Henry's Blog 3

Pip’s Changes

~Blog Post #2~

Topic B

May 1, 2015

by Henry Sledz

In chapter 27, Pip and Joe see each other for the first time in a long time and things are clearly different. Pip’s time in London has changed him while Joe is still the same old blacksmith and is unsure of how to talk to Pip.

This new dynamic shows how much Pip has changed. It can be easy to miss how much Pip has changed when he isn’t surrounded by anything in his old life, but when Joe returns, we as the reader compare this new Pip to the old one and the changes are clear. This new Pip is more elitist and self-conscious. The old Pip didn’t think any less of Joe when he told Pip he was illiterate, but the new Pip would write him off as an idiot and pathetic if Joe were to admit his secret at this point in Pip’s life. The changes in Pip’s life are clearly a reflection of the morally bankrupt, elitist upper echelon of Victorian London that Pip has been immersed in since his arrival in London. Pip’s transformation into a miniature socialite is so easy because as a young, uneducated, ambitious boy, he couldn’t be more easy to mold and manipulate. The upper-class are still taking advantage of the lower-class in this situation.

The evolution, or devolution depending on one’s perspective, of Pip into another upper-class snob is somewhat subtle but it becomes completely clear when Joe returns. Joe represents Pip’s old life and the rest of the lower-class, and Pip treating him as his inferior while Joe treats him like he is his master puts Pip’s new personality on a showcase.