Dickens establishes the theme and shows Pip learning this lesson, largely by exploring ideas of ambition and self-improvement. ... Significantly, Pip's life as a gentleman is no more satisfying "and certainly no more moral "than his previous life as a blacksmith's apprentice. ... At the beginning of the novel, like Pip, Jane is a child. ... In the course of the novel, all of these things change. ... Fortunately for Pip and other Victorian men in his dilemma, they do not need to concern themselves with moving beyond this sort of gender discrimination, but only with rising...

• Word Count: 1152
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate