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Great Expectations

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Hav­ing been the par­ent of six chil­dren, Labor Day — with the return of school — has always meant the begin­ning of the year for me. Nev­er mind Jan­u­ary One. As far as I am con­cerned, this is the time when the year tru­ly starts. And this year, with­in the space of a few days, I have one grand­child start­ing col­lege and anoth­er start­ing kindergarten.

(For my part I recall the year always began with a pen­cil box, a small box, care­ful­ly select­ed at the five and dime store, which con­tained pen­cils, eras­er, pen, six-inch wood­en ruler. and a pro­trac­tor for draw­ing cir­cles, which I don’t believe I ever used)

All this cre­at­ed a remem­brance of great expectations.

Just think­ing of the term “Great Expec­ta­tions,” in turn caused me to pick up my copy of Charles Dick­ens nov­el of the same name.

There are any num­ber of rea­sons why this is my favorite of his nov­els. Actu­al­ly, I think it is one of the tru­ly great novels.

Dick­ens wrote the book out of urgent need. His mag­a­zine — All the Year Round — which pub­lished ser­i­al nov­els, was in trou­ble. The then cur­rent major nov­el (A Day’s Ride by Charles Lever) was attract­ing a dimin­ish­ing num­ber of read­ers. In order to boost read­er­ship, Dick­ens began to write and pub­lish Great Expec­ta­tions. That Dick­ens wrote the book because of finan­cial need has always been a teach­ing point for me. Nev­er mind the romance of writ­ing. Write to find a way to pay the bills!

(It also always aston­ish­es me that Dick­ens, like oth­er writ­ers of the time, began to write these seri­als nov­els AND pub­lish at the same time.)

In any case, the open­ing chap­ters of the book are extra­or­di­nary, the meet­ing of the pro­tag­o­nist, young Pip, and the escaped con­vict Mag­witch. The meet­ing takes place in a misty ceme­tery in the old church­yard where Pip has been vis­it­ing his par­ents’ graves. Mag­witch — who is also a key (if unknown) play­er in Pip’s for­tunes — is also there and takes hold of Pip’s life, lit­er­ar­i­ly and fig­u­ra­tive­ly. The con­vict will also come to be revealed as the father of Estel­la, the girl (and woman) who Pip loves.

On these pages also lives the utter­ly aston­ish­ing Miss Hav­isham, who, hav­ing been aban­doned on her wed­ding day, freezes time and her life to live out her revenge.

It’s a nov­el about love, lost love, found love, redemp­tion, for­give­ness, kind­ness, and great anger. Is there more? Need more? You can prob­a­bly find it in the novel.

It is also a nov­el with two end­ings. As orig­i­nal­ly writ­ten, the love that Pip has for Estel­la remains unre­quit­ed. Bul­w­er Lyt­ton, anoth­er Vic­to­ri­an nov­el­ist, read advanced proofs of Great Expec­ta­tions, and urged a hap­py end­ing. Dick­ens pro­vid­ed one. My view is that the first end­ing is more con­sis­tent with the book. But you may choose for yourself.

In any case, if this is the time when your year begins, there is no bet­ter way to start it than to pick up Great Expec­ta­tions. Your expec­ta­tions will be met.

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