Borruso 1 Mckenzie Borruso Ms. Gardner English 10, Per.2 7 March 2014 A Gentleman: Physically Wealthy or Mentally Wealthy?

Social class has always been looked at as having the high, the middle, and the low; however, some see it as a personal depiction rather than ones money status. When one is wealthy, they are considered to be a gentleman, though in our recent time a gentleman is one who does anything from helping our community to opening a door for another person. The thought of being a gentleman looks beyond the wealthy verses the poor and focuses toward the idea that a gentleman is one who puts others before themselves. Social class plays a large role in Charles Dickens tragic yet romantic novel Great Expectations. Pipa boy whose life mirrors Dickens own childhooddesires the upper class and strives to become a gentleman; consequently, as he progresses in age he soon realizes the true meaning of a gentleman. Through his novel, Dickens uses social class to demonstrate the effect money has on human beings and how it affects the way one person sees another in the same way that Pip looked down upon Joe for his inability to be a part of the higher class. As a young boy, Pip was constantly looked down upon and humiliated as he was compared to swine (25). Because he was a child, he was said to be ungrateful and more detestable than a pig (24,25). The actions that the higher classman use toward Pip are especially significant to his desire to become a gentleman. He is not only shunned by adults, but also by Estella who is of the same age as he. Mentally, Pip is not excepted by Estella and

Borruso 2 feels disowned by her when he is taken down into the yard to be fed in the former dog -like manner for supper (88). His dignity gets eliminated, thereby giving him the decision to eliminate his life as a lower classman. In order to reflect Pips awareness towards him becoming a gentleman, Dickens expresses Pips feelings toward his family. During one point in the novel when Pip comes home from the Satis House, he goes into the kitchen to have supper and sees his homely meal which causes him to feel more ashamed of his home than ever (108). When Joe went to visit Pip at his new home in London, Pip tries to get Joe to use manners: hanging up his hat, talking in a proper manner, and getting Joe to answer when Mr. Wopsle speaks to him. Pip was embarrassed by Joes actions such as when Joe would not give Pip his hat and instead held it like a birds-nest with eggs in it throughout his visit at Pips new home (219). These humiliating acts set the stage for a new level of consciousness towards Pips thoughts about gentlemen. One of Pips most heighted moments of awareness to him becoming a gentleman comes during the moment that he turns twenty-one. His birthday marks his official transition to adulthood. During this part of his life, Pips convict arrives and causes the downfall of Pips greatest expectations. With this, Pip begins to realize the true meaning of a gentleman. In less time than expected, Pip understands that he was treating Joe and Biddy the same way he was treated as a young boy: lower than an animal. Through knowledge, through creativity, and through imagination, Dickens expresses social class and the meaning of a gentleman through Pips journey from a lower classman to a

Borruso 3 gentleman. He intelligently portrays a gentleman as being one to help others instead of one who is wealthy. Dickens work causes the reader to think what they truly believe a gentleman is. In the novel, ones view of a gentleman ultimately twists into realities perspective of a current gentleman. Dickens clearly shows that the true way to be a gentleman comes from within the heart of a man and is not made by his social economic class.