From Great Expectations
Pip
An orphan boy • Eager and dreaming
A kind-hearted orphan boy from the marshes who helps a stranger and dreams of becoming a fine gentleman.
Who is Pip?
Pip is an orphan boy growing up beside the misty Kent marshes, raised by his sharp-tempered older sister and her kind husband, Joe the blacksmith. A frightening meeting with a convict in the churchyard, and visits to a strange old lady’s house, set him dreaming of becoming a gentleman. The story follows him from a small boy to a grown man as he learns what really makes a person good.
Pip is a character in Great Expectations, the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens, retold for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.
What is Pip like?
- imaginative
- sensitive
- grateful
Pip’s story
Pip’s real name is Philip Pirrip, but as a baby he could only say “Pip.” His parents are buried in the churchyard on the marshes, and he is brought up “by hand” by his sister, Mrs. Joe, and her gentle husband, Joe Gargery. One Christmas Eve an escaped convict frightens him into bringing food and a file, and Pip, terrified and guilty, does it. Soon afterward he is sent to play at Satis House, where Miss Havisham sits in her old wedding dress and proud Estella laughs at his coarse hands. From then on he is ashamed of the forge and longs to be a gentleman.
Pip becomes Joe’s apprentice but is secretly unhappy, until the London lawyer Mr. Jaggers brings astonishing news: an unknown person has given him “great expectations,” money and training to become a gentleman. Pip is sure the gift comes from Miss Havisham, who must mean him to marry Estella. In London he shares rooms with cheerful Herbert Pocket, spends far too much, and treats Joe coldly when he comes to visit.
Years later the convict, Abel Magwitch, returns and reveals that he is the giver. Pip is horrified at first, but he comes to love the grateful old man, tries to help him escape, and stays by his side to the end. After a long illness, when Joe nurses him and pays his debts, Pip goes abroad to work honestly with Herbert. Eleven years later he comes home to find Joe and Biddy with a little son named Pip, and he meets Estella again in the ruined garden of Satis House.
“It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home.”
A moment to remember
On a cold Christmas morning, frightened Pip creeps out with a pork pie and Joe’s file for the hungry convict, and as he watches the man eat, his fear slowly turns to pity.
Family and friends
- Joe Gargery: brother-in-law and dearest friend
- Estella: the girl he loves
- Abel Magwitch: convict he helps on the marshes
- Biddy: childhood friend
- Herbert Pocket: London roommate and best friend
- Miss Havisham: the lady of Satis House
- Mr. Jaggers: lawyer who brings his news
Talk about it
Pip was embarrassed by Joe’s simple ways when he became a gentleman, and later he was very sorry. Have you ever felt embarrassed by someone you love? What helped?
Questions about Pip
- Why is he called Pip?
- His full name is Philip Pirrip. As a small child he could only manage to say “Pip,” and the name stuck.
- Who is Pip’s secret benefactor?
- Pip believes it is Miss Havisham, but it is really Abel Magwitch, the convict he helped on the marshes. Magwitch made his fortune sheep-farming in Australia and saved it to make Pip a gentleman.
- Does Pip marry Estella?
- The book does not say they marry. In the published ending, Pip meets Estella again in the ruins of Satis House and sees “no shadow of another parting from her.” Dickens’s first ending, which was not printed in his lifetime, had them part as friends.
Read the story in
Great Expectations
Ages 6–9, 72 pages
