In Great Expectations, Pip has changed his social class immensely. Pip didn't understand how a poor family could be happy. Pip thought that social class was everything in life. He also thought that money was very important. In reality, it turns out that money and social rank do not matter in life. What really matters is being connected and having relationships with family and friends. Pip finds this out the hard way. In Great Expectations, Pip is exposed to many different social classes, behaves very differently, discovers how lonely he feels, and how family and friends mean everything in life. Early in his life, Pip grew up in a poor and somewhat inferior environment. classy family. As a child, Pip did not understand how poor people could be so happy without much money. He didn't understand how his family was not satisfied with the social class in which they are placed. When Pip travels to London in the novel, he discovers what upper class status is like. Pip wants something improved for him in the story beyond simply being Joe's apprentice. This is the logic behind why Pip goes to London in the novel. Pip wants a lot of money and a high rank in the social class. Pip has higher expectations for himself; he believes that if he can make a living by escaping the lower social caste system, he will find prosperity, happiness, and the love of the beautiful Estella. When he leaves Biddy and Joe in the novel, he was sad because he and Joe are really great friends in the novel. Pip becomes cold and secretive towards his real family once he learns of his new life in London. When Joe visits Pip in the novel, Pip is very rude towards him, hurting his feelings. Joe realizes how insolent Pip has become, and although Pip is distracted... middle of paper... the novel. By the time she finds out what she wants, it's too late because Biddy is about to get married to Joe. Social class and money have made Pip a very lonely man at the end of the novel. He achieves everything he works for in London, but everything he hoped for with Estella didn't work out. Life is not just about class and money. It's about having a loving family and loving friends who support what you do in whatever you want to do in life. Works Cited Dickens, Charles. "Chapter 8." Great expectations. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. 64. Print.Dickens, Charles. "Chapter 27." Great expectations. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. 229. Print.Dickens, Charles. "Chapter 22." Great expectations. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. 186. Print.Dickens, Charles. "Chapter 58." Great expectations. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. 509. Print.