Great Expectations Book Analysis

Great expectations by charles dickens was an average book. The story starts out with Pip who is raised by his older sister and her husband, joe alone and at a graveyard visiting his deceased Mom, Dad, and siblings. An escaped convict who escaped from prison finds him and demands him for food to eat and a file to take the handcuffs off. Later on some soldiers show up to search for the convict. After Pips older sister, Mrs. Joe asks pip too visit a lady named Miss Havisham.  When Pip does he finds she is very old woman wearing a very dated wedding dress. Pip later plays cards with Estella, Miss Havishams adopted daughter. Pip learns to adore Estella and also becomes Joes apprentice. Not liking the work Pip decides to become a gentle men. Then Mrs. Joe is attacked by an unknown assailant, she is then taken care of by a girl named Estella. After, an unknown person decides to pay for Pip to get educated. Pip then travels too london and meets a man named Herbert Pockets who explains that Miss Havisham was broken on her wedding day when the man she was supposed to Mary left her abandoned. Pip is raised as a gentlemen by Herberts dad, Mr.Pocket. Pip after a long time visits Estella, finding her to be more beautiful than before. He also finds out that Mrs.Joe dies and attends her funeral. On his twenty first birthday Pip is also told he will receive the funds from the unknown person that he was promised. The Unkown person turns out to be the convict in the beginning of the story. Which they meet Miss havisham and estella, but Pip learns she is trying to marry a fellow student and this breaks Pips heart. Later miss. Havishams dress also catches on fire and Pip puts out the flames probably saving her life. Pip and the convict later try to escape the country but are caught by police. The convict is injured and his fortune does not go to him, instead it goes to the government. Pip falls sick and is nursed back to health and goes home and sees its on Joes and Biddy’s wedding day. Later Pip and Estella show signs of falling in love. I will be describing the main character, pip and how he might have suffered from. Post traumatic stress disorder. Mrs. Havisham suffers from a form of post traumatic stress disrorder. She is very sequestered. She avoids people and public places. People that suffer from post traumatic stress disorder tend to  avoid triggers and things that remind them of the event that is the stressor. (Matthew tull). While herbert pockets explains what happened to miss. Havisham he says, “When she recovered from a bad illness that she had, she laid the whole place waste, as you have seen it, she has never since looked upon the light of day” (Dickens). She was so hurt by the event that she never goes outside anymore. She never goes out to see anyone and this shows how she has been effected heavily by the man lesving her alone by herself. Miss Havisham was very abusive towardsk men and tried to take out her hate for men on all men that existed. People that have symptoms of ptsd can become absusive towards people around them.people with PTSD can become physically and mentally abusive, and more violent. Matthew tull While Pip is around Miss havisham and estella, mrs havisham says to estella, “Murmuring something in her thst sounded like, “break their hearts my pride a d hope, break there hearts and have no mercy!” there was a song” (dickens ) She is very conniving when is comes to men. She seeks to hurt them and in this situation through someone else. That makes it on an level much above what is usual when being mad at someone. She is very emotionally detached. She shows a lack of caring to the people around her. She doesnt care if she helps or not. People who have PTSD are less emotionally available and less emotionally attached to people and or things (Mayoclinic staff ). When Pip was talking to her about various things she shows lack of caring, “I,enlarged upon my knowing nothing and wanted to know everything, in the hop she might offer some help towards that desirable end. But she did not; on the contrary, she seemed to prefer my being ignorant. (Dickens ) She doesnt care to help Pip and instead prefers that he stay like he is. Uneducated and lacking common sense. So in conclusion miss havisham suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome. I believe the author suffers from post traumatic stress disorder as well. He was in a train when the train derailed killing many people and he was there to witness it. When something severe happenes to someone it can lead to. “in 1865 Charles dickens was traveling by train with Ellen Turman and her mother when they were involved in a Staplehurst railway derailment dickens tendon several of the victims some of them died while he was with them the day after the accident he wrote to Dr. Beard requesting a prescription for drafter to experience effective dickens greatly and he lost his voice for two weeks” (buckingham 123) The train accident shows he went through an extremely catastrophic event. This could show he was relatong to the character he was writing and this could give him a place to vent too. To show his true feeling about things. He was scared to go on trains and always found other ways to get places. When an event like this happens people avoid reminders. “The experience affected dickens greatly he lost his voice for two weeks and that he had a feeble pulse and then he was unfit for noise and worry afterwards he became nervous from traveling by express train and use alternative means when available”. (Buckingham 123) This shows he was acoiding things that reminded him of the event. He didnt eant to be reminded lf the thing so he avoided them if st all possible miss havisham also suffered from something traumatic and avoided reminders whenever possible except her wedding dress and things in her house. This also goves dickens a chance to vent to an audience. This could have inspired hum to drink more. Drinking is common for people the suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. “recent biographer clearer timeline describes him as a heavy drinker as well as a womanizer and tyrant in his final American tour tour in 1868 included alcohol in almost every turn fresh cream and 2 tablespoons of rum at seven in the morning Sherry cobbler cherry sugar and slices of orange with a biscuit a noon a pint of champagne at three in the egg beaten into a glass of sherry before the evening performance” (wine searcher) People that go through multiple tragic events such as this pften cope with alchohol so he might have used it ss a coping mechanism. Just like miss havisham used hurting others as a coping mechanism even though there is no comparability to the two. So this shows whyncharles dickens suffered from ptsd. So miss havisham and charles dickens have one thing in common, post traumatic stresss disorder. This provides a place to vent through doing something he likes. It allows him to cope with the acceptance of things that have happened and gives him a place to get lost. So all in all charles dickens tragically suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.