I am about half way through Great Expectations and I think I am finally starting to get the hang of this book.
Most of the books I read have a clear, fairly linear plot. I may not always be able to predict the outcome, but I know roughly were things are going to end up. Great Expectations is not like that for a large chuck of the book. I am starting to get an idea of where things are going, but this book mostly seems to be a Hogarthian, or maybe Fielding-esque (whatever the adjectival form is) trip throung 1861 England. The most interesting things are not what happen to Pip, but the character portraits of the odd-balls he meets, such as Mr. Wemmick and the lawyer Jaggers. It’s a lot of fun, and it makes a very amusing and refreshing change from the very orderly worlds of the Brontes and Austen.
Some time, I am almost positive that Dickens liked writing these little sketches more than he liked moving the rest of the book forward.
Meanwhile, back in the main plot, Pip is still vascillating between shame and snobbery and regret and gratitude. He still persists in admiring the seriously deranged Miss Havisham–who I was prepared to sympathize with until I realized how vindictive she was. The one thing I like about Pip, apart from his sometimes snarky commentary, is that he is still doing his best to educate himself. If he knows nothing else, he at least knows to take advantage of that opportunity. Otherwise, he seems rather on the road to becoming just another useless member of the gentry.
More next time when, hopefully, something happens.