave with her apron never off, I should have been to hear the Carols,' said Mrs. Joe." (Pg. 23). Through this exposure, a heavy critique of societies treatment of females in her socio-economic class is proposed. She becomes a family slave, one forced to the confinement of her house to wait, clean, and cook for the males. She is paid with housing and food, a housemom and a slave- a fairly bitter metaphor. Whether within reason or not, this critique widely transcends the generation in which the text was written, even dabbling into the modern day house wife. Whether apparent or not, Mrs. Joe remains one of the least gracious characters. Or, to say the least, her graciousness is expressed more ambiguous than expected.

The narrative battles between outward and inward presentations- social and private appearances and presentations. The importance of this is how social expectations are filled, replicated, and brought to the forefront. For example, at Christmas dinner several guests repeatedly claim Pip (who serves to represent his "generation" as a whole) is largely ungrateful. Making a vast sweeping generalization, Mrs. Hubble inquires "Why is it that the young are never grateful?" (Pg. 26). This question, regardless of its philosophical ignorance, opens the text to a series of avenues; such as, to what extent would youthful figures embellish and replicate such expectations? Here, Dickens makes use of foreshadowing. Showing that expectations, great as they are, will probably be replicated and reciprocated onto another. However, is not Mrs. Hubbles lack of graciousness for the youth ungracious? Graciousness, or a character's ambiguous lack of graciousness, develops thematic power throughout the course of the narrative.