Great Expectations Essay

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“It is a remarkable achievement to have kept the reader’s sympathy for Pip throughout a snob’s progress” Discuss this view about Great Expectations. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, was written in 1860. The book identifies many social issues that were prevalent during the early 19th Century in Victorian England. Charles Dickens tried hard to educate the people about the injustices around them; he had a very clear view of what was wrong with society and hinted what should be done through his writing. Dickens used his book Great Expectations as a medium to convey his vision of a fair and just society. Two groups of people that had very few rights in England at that time were children and prisoners. Children often had no say in their future and important decisions were made for them. Estella cannot even choose how to live her own life, instead she is taught by Miss Havisham to hate men and break their hearts, and as a result she cannot love. When Jaggers is telling Pip of the children he sees in his business, it is made clear that there was no government help for these kids and that if they were born into poverty stealing was almost the only thing they could do to survive. However, today in countries like Canada, children have more rights and are better protected from abuse and neglect by new laws. There are also agencies like Children's Aid that help find care or counseling for orphaned children to prevent them from starving or maybe even resorting to crime Dickens also addresses the issue of being born into money and the unfair advantage a person receives as a result. Money is essential to an education of good quality; Magwitch was born poor and never received any kind of training and Biddy might have become a doctor or lawyer had she had an opportunity to go to a better school. When Pip learns of his good fortune, the first step to becoming a
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