Evidence
"I remained too stunned to think; and it was not until I began to think, that I began fully to know how wrecked I was, and how the ship in which I had sailed was gone to pieces..." (pg. 253).
Analysis
The sailing ships perceive freedom and independence, as Pip wishes to escape his problems at home and venture off to London to become a gentlemen. The ocean where the ships drift represent the different paths to overtake in Pip’s near future. Fate is luring him away from his adolescent stage, as he reflects on his past decisions.
EvidenceNext day, I had the meanness to feign that I was under a binding promise to go down to Joe; but I was capable of almost any meanness towards Joe or his name..." (pg. 227).
AnalysisAs Pip ages and grows, his expectations after time at Miss Havisham's and finding he gets to go to London to become a gentleman, he leaves Joe in the dust. Even in the midst of his illusions of becoming a gentleman, Pip never hated Joe. Pip thinks he is too good for Joe and looks at the life of the forge as disdainful. Despite being treated badly, Joe has maintained his love for Pip as he nurses Pip back to health, pays his debts and apologizes for any pain he felt from Mrs. Joe.
EvidenceIf the wind and the rain had driven away the intervening years, had scattered all the intervening objects, had swept us to the churchyard where we first stood face to face on such different levels, I could not have known my convict more distinctly than I knew him now, as he sat in the chair before the fire..." (pg. 248).
AnalysisPip's encounter with society enables him to be in contact with the convict. Whenever there happens to be severe weather, something always occurs. For example, the night Magwitch arrives on Pip's doorstep, there's a storm outside that only gets worse in the morning. When Pip first meets the convict in the graveyard, the mists are so thick that Pip can barely see his hands. It seems to us that weather is very closely tied to plot, and that it has something to do with big moments in Pip's life.
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