From the beginning of the book, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens you can see a deep relationship between the hero, Pip, and his brother-in-law Joe. As the book opens you see Pip confiding in Joe as to how Pip really feels about his sister who has taken him in after the death of his family. When Mrs. Joe cannot find Pip she yells and threatens him with a beating she calls this "bringing him up." As it turns out, Joe feels that Mrs. Joe has been "bringing him up" since they got married. It is because of this sympathetic kind of suffering that they both live with that they are able to understand each other. From this empathy springs the trust that allows Pip to confide in Joe all his secrets and hopes for the future. .
When Pip decides that there is more to life then what he knows at his sister's house, it is Joe that he talks to about this desire. When Pip takes it upon himself to better himself and decides that he wants to be a gentleman, it is Joe that sits with him and allows Pip to attempt to educate him. Joe humored Pip no matter what the circumstances and made Pip feel as though there was someone he could talk to through his life. When he left, Pip's thoughts were of leaving Joe not his sister who had taken it upon herself to bring him up.
Another of Pip's major confidantes was Biddy. When Biddy arrived at his sister's home, to take care of the family in his sister's condition, Pip and Biddy became friends and it was supposed that they would probably be married. Even to Pip it seemed to make more sense then his infatuation with Estella that would probably never amount to anything. Biddy shared Pip's thirst for knowledge, which made them easy friends. Biddy allowed Pip to be the intelligent one and even if she did know something more then he did with less effort she never appeared presumptuous. Pip was able to confide in Biddy because for a while she was the only other one that understood what he wanted in life.
