A Childs Pride and Lovely Lies The innocence and purity of childhood is often something viewed as valuable and

an attribute that is held on to as long as possible. However, children, encased within their small world of understanding, do not always benefit from this callowness , specifically when they encounter people and events they may not fully understand. Charles Dickenss bildungsroman Great Expectations begins similarly, with his young protagonist Pip often frightened and unsure. This theme of childishness, of conscious and confusion, continues throughout the novel and can be seen in Pip, and in many other characters as well. Just as Pip does not immediately grow into a gentleman of honor and intelligence, the ignorance and small-mindedness of a child is a present trait in them all regardless of age. Dickens does not support the idolization of the innocence of a child but condemns it in this way: using the mistakes and hardships of his characters he shows that clinging to callowness can cause one to remain lost in the dark confusion of childhood, unconscious of the pain they cause to themselves and to others. Pip is shown, even as he begins to develop as a character, to struggle with his mental and emotional immaturity in such a way that his actions are used as a vessel to show readers the detrimental consequences that they cause. Pips development as a character is centered on his journey into adulthood, into awareness and morality. This is not immediately apparent, as, first, his mindset narrows, drawing thick imaginary lines between himself and others, before it can expand. Terrified into stealing food for the convict, Magwitch, Pip reflects, Conscience is a dreadful thing ( Dickens 9), and indeed he seems to take this thought to heart for the entirety of the rising action. As Pip ages, he does not soften and grow wiser as he seems to think he does. Instead, he begins to inflict harm upon those who love him the most and, in turn, hurts himself. He grows ashamed of home (82), snaps at Biddy, and, even once he has left the forge and Kent far behind with no intent on looking back or aiding in any way those who raised him, live*s+ in a state of chronic uneasiness respecting [his] behaviour to Joe

(213). Tossing away his fortune arbitrarily, acting as though new clothes somehow transform him into a better man than one with coarse hands andcommon boots (47)these are not the actions of an intelligent gentleman, but a frivolous youth. He wears his childish pride on his chest as though it were an emblem, when, in reality, it is a mark of shame. It is because of it that he is constantly battling overwhelming guilt and allowing himself to believe the saccharine sweetsweet enough to rotlies he creates for himself in order to dream of the future that he wishes to occur with Miss Havisham as his benefactress and the beauty that is Estella handed over as if she were a prize to be won. It is because of this that he must fall so far before he can begin to truly grow up. Similarly, a good number of other characters, from Miss Havisham to Joe, show this misguided, spiteful innocence in order to demonstrate its prominence in society. While Great Expectations is about Pips journey into manhood, it is obvious from the start that he could never have gotten along as well as he did without the help of those around him. Through the mindset and spectrum Pip provides as the narrator, Dickens subtly brings out the immaturity of other characters. Joes childish personality is prominent from the first time he is introduced, and while it often looked upon dotingly, he does not always benefit from it. When Pip inquires why Joe does not try to learn how to write, Joe explains his situation with his father who was, according to him, good in his hart (36) and Mrs. Joeafine figureofawoman! (36)to justify the cycle of abuse he has allowed to continue paining him. He truly sees the world in the best light possible, but his idealism does not shield him from his misconceptions. Herbert sees the world similarly to Joethrough a pair of rose-coloured glasses, that isand he too pays a price for it. Without Pips help, Herbert surely would have fallen into insurmountable debt with all his look*ing+ about (141) in the shipyard without making any serious progression in his field. There is callowness in Miss Havishams actions, even. First, she romanticized the thought of a love story and happy ending by idolizing (141) her con of a fianc and not heeding Matthew Pockets warnings that she was doing too much for this man (143), but did not stop there. By

scheming up her grand plan of revenge against the male gender with Estella as her weapon, Miss Havisham fastened on her own blinders to reality, causing perhaps the most collateral damage of anyone else with her burning ire. Instance after instance of pure mindsets causing pain and misfortune occur, as characters disillusion themselves from reality, clinging to mentalities that contain a time limit in an ever-changing world. Dickens utilizes sources of light and dark to explore and signify the murkiness of childhood in contrast to the illuminating light that knowledge and maturity bring. From his early beginnings in Kent, Pip is surrounded by the dark, concealing fog of the marshes, but it is when he first enters Satis House that he is encompassed by a life-altering darkness that stays with throughout his youth and into adulthood. The passages were all dark (43) and Daylight never entered the house (97), describes Pip of Miss Havishams timeless abode. Despite this, he does not cower from it as one would expect, and, instead, builds his expectations there, returning again and again to hide in the shadows of a dream that makes the world simpler: black and white, dark and light, the Joes and the gentlemen. The shade of Satis House viciously shortens Pips range of sight, narrowing his views and confusing his values entirely. As soon as he enters, or returns, rather, though he does not recognize it, he is lost. As the older Pip narrating the story, his black ingratitude (82) of his home is aptly described. While he believes that it is the coal dust from the forge griming his hands, it is the Satis House staining his mind, bringing his thoughts down to the level of a child who sticks his tongue out at people he does not like without a thought to their feelings, and merely points at what he wants and receives. London, too, is dismal (134), dirty, and dark. Upon Magwitchs arrival, however, there is an abrupt change. As Pip carries his lantern, the single source of light in the midst of a stormy night, Magwitch steps from the darkness slowly within its light (246), and, from there, Pip gradually begins to clear from his mind of the smog of Satis, to remove his blinders and see the world as it is: free from dividing lines or rulebooks that come free with a new suit. Magwitch enlightens Pip as no one else could, remaining the light in his life until

the very end when the light left his face (360) at his final moment of passing. Changed for good then is Pip, having shed the black stain from his hands as well as his harmful navet toward a world unexpected. Within most every character in the novels conscious, Dickens weaves elements of innocence, of maturity, and of guilt to draw attention to the ever-present motif. Through the actions and mistakes of Pip, Joe, Herbert, Miss Havisham and others, readers play witness to the almost criminal effects of the attribute on both those who possess it and those around them. The resolution of the coming-of-age novel hits the point home as Pip escapes from the shadowy confusion and clinging hands of childhood, and into a new age of maturity and morality. The close-minded callowness that clung to him like the mists of the marshes for so long has dissipated, and he has truly become a gentleman worth his wittles (3).