Mrs. Joe vs Mina

1063 Words5 Pages
There are two characters who are Mrs. Joe who comes from Great Expectations and Mina who comes from Interpreter Of Maladies, and these two characters are most attractive to me. Although these two characters have different social background, receive different social education, and live in different countries and different period, they share a characteristic in common which is only seeing their own surface that instead of their inside. Mrs. Joe and Mina both pay a lot of attentions to their surface. In Great Expectations, ”We walked to town, my sister leading the way in a very large beaver bonnet, and carrying a basket like the Great Seal of England in plaited straw, a pair of pattens, a spare shawl, and an umbrella, though it was a fine bright day. I am not quite clear whether these articles were carried penitentially or ostentatiously; but, I rather think they were displayed as articles of property—much as Clepatra or any other sovereign lady on the rampage might exhibit her wealth in a pageant or procession.” (p.104, Great Expectations) Mrs. Joe brings everything which she consider stand for wealth when she goes to the town. However, a lot of things, for example, pattens, shawl, and umbrella, don’t suit for the fine bright day. Moreover, the large beaver bonnet and a basket are not so agreeable with these things. Dickens use these disagreeable things stick together in the same sigh to show that Mrs. Joe blindly pursue wealth surface without consider if these surface agree with each other and suit for the situation at that moment. Comparing to her real status, “She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front that was stuck full of pins and needles.”(p.6, Great Expectations), she

More about Mrs. Joe vs Mina

Open Document