critic

Like any novel we examine what the author was trying to achieve. Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England, a time when great social changes were sweeping the nation. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes. Although social class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of one’s birth, the divisions between rich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. London, a teeming mass of humanity, lit by gas lamps at night and darkened by black clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the nation’s sparsely populated rural areas. Amid this backdrop Dickens ties to convey the sense of social stratification, misery and family. Pip learns what is really impoertant in life. We too should feel this environment and Dickens's characters. This is such a classic that evidently Dickens pulled it off.