Great Expectations: the definition of real love

photo courtesy of Adam Hoar

Whether it is reasonable or not, love crosses our minds as students at least a few times in our high school careers. Our underdeveloped frontal lobes are prone to romanticism, even if it's nothing more than a crush. Because it is held in the forefront of the mind, such “romantic” love is the first definition we jump to when we hear the word. But during my time at The King’s Academy, I have come to know a different kind of love—a love quite similar to the one Pip found in Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations.” 

Pip is only a boy when he is introduced to love. With the help of the vindictive Miss Haversham, Pip fosters a growing admiration for Estella, Miss Haversham’s adopted daughter. His admiration grows parallel to his widening desire for wealth and status, qualities which as an orphaned blacksmith’s apprentice, he has not experienced. 

When Pip receives an inheritance from a mysterious benefactor, he sees a chance to use his newfound wealth to pursue Estella, leading him to inadvertently and later intentionally leave the people who love him, namely his brother-in-law and father figure Joe Gargery, behind. 

Despite his selfish pursuits, Pip has the magnanimity to put some of his wealth and energy to the benefit of others. He channels his extravagance for the sole purpose of impressing and winning over Estella. At the climax of the novel, Estella marries another man, crushing Pip’s hopes, and he ends up in debtors' prison, devoid of Estella’s love and any means of getting it. 

It is clear that Pip threw away his fortune for vain pursuits. The novel’s worth comes from the few moments with Pip acts in real love for those close to him—acting as best man for Mr. Wemmick, anonymously funding Herbert Pocket’s establishment as a merchant, sustaining injuries to save Miss Haversham despite her malicious actions towards him and comforting a dying man by relating the fortunate life of his estranged daughter. 

The moment that broke me, however, is when Pip, bedridden with illness and deep in debt, finds Joe nursing him back to health. Ashamed of how he treated his best friend, Pip cries out for Joe to be angry and strike him, but Joe simply replies that they will always be friends. Once Pip recovers, Joe leaves before he can thank him, and Pip discovers that Joe, a poor blacksmith with hardly enough to support himself, quietly paid off his debts with his own savings. This moment of true unconditional love solidifies “Great Expectations” as the greatest novel I’ve ever read. 

“Great Expectations” shaped my outlook of life. I do not agree with the cliché statements about what lives are measured in, but I fully believe that the moments that matter the most are acting in selflessness to those around you, and making an effort to love others with your actions. Love is an act, not a feeling, and it extends farther than simply a crush or even your family and friends. Christians are called to love everyone and to love them sacrificially. 

This has been the aim of my high school career. I have been impacted by upperclassmen who made an effort to know me and be my friend, and I strive to pay that forward, welcoming, supporting and guiding those who are walking the path that I’ve already taken. 

You never know who you will influence. It is our job to make sure that all of our interactions are positive, and we reflect the unconditional love of God. The advice I would give any student would be to first read “Great Expectations” and second to have a relationship with as many people as possible. Relationships are the basis for agape, the real love we should pursue. I have not regretted it in my life, and at the very least, I have a crown to show for it. 

“We looked forward to the day when I should go out for a ride, as we had once looked forward to the day of my apprenticeship. And when the day came…Joe wrapped me up, took me in his arms, carried me down to it, and put me in, as if I were still the small helpless creature to whom he had so abundantly given of the wealth of his great nature,” Dickens wrote.