Reading Assignment 4

One day, a worker at Joes forge, Dodge Orlick and Mrs. Joe have an argument. Joe is called on to fight Orlick to defend his wifes honor. He quickly defeats Orlick. A short time later, Pip came home one day to find Mrs. Joe has been brutally beaten. Struck in the head with an iron, she is left alive but braindead and needs constant help. Later, she slowly begins to write a "T" on her slate which is assumed to be a hammer, representing Orlick. All of this evidence accuses Orlick as Mrs. Joes attacker, but we can't be sure, despite help from very distinguished detectives. To care for Mrs. Joe, Biddy moves in for assistance. Pip soon begins to teach Joe how to read and write during night hours. When he finds that he's going on an apprenticeship to become a gentleman and has inherited all of this money, he becomes hostile. He is rude to his friends and family, those who have befriended him through the worst times. Pip goes to Miss Havisham's one more time and she is extremely kind to him. This makes him believe that she is his benefactor. When he returns home, he feels sorry and asks Biddy to continue Joe's education while Pip is gone. Though Pip has grown into a well-mannered young boy due to the struggles of those around him, he still disapproves of their commonness and chooses to leave them rudely for his apprenticeship. He begins to treat them rudely because society frowns on those of such a common lifestyle. Dickens is suggesting that Pip is conforming to society in his rude ways and has finally fallen victim to these horrible lifestyles of which he used to frown upon as well as his friends and family.