Great Expectations – Is Pip a Snob?

Pip, when he was a boy, knew nothing of the ‘high life’. Right at the beginning of the story Pip was caught by Abel Magwitch and Able forced Pip to help him. When Pip does, it was one of the best, or the worst events of his life. When Miss Havisham pays Pip to play at her house he got a glimpse of the high life and he wanted more of it. At his home Mrs Joe always pout him down, she hit him and made Pip hate her. That probably encouraged Pip to want the high life even more. At Satis House the whole house had fallen into decay and neglect but Pip always described it to Mrs Joe as the grandest house on the world just to make Mrs Joe envious of him. Mrs Joe gets attacked so Pip and Joe are devastated. When he was grown up he got the money from Abel which made him think he was better than Mrs Joe and Joe so he left them for London not thinking twice about them and Biddy.

He meets Estela when they are both older. When they were younger Estela had mistreated Pip a lot and had always put him down. Now that they are older and the same class, Estela treats him better than when Pip was of a lower class to her. Pip learns to be a gentleman in London and he likes the life. Estela starts teasing Pip again, making Pip think they are together but then Estela starts going out with Drummel.

Pip doesn’t like him. Pip is feeling really downtrodden when suddenly Mrs Joe dies and Pip goes back for the funeral. Pip is quite sad for this happening. Then Pip does a really, well, snobbish thing. He won’t stay with Joe in his won house! That is totally out of order. He is staying at a friend’s somewhere else thinking that he is too high to stay at the little cottage Joe now owns. When Abel dies Pip loses all the money which was coming in. Because of that Pip gets really drunk and he puts all his bills in his window. Because of his debts the bailiffs come and throw him into jail. Pip is losing all his status as gentleman so he is feeling really stupid and out of place among everybody around him. When Joe bales Pip out Pip is really astonished and amazed.

Pip is really touched by Joe baling him out and probably feels really ashamed for making out that Joe was not good enough for him. Pip, getting a taste of common life for once in jail is probably a better person for this but he feels that it still does not demote him from where he got to in the rank of gentleman.

At this point in the story you can get a good look at Pip’s character. He has experieced a lot of different emotions and he has made and lost some good friends. He is not what you can call the most distinguished gentleman but then he cannot be called the lowest rank of gentleman. He is in the middle and he is thought very highly of. Even Joe calls him Mr Pip. He is not what you can call a good person because he would not even stay in the same house as his brother in law when his wife has just dies but then you can’t call hima bad person because he did what he was told especailly by Mrs Joe.

When Pip has got out of jail he goes to see Biddy and he finds that she is getting married to Joe! Pip is actually quite gutted although he does try not to show it. My answer to the question: is Pip a snob? Is: yes, I do think he is a snob at heart but that is only when he sees the high life and enjoys it.