Size Makes No Difference

Standing at the mountain
I stare at its beauty
Looking at the ground
I find a small pebble
A small stone
A small rock
Picking it up
I again stare at the mountain
How does one small rock
Compare to this immense creation?
Then again
How do I compare
With the world?
I am small
Young
Where is my place
In the world?
So many things
I can do
So many things
I can achieve
But how does one
Do these great things?
I again stare at the mountain
Then at the pebble
They are very similar
Very little difference
I can do anything
No one is stopping me
My size makes no difference

A Two-Faced Man

When a hard-working man, like Wemmick, is given a job that requires a lot of seriousness, they may appear to others as a demanding individual. To Pip, his first impression of Wemmick is that he is cynical and has a dry personality, but when invited to his house for dinner, he observes that this orderly man has two different sides to his life. Work and business can cause a person to become someone they are not -- knowing that at any moment they could lose their job. When Wemmick returns to his home with Pip, he is allowed to reveal the true, merry and jovial man he is. He claims his house is a castle and although it is just a small gothic home he is proud and content with his living quarters and would not change it for the world. He tells Pip that he is own engineer, his own carpenter, his own plumber, and his own jack of all trades. This proves that Wemmick is satisfied with the way he lives and is fine with having to work hard to provide not only for himself, but his “aged parent.” In this chapter, Dickens is showing us that going to work every day can cause a person to have to hide their true identity until their work day is finished. “ Wemmick got dryer and harder as we went along, and his mouth tightened into a post office again.” (p. 209) In this quote, Pip is observing Wemmick’s personality changing as he leaves home and approaches work. This is the main concept Dickens is trying to get across; not that work is unhealthy, but that it can result in a person having to act like someone they are not.

Pip's Home Life

Pip is an innocent boy who has suffered so much at a young age; his mother and father have all passed away and not only has he lost his parents, but his five brothers, his companions, and his friends. Now, the only family he has left is his older sister who is merely twenty years older than him, raising him with her dark haired husband, Joe. Pip’s home life is very unique when compared to any of ours. His brother in law, acts like a younger brother, always wanting to be in the fun with Pip, and his older sister, like a wise old mother with a bit of a temper. Mrs. Joe Gargery is constantly stating that Pip should be grateful that she would bring him up as a child and that if she didn’t he would have joined the rest of their family in the churchyard a long time ago. She is fierce and forceful, but only wants Pip to behave under her circumstances. When Pip has to steal bread in order to return to the marshes and feed the convict, he feels guilty and because of this you know he has been brought up learning and following good morals.