It is apparent that there are parallels between the
frivolous Belinda Pocket and Pip in Charles Dickens's Great
Expectations. In Chapter XXIII, Mrs. Pocket is clearly the object of
Dickens's satire as she is a characterization of those who aspire to the upper
class. She has servants performing all the womanly skills that she has never learned;
she sits and reads her book that is "all about titles" while her baby becomes trapped
under her dress, and nearly escapes harm, or, again, it nearly puts its eye out with a
nutcracker. When her eight-year-old daughter warns her, Mrs. Pocket scolds the girl,
"You naughty child. How dare you?"
Like Mrs. Pocket, in his
aspirations to be a gentleman, Pip ignores the advice of Mr. Jaggers and spends his
money much too freely, hiring a servant and lavishly furnishing the appartment he shares
with Herbert Pocket. Pretentious after a while of spending freely in London and seeking
the society of Estella, Pip neglects Joe; even when Joe visits, he is rude to him.
Similar to Mrs. Pocket, Pip pursues an illusionary status while ignoring what is truly
of value, his family. In his efforts to appear as a gentleman, Pip also seeks the
unattainable as does Mrs. Pocket. While she covets a title, Pip desires the "star,"
Estella.
Pip's involvement with the appearances of things
clearly parallels the superficiality of Mrs. Pocket who pursues her attainment of a
title which will make her appear to be somebody. For, like Mrs. Pocket, Pip loses sight
of the real values, such as genuine love and family.
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