Pip, the orphan

I really liked todays class discussion about the orphans of the countless books out there. As I talked about it class, I believe, because of the era the Great Expectations comes from, the orphan is a tool utilized to reveal the society and culture of that period. It can display how the environment at that time created people, who are essentially products of their environment, to be from the highest of the upper class to the lowest of the low (convicts, such as in Great Expectations).

I feel really bad for Pip... this poor orphan who, from a very young age, is treated terribly by all those around him, and who desires to become a gentlemen and the heartbreak I feel for him when the readers know that such a wish would not be fulfilled in his society (which I think is felt all the more because in America, we can decide for ourselves). Poor pip! I hope he gets a happy ending (as Ive never read this story before).