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Great Expectations Innocence Quotes Page 3
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
- Pip
- >
"[…] see how I am going on. Dissatisfied, and uncomfortable, and – what would it signify to me, being coarse and common, if nobody had told me so!" (1.17.33)
If Estella had never told Pip he was coarse and common, Pip might be living a completely different life.
- Pip
- >
I put my light out, and crept into bed; and it was an uneasy bed now, and I never slept the old sound sleep in it any more.
Pip no longer leads the simple, innocent life of a child, but is troubled by dreams, desires, goals, and complex emotions. With the introduction of the concept of the "future" and wanting things for this "future," Pip is completely focused on the horizon rather than the present. He is conscious of time.
"Don't be afraid of my being a blessing to him," said Estella; "I shall not be that. Come! Here is my hand. Do we part on this, you visionary boy – or man?" (3.44.65)
Estella reveals her that she has perhaps, in spite of herself, observed a thing or two about Pip. It’s as though she’s asking him at this moment whether he has chosen to remain "a visionary boy" or to become "a man." The "visionary boy" is the boy who continues to hope she will requite his love. The man in Pip is he who is wise enough to give up and to recognize that Estella cannot be won nor melted. Pip hovers between the two.
