"[Estella] laughed contemptuously, pushed me out, and locked the gate upon me. I went straight to Mr. Pumblechook's, and was immensely relieved to find him not at home. So, leaving word with the shopman on what day I was wanted at Miss Havisham's again, I set off on the four-mile walk to our forge; pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common laboring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad ay." (Chapter 8)

In Great Expectations, Pip starts out "common": his sister's husband is a blacksmith, and that's what he's been brought up to be. He hasn't ever really questioned that future—until now. This passage comes right after he's figured out his place on the social ladder. He's been to Miss Havisham's to play with Estella, who's contemptuous and proud. Estella can see Pip's class status, in little things like his slang, his boots, and his hands. And Estella is not the sort of girl to let anything go when she can use it to bully someone.

Common Problems

In this passage, Estella's insults really start to bother Pip. Before he met Estella, Pip just expected that he'd follow his family profession and train to be a blacksmith. But now he's haunted by how high Estella is—and how "low-lived" he is.

Even though this is one small moment in the novel, it gets at some of the key themes of Great Expectations—what does it mean to be "common"? And what makes a gentleman a gentleman? Estella points out the little things, like clothes and slang, which give away a person's class. But the Victorians were also interested in the character of a gentleman: a gentleman should be honest, dutiful, and respectful, especially to those he has power over.

So this is all to say that socio-economic status is super tricky. There's actual income, and then there's behavior. And class status is relative (just like our labels for it: "lower," "middle," and "upper"—and everything in between). Pip starts to worry about his position when he meets the privileged and haughty Estella. When he's at the forge, he never thinks to compare himself to other people.

Pip also has a tricky way of internalizing Estella's comments: he makes her insults even worse. It's not just that he calls knaves Jacks, but that (he thinks) it's a "despicable habit." And it's not just that he's ignorant, but (he thinks) "in a low-lived bad way." It seems like Pip starts equating "common" with moral failure. No wonder he's so eager to come into his "great expectations" and get out of Dodge (that is, the forge).

But over the course of the novel, Pip's assumptions keep getting challenged. What about characters who have money but are also violent, angry, or vindictive, like Drummle, Pip's mean and rich rival for Estella? Can money make the gentleman?

And what if Joe is actually the best character in the novel, with the truest moral compass? Is he a gentleman?

The Two Pips

This passage shows how Pip's mind works. He's brooding over Estella's insults and adopting her perspective. He's not only repeating the original insults, he's also heaping on an unhealthy serving of moral judgment. (And if Pip is supposed to be remembering all this years later, it's amazing how clearly he remembers all the mean things Estella says.)

On the surface, it's a sad moment. A young boy walks four miles alone and feels sorry for himself. And we feel sorry for him, too, of course. But Dickens balances the pathos here with self-consciousness. The older, narrating Pip pokes a little fun at himself throughout the novel. We get a sense of it even in this brief passage. Pip is just a kid, and yet his thoughts make him seem super serious and prone to exaggeration.

As the novel goes on, we keep coming back to Pip's feelings about being common or inadequate—it's always lurking behind his judgy moments. The novel is haunted by those early scenes from Pip's childhood; the same patterns crop up (with a twist).