The Industrialised City of Great Expectations? : Pip's journey from the marshes to the city

Abstract:      This bachelor thesis will have its focus on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The central claim of this thesis is that in the novel Great Expectations, the protagonist Pip is used by Dickens as a metaphor for the British urbanization during the period of industrialisation.       The literary theory that will help to analyse and prove this claim will be New Historicism. The central praxis of using non-literary historical documents and comparing them it to a literary text such as Great Expectations will be used in the discussion part of this thesis. As New Historicism tends to be unclearly defined, this thesis applies H.Aram Veeser’s definition and his definition is explained in this thesis.      The thesis is structured thus firstly, Pip’s time in the marshes will be discussed and in this discussion and the following ones. Characters that influence Pip is used to see Pip’s alternation.Secondly, after discussing Pip’s time in the marshes, his time in London is discussed. Finally, Pip’s return to the marshes after living in the city is discussed to clearly see his change in attitude and whether the urbanisation is for the better or it worsens his state of mind. Pip’s journey in Great Expectations expresses an ambivalence against urbanization. As urbanisation has great expectations in the rural communities, Pip sees that this comes to a high cost.