Joe Takes Care of Pip

After the death of Magwitch, Pip falls ill and is also taken away to prison. However, he is allowed to leave because of his health. When Pip finally feels a little better, he finds himself with Joe, who is taking care of him through his illness. Even though Pip has treated Joe terribly throughout the book, Joe continue to help Pip with whatever he needs, showing how great Joe's love for Pip is and also how strong his character is. They finally connect with each other, and it is no longer akward for them to have a conversation. Pip is going to become a commoner again, and his arrogance is almost completely gone, making him treat Joe much better. Joe and Pip were the strongest of friends and family at the beginning of the book, and now, they find themselves returning to that situation again, as Joe talk about and catch up on news back in Pip's old town. Pip learns that Miss Havisham has died and also that Orlick tried to rob Pumblechook and has been put in jail. Although Joe loves Pip, there is not that complete sense of family yet as he still adresses Pip with the title sir, incase Pip will get mad again. Pip has gone through a cycle in his life, of first starting from humble beginnings, but with great character and then rising to power, while losing his character, and then going back to being a commoner again, with his morals getting back to how high they were before. Pip's relationship with Joe does this as well, starting out great, almost losing contact, and then becoming friends again and it seems as they will become family again soon. This book and Pip's life is an example of life itself has really taught me much about real life and situations that could come in my life too. It has been a great experience learning about this amazing novel and has just been a great read.

The Death of Magwitch

After his incident with Havisham, Pip finds out that Compeyson wants to track Magwitch down and turn him in. Pip finds a note from an anonymous person that talks about Uncle Provis, Magwitch's nickname, and tells Pip to go to the marshes alone. The anonymous person turns out to be Orlick, who has always had a conflict with Pip since they were both blacksmiths. Orlick admits that he was the one who killed Mrs. Joe, but says that it was Pip's fault, then they proceed to fight. Suddenly, Pip is becoming more tolerant of Magwitch and does not want to see Magwitch get hurt. Although Pip will still not take Magwitch's money, he realizes that Magwitch wanted to help Pip and change his life, and might get killed doing it. Even though Pip's morals have dropped so low, they are still not at the point that he does not care about Magwitch's life. Pip and Magwitch try to row a boat out of London after more people are close to finding out about Magwitch. They make it through the first night, but after that, they encounter another boat with Compeyson on it. Magwitch gets up to fight Compeyson, who is drowned, although Magwitch claims that he did not do it. Nevertheless, he is arrested and taken away. At the trial, Magwitch is found guilty. Pip tries to comfort Magwitch in the last hours of his life by saying that his long lost daughter, Estella, is the girl that Pip loves and that she is in good hands. Magwitch is hanged and dies peacefully free of any burden. Suprisingly, Pip feels a huge loss and it is at this point that Pip realizes that Magwitch spent most of the latter part of his life trying to make Pip a gentleman and make Pip's dreams come true. In this part of the novel, Pip's morals are coming back to where they were at the beginning as he starts to become less arrogant and more down to earth. Also, this is the part where Pip being a gentleman finally ends, as now with no money and no fortune, there is no way he could possibly be a gentleman and now, he needs to find a way to get money like an average person again.

Havisham Realizes Her Mistakes

After finding out that his benefactor is Magwitch, a convict of a low social class, Pip feels even more that he is not good enough for Estella. So, he goes to see Estella and Miss Havisham for the last time. When he arrives, he tells Havisham that he had all along thought that she was the benefactor, and she admits that she had done this on purpose, and that she had also made Pip think that Estella and him were meant to be together. This is when Pip tells Estella that he loves her, and always has, but Estella returns with the harsh news that she will marry Drummle. She also says that she never let Pip believe that she wanted to marry him or even loved him, which is true, because Estella has always acted coldy towards Pip and she acted like nothing more than a friend. It was all in Pip's mind that he thought that they would get married. Afterwards, Havisham realizes what she has done and the mistake that she has made in continuing to let Pip believe that he would marry Estella. She sees now the distress that Pip is in as his heart is broken by the only woman that he loved his entire life. Havisham breaks down saying "What have I done?" referring to what she has caused Pip. She can relate to this because as a young woman, she had her heart broken too and she knows how horrible it feels. Furthermore, she now knows that her entire life after she was stood up at the alter has been a waste. She wanted revenge so badly that she did not care who it was on, as long as it was someone of the male sex, but now she knows that this is wrong and that Pip has nothing to do with Compeyson, the man who stood her up and also the second convict, and should not take the blame. Havisham offers to help Pip with whatever he needs, and he asks her for money to help Herbert start his business. then, she tells him the story of how she adopted Estella and that Compeyson is her father. All the characters are becoming connected now, ad the novel comes to an exciting end.

Where does Pip turn to now?

Magwitch continues to live with Pip for several days, with each day causing Pip to dislike him more. When Herbert comes back, Pip asks him about what to do with his predicament. They decide that it would be best that Pip not use Magwitch's money. This shows Pip's arrogance has become of an extreme extent, and even though Magwitch's money is just as good as anyone else's money, Pip thinks that it is tainted or not good anymore because Magwitch is not a gentleman himself, and a convict. The situation that Pip is in is very ironic as Magwitch wanted to do good for Pip by giving him money and making a gentleman, but the money has corrupted Pip and turned him into a much worse person; so by intending to do good for Pip, Magwitch actually did bad for him. He was in the position that many parents are in: they want to give their children whatever their children want to make them happy, but at the same time, they do not want to spoil their cihldren by giving them too much. Magwitch was the parent that spoiled Pip, and as a result, because all of Pip's money was given to him and he didn't have to work for it, he did not learn the true value of the money and the good moral values that came with working hard for the money. Once Herbert and Pip decide that Pip will will not use Magwitch's money, Pip is stuck in a very odd predicament. He now has no money whatsoever; he has no skills to make money with, and no land to get money from. Nor does he have anyone to turn to because he will not be able to live in London if he is not a gentleman, nor will he be able to live with Joe and Biddy because of how harshly he has treated them over the years. In addition, he cannot go with Mrs. Havisham because the fact that Magwitch was the benefactor means that she did not mean for Pip and Estella to be married after all. The situation that Pip is in right now is caused all because of his low ethics. He will not take the money because he thinks that he is better than Magwitch. Also, he though that he was better that Joe and Biddy, so he stopped communicating and visiting them. What will Pip do?

It's the Convict, not Havisham

The years pass and Pip has not much going on in his life now. He continues to try and pursue Estella, but it seems as if he is getting less and less important to her now, and he still has not visited Joe and Biddy as often as he would like to. His closest friend is still Herbert Pocket and now that Pip has become of age, he has decided to help Herbert out and get him into the merchant business. Pip has just recently received a huge sum of money because he has turned twenty-one years old and uses it for that because Herbert has helped Pip ever since Pip had arrived in London, teaching him to be gentleman and also living together. One dark, stormy night, an old man enters Pip's house and greets him, it is Pip's convict, from all the way at the beginning of the novel. He introduces himself as Abel Magwitch, and at first Pip does not understand what he is doing there. But, slowly, Magwitch reveals himself and makes known to Pip that it was he all along, and not Miss Havisham that was the secret benefactor. He had made all the money in Australia, where he was exiled and had sent it to Pip to become a gentleman because of the kindess Pip had shown him as a young boy. Magwitch also tells Pip that he is not supposed to be in London and that if he is caught, he will be hung and all of his fortune will be lost. Pip is completely in a state of shock as he was almost sure that Miss Havisham was his benefactor and he was meant to marry Estella. Now, he figures out that this was not so and that he was chasing a dream all this time. In addition, he also feels repulsed that it was the convict's money and he does not want it anym0re because he thinks that it has been tainted in some way. Meanwhile, Magwitch thinks that Pip will be very happy about this news. Although he says that he did it because of how Pip treated him, he actually most likely made Pip a gentleman because he wants a future, and he knows that he has no future himself, so he had to make something good out of the closest person to him, who happened to be Pip.

The Death of Mrs. Joe

While Pip is with Estella in London, he receives news that Mrs. Joe has passed away. Even though Pip has grown farther and farther apart from his old life, he still feels great sorrow over her death. She was a very important character early on in the book until she got brain damaged. Although she was very strict, it was because of her in the beginning that Pip remained with such good morals before he went to London as he was brought up by hand. Even though the way she treated him was not the best, Pip still felt thankful for what she did for him and loved her early on in the book. Now, he still feels some of the thankfullness towards her, although not his much, and this prompts him to return home. Pip has lost much of his high morals and ethics, but not all of it and still goes home to see his dead sister. When he returns to his home town, he also sees Joe and Biddy again, but the connection between them is still not there. It is at this point that Pip finally realizes how much he has alienated his former family and how badly he has mistreated them. He leaves intending to visit more often, showing that he still retains a lot of the moral values that he was taught at an early age by Mrs. Joe and Joe.

Look at me Estella, I'm a Gentleman

When Joe comes to London, he delivers the news that Estella has went back to the Satis House from her training, which causes Pip to want to go back to his old home town, to both visit Estella and also try and better relationships with Biddy and Joe. However, when he finally goes and visits Estella, he is shocked to see that him being a gentleman has had no effect on Estella's opinion of him and she remains uninterested in him. In fact, she tells Pip that she cannot remember much of him in the past and that he meant nothing to her. However, Pip continues to pursue her. Later, he spends time in London with her, he is treated as an escort and not a serious suitor. He is shocked to find out that Drummle is now courting her and when he confronts Estella about this, she tells him that he is the only suitor that she does not want to deceive. This answer does not seem to satisfy Pip though, and now he think that he is even less important to Estella. In addition, it leaves him in anguish because the entire reason that he wanted to be of a higher social class, the entire reason that he moved to London to become a gentleman, was because he wanted to impress Estella, and now that it is not working, he has no idea what to do.