Summer Dillon Gardner English 10H 1st Period 7 March 2014 A Womans Touch The importance of the womans

touch in a mans world can many times be overlooked. The truth is, a gentlemans, or a common mans crutch is the women in his life. These women fed him, educated him, washed him, dried him, and loved him. This nurturing is essential in the development of a young gentleman. Charles Dickens introduces these influential women in his coming of age novel, Great Expectations. Pip, the young protagonist, struggles with the pressures of being too common in a world where only gentlemen are loved, respected, and successful. Through foil and first person point of view, Dickens demonstrates the importance of women in Pips life and how they shape him into the true gentleman he is at the end of the novel through discipline and loss, love and acceptance, and conscience and education. Discipline is a key principle young boys must endure if they hope to become gentlemen later in life. Pip acquires this discipline from Mrs. Joe, as she raised him by hand (6). Although she may do this act with strictness, often resulting in Tickler (7) and discipline of a physical nature, it taught Pip to be grateful (49) and sensitive (61). Without her firm hand, Pip could not reach the standards needed in the hope of being a gentleman. A gentleman must be respectable, well mannered, and proper. A mother or guardians discipline is needed for such requirements. With Mrs. Joe - a fine figure of a woman (123) - also comes the principle of loss, as Pips sisters death brings him his

first open grave. The figure of (his) sister in her chair by the kitchen fire haunted (him) night and day (279). The acceptance of loss is something all men, gentle or common, must endure. With his sisters death, Pip acquires the acceptance that life is not fair and things will not always work for him, but with every scratch or bruise he becomes stronger. When picturing a gentleman, often the image brings a young lady into view, hanging on his arm and talking sweetly. Throughout the novel, Pip hopes this lady will be Estella. Pip loved her without reason (232), as well as against promise, hope, and even happiness. This need for a woman is in human nature, but Pip has come to know primarily ornery women, after being raised by his sister. Why would his love interest be any different? Pip wants nothing more than to impress Estella, and it blossoms his overall desire to become a gentleman. These needs to impress Estella, who is, at times, cold and heartless and it is in (her) nature to be as such are nothing more than the pressures adolescents are exposed to by the opposing sex. The words coarse and common (59) are that much louder when spoken from the lips of a woman, as they are with any maturing young man. It is in a persons code to respond to the opposing sex and it is in a gentlemans code to fulfill this womans needs and desires. Pip explores the identity of love within Estella as he pursues the life of a gentleman, and he uncovers another truth about life: acceptance. To become a gentleman, one should not be blinded by what shield an individual on the surface, but be man enough to accept what lies down in the core of a person. When Pip is young, his conscience is muddled as his youthful mind discovers the true meaning of right and wrong. His guilt is often portrayed as larger than life as he

fears the consequence of his actions expressed within his sisters disciplinary actions. Pips conscience is even more muddled as Pip acquires a higher status and is corrupted by the great expectations of society. Biddy, the foil of Estella, acts as Pips conscience as she is unafraid of voicing her opinion on his actions towards Joe and how he begins to treat life in general. Biddy knows that life is not about status and tries to show Pip that he must be happier as he is (128). She sees the truth: life is not about status but what one does with their life. This is a truth a true gentleman needs to discover. Even though it is presented to Pip early on, it takes the entire novel for him to figure this fact out. As well as a conscience, Biddy provides Pip with an education fitting for a gentleman, being his first teacher (126), symbolizing those of higher status are not the only ones who possess intelligence. Dickens shows the path one must take as Pip goes from troubled child to a true gentleman. This path is marked by the women who help, or hurt, Pip on this journey and show what the true meaning of a gentleman is. A place of home, a place of guidance, and a place of learning are all things offered in having a women in ones life, whether that one is another woman, a gentleman, or a common man. Pip learns from the women in the book, and though at times their presence seems to hurt more than help, Pip eventually finds home through them.