The Poor Labyrinth: The Theme of Social Injustice in Dickens's "Great Expectations"
1954; University of California Press; Volume: 9; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3044305
ISSN2324-6405
Autores Tópico(s)Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics
ResumoI N THE SURFACE Great Expectations is simply another very good example of that perennial genre, the education novel. In particular, it is the story of a restless young boy from the lower classes who comes into possession of a fortune he has done nothing to earn, founds a host of romantic aspirations upon it at the cost of becoming a snob, comes to be disappointed both romantically and socially, and, finally, with a more mature knowledge of himself and the world, works out his regeneration. As such, the novel is what G. K. Chesterton once called it, an extra chapter to 'The Book of Snobs.' But while admitting that Pip is a fairly good specimen of a certain type of mentality so dear to Dickens's satirical spirit, we cannot overlook the fact that Dickens is using his character to reveal some still more complex truths about society and its organization. Though its shorter length and more compact organization have prevented it from being classed with Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend, Great Expectations is really of a piece with that great social trilogy of Dickens's later years. In the briefer novel Dickens is attempting only a slightly less comprehensive anatomization of social evil; thematically, the implications of Pip's story are almost as large. Consider, for instance, how many different strata of society are gotten into the comparatively small number of pages that story takes up. In the first six chapters alone we meet members of the criminal, the military, and the artisan classes, together with a parish clerk and two well-to-do entrepreneurs. The
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