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Great Expectations Wealth Quotes Page 2
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
- Pip
- >
"I wonder he didn't marry her and get all the property," said I. (2.22.59)
Here, we see the differentiation between wealth and class. Pip can’t understand why Compeyson would walk away from the opportunity of owning land and of being married to a popular and title lady. He can’t understand why Compeyson wouldn’t want the comforts and privileges that come with being accepted by society. Money can buy freedom and comfort, but it cannot buy acceptance.
- Pip
- >
He had grand ideas of the wealth and importance of Insurers of Ships in the City, and I began to think with awe, of having laid a young Insurer on his back, blackened his enterprising eye, and cut his responsible head open. But, again, there came upon me, for my relief that odd impression that Herbert Pocket would never be very successful or rich. (2.22.72)
It’s one thing to know that someone is bound for success, but it is quite another to feel like he/she is bound for the opposite direction. Pip again seems all too concerned with the lack of things and with judging others. As one fascinated by social class and wealth, Pip thinks he is an expert on who will make it in life and who will not.
"Then the time comes," said Herbert, "when you see your opening. And you go in, and you swoop upon it and you make your capital, and then there you are! When you have once made your capital, you have nothing to do but employ it." (2.22.90)
Herbert’s concept of money and wealth involves usability. Unlike Pip, he doesn’t want to own things just to own them. He wants his money to lead him to new ventures and to expose him to new places and ideas. Pip’s concept of wealth and fortune is tied to an image of Miss Havisham’s world, but her world is a stagnant one in which time has stopped and nothing grows. Herbert’s concept of wealth is far more business related than class related.
