Book Summary

Young Pip and the convict 

" My father's name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Phillip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip." (page one)


The novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is about a young orphan boy named Pip, who is living with his sister and her husband. Pip’s sister is referred to as Mrs. Joe and her husband’s name is Joe. "... Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, sir." (page 3), is how Pip explained Joe to the escaped convict when interrogated by him at the marsh.

One day Pip’s Uncle Pumblechook took play at Satis house, which is the home of a wealthy, old lady Miss Havisham. She dresses herself in an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and the clocks in her house stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Here Pip meets a beautiful young women named Estella. Estella treats Pip cold heartedly continuously offending him with her hurtful words. Pip wants Miss Havisham to turn him into a gentleman that is worthy of Estella’s love. Pip is broken hearted when after months of regularly visiting the Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to let Pip become apprenticed to Joe who is a blacksmith. With this new apprenticeship Pip was constantly unhappy with his life.

While Pip continues his education and trying to become a proper gentleman in order to impress Estella, his determination to become gentleman begins to blur his vision. He even admits to Biddy "... I want to be a gentleman." (page 128). Pips dreams come true when one day Pip receives notice that a benefactor, that wants to remain a mystery to Pip, has given him an extreme amount of wealth. Soon all of Pips focus goes to readying himself to move to London. He begins to think of himself more superior to his friends and family and he begins to push them out of his life.

Pip moves to London where a lawyer has control of what Pip does with his money until he turns twenty-one and can be responsible for it. In London Pip befriends a young man named Herbert. Pip loans Herbert money so that he can start up a shipping company.

As soon as Pip turns twenty-one he discovers Pip’s benefactor was the convict he had once brought food and a file to as a child. He meets the convict, whose name we find out is, Abel Magwitch. Pip lets him stay with him while Herbert is away. Magwitch was ordered never to return to England, therefore Pip is now harboring a convict. Pip decides that he has to help Magwitch escape the country. They devise a plan to sneak onto a ship bound for Germany. The escape isn’t successful for Magwitch gets ratted out by his nemesis. He is caught and sentenced to death. At the same time Estella marries Pips nemesis.

Pip gets really sick, and Joe comes to his rescue. During this time Pip goes into debt because Magwitch’s money was taken away. As soon as Pip recovers Joe leaves only after he pays off all of Pips debt. A few days later Pip returns to try to make amends with Joe and to ask his old friend Biddy for her hand in marriage. To his surprise Joes has already married Biddy after Miss. Joe’s death. Pip and Joe do make amends.

There are two endings to the book. In both endings Estella’s first husband has died. The difference between the two endings is that in the first one Pip finds out that Estella has remarried a poor doctor. In the second one Pip and Estella are reunited and she is single and beautiful. She is sorry for having been so cruel to Pip. Pip, still in love with her, knows that they can finally be together.