great expectations
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GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Throughout Dickens's "Great Expectations" the reader is forced to question
what society has deemed as acceptable and admirable in social status. Like many
other works of this, or anytime, the desire to rise above his station seems to
be the driving force behind Pip's journey. Yet we see that it is the struggle
for social greatness that brings Pip to his worst. With Dickens's weaving of
subplots the reader is given the impression that social class is a burden for
everyone involved; if his characters are not trying to better themselves they
are fighting to maintain what they have already gained. Most of the
relationships in "Great Expectations" unfold during meals, an intentional ploy
on Dickens's part. Through the use of food, Dickens's communicates a broad
range of interactions and emotions within his characters.
Food is tool for bringing together the characters of "Great Expectations."
Sharing a meal brings together all of the central characters in the novel. It
is through the exchange of food that we are first introduced to the
relationship that will ultimately serve to be the most important of the whole
novel, in Pip and Magwitch. Perhaps it is a bit extreme to say that their
initial bonding over food will prove to be a theme throughout their future
relationship because it is a moment in which the read can see the true hunger
each man has within him...