A Life in Progress

Growing Up with Great Expectations

Charles Dicken’s worked night and day for 1 year perfecting his story with narration from 1 character. it is believed his writings were Charles way of dealing with the storm in his head and also a way to get out of the poverty he found himself in when at 12 his father was imprisoned for debt and Charles forced into the conditions in the blacking factories.

first, this brings up something funny from my childhood.

This book was tested in my 9th grade english class. I remember a fellow classmate got his hands on the answer key. I had read the book, yet, figured i would use it as insurance. Well, everyone made little cheat sheets. I thought to myself, if I cheat, it won’t be with any proof. I remembered the 150 a-d combinations by organizing them in 5 line stanzas in a poem or a song. Test day and I’m reading the test’s questions. Absolutely nothing matched. Things I was sure I had comprehended as clear as day, where in the wrong order. So, I ditched the answer key and took the test. Funny thing happened. The next day in class the teacher tells me and one other student to stand up. He said congratulations! Both of you got a near perfect paper and everyone else in the class got far bellow 50 and failed!!

All but two had cheated.

Yet, there are reasons I connected deeply to this story.

Basically, I related to Pip. There are bits from my childhood that match his childhood, so not only did we both grew up in an unjust poor households, both found our way into a level of society higher than our own. Both of us yearned to be more than the people around us. Both wanting to be more than we were.

Well, the story famously ends with Pip’s unknown benefactor being the escaped convict Magwitch he had encountered as a child, gave him the opportunity to live a gentlemens life. Once Pip knew who had paid for his education, he was able to take the blinders he had worn, and for the first time see that even with money, what’s inside us, the ability to nurture is what creates life, and  his childhood love Estella benefactor Miss Havishman was bankrupt inside and perhaps Estella had needed the most saving afterall.

This just hits home with me.

We all want safety, to belong, and be loved. We need a path & some help.

It all starts from within and don’t let your expectations blind you for whats right in front of you- life.