for some reason, even though i appreciate the dynamic between Pip and Estella, i didn’t really fall in love with them. i often have this feeling that he idealized her too much. to be honest, from the get-go, i was kind of always rooting for Biddy. she just seems so pure-hearted and supportive of Pip but also never tolerates him when he’s wrong. she’s just so consistently endearing.
”Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy today and somebody else tomorrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine.”
Pip’s relationship to Magwitch and Joe are kind of the same in a sense. they just happened to be in different circumstances. i think that ultimately these are two people who cared for him and wanted him to be happy, to be something. his relationship to them were the most touching parts of the book.
finally, there’s this passage in the book that i just loved:
”I whistled and made nothing of going. But the village was very peaceful and quiet, and the light mists were solemnly rising, as if to show me the world, and I had been so innocent and little there, and all beyond was so unknown and great, that in a moment with a strong heave and sob, I broke into tears.”
it perfectly captures the anxiety that one feels of facing a huge change for the first time, of leaving something familiar and comfortable. but it was also exciting and full of hope. it was a reminder that there is really no other choice but to move forward and see how it goes.