河南理工大学万方科技学院本科生毕业论文 Romantic Tendency in Dicken’sGreat Expectations 论狄更斯《远大前程》中的浪漫主义 院系名称 文法系 姓名 董晨露 学号 201004020102 专业 英语 指导教师 徐峰 2014年4月30日 Romantic Tendency in Dicken’s Great Expectations A Thesis Submitted to Literatureand Law Department of Wanfang College of Science &Technology HPU in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts By Dong Chenlu Supervisor: Xu Feng April 30,2014 Abstract Charles Dickens enjoys great reputation in English literature.He is usually considered as a representative of critical realism whose novels offer a complete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age.Most of Dickens' researchers focus on the writer's realistic creation ideas.However, Dickens is not only a great realistic novelist but also has a strong tendency of Romanticism.Dickens has created a series of novels with the characteristics of Romanticism through absorbing thoughts from the French thinker Rousseau and the Romantic writers of the early 19th century. Great Expectations,which has been adapted into a movie,TV and drama for nearly ahundred years is Dickens' famous novel in his late life.This book takes the form of autobiography and describes the growth process of orphan Pip. Dickens wants to show its writing techniques through the description of the ups and downs of Pip’s life. We know love, loyalty and conscience is more important than wealth and status, in today's fiercely competitive society, how to keep the original simple is worth thinking. This thesis aims at analyzing the romantic writing characteristic of Dickens.The thesis will be divided into four parts:the first part is an introduction to Dickens andGreat Expectations;the second part deals with the theory of romanticism including its development and major perspectives;the third part mainly discusses the embodiment of romanticism in the book,which contains three periods,i.e.recall to the past;return to nature;attention to children; the fourth part demonstratesaconclusion. The study of this novel,which embodies apparent Romantic characteristics, will rectify our past prejudices,deepen our understanding of Dickens’creative thoughts and widen the study of his artistic accomplishments. Keywords:Dickens;Great Expectations;Romanticism;Return to Nature; 摘要 狄更斯通常被认为是一位杰出的现实主义作家。他的小说给我们展示了他所处时代英国小资产社会的真实画面。大多数狄更斯研究者的关注点集中在作家的现实主义创作思想方面,然而,狄更斯不仅是伟大的现实主义作家,同时也具有强烈的浪漫主义创作倾向。狄更斯从法国思想家卢梭和英国19世纪初期的浪漫主义作家那里汲取思想，创作了一系列具有浪漫主义特色的小说。 《远大前程》是狄更斯晚年的著名小说，百年来多次被改编成电影、电视剧及舞台剧。这本书以自传的形式叙述了孤儿皮普的成长过程。通过描写皮普跌宕起落的人生阶段，狄更斯在作品中充分展现了其浪漫主义特征的写作手法。让我们知道了爱、忠诚和良心比财富地位更为重要，在当今这个竞争惨烈的社会中，如何让自己保持那份原有淳朴值得人们思考。 本论文旨在分析狄更斯的浪漫主义写作特征。全论文可以分为四个部分：第一部分为引言部分，这部分将会依次对狄更斯的生平及主要作品、《远大前程》的故事情节和当前的研究现状做一简要介绍；第二部分为理论部分，对浪漫主义之以理论的发展及主要观点的介绍；第三部分为解析部分，主要对本书所体现的浪漫主义进行论述，这一部分包含三个阶段，包括回忆过去、回归自然和关注儿童所体现的浪漫主义。第四部分为结论部分。 本论文充分研究了狄更斯的《远大前程》中所具有的的浪漫主义特征，希望帮助大家纠正过去的一些偏见，进而增进我们对其创作思想的了解，拓宽对其小说艺术成就的研究。 关键词:狄更斯;远大前程;浪漫主义;回归自然; Acknowledgements This thesis is the product of the author and the supervisor’s three months of efforts.It has been repeatedly revised under the guidance of my supervisorXu Feng.It was the joint efforts of both the author and the teachers inLiterature and LawDepartment.I would like to express my heartfeltthanks tomy supervisorand the teachers who have helped the author in the process of the thesis writing.I will also give my thanks to my classmates and friends who have helped me revise the thesis.Last but not least,I will give my heartfeltthanks to my parents who have been always supporting and encouraging me. Contents Introduction 1 1.1 The Autobiography of Dickens 2 1.2 The Summary ofGreat Expectations 3 2 Romanticism 5 2.1 Developments of Romanticism 5 2.2 Major Opinions of Romanticism 6 3 The Romantic Tendency in Great Expectations 6 3.1 Recall the Past in the Romantic Tendency 7 3.1.1 Pip’s Childhood Memories 7 3.1.2Pip’s character and its formation 8 3.2 Return to the Nature in the Romantic Tendency 8 3.2.1 Characterization of two perfect natural persons 9 3.2.2 Comparison of the Country and the City 10 3.2.3The Natural Man to Social Man 10 3.3 Pay Attention to Children in the Romantic Tendency 11 3.3.1 The Tragic Childhood of Dickens 12 3.3.2 The Sympathy for Children 13 Conclusion 13 Bibliography 14 Introduction Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Although he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. Charles Dickens is an English writer and social critic. He creates some of the world’smost memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Period. His works enjoy unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius has been broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. Major works of Dickens includes: The Pickwick Papers (1836) , Nickolas Nickleby(1838), American Notes(1842), A Christmas Carol (1843), Bleak House (1852). His greatest achievement so far is her novel,Great Expectations, which shows his writing techniques as much as possible and has been adapted into a movie, TV and drama for nearly a hundred years. Great Expectations,published in 1861,has been considered to be one of Charles Dickens’ most mature and relatively late works. All his mature thinking and understanding weresummarized into it.Great Expectations is an autobiographical novel which consists of three periods; Great expectationshas59 chapters, describing three stages of Pip life. This paper will be divided into three parts.The first part will be the brief introduction of Dickens and his famous novel Great Expectations.The second part will introduce the main opinions and development of the Romanticism.The third part will analyze the romantic tendency in Great Expectations. Over the years, people has concentrated on Charles Dickens’ realistic creative thinking. On the one hand, the booksare numerousover the world, which study hisrealistic creative thinking.On the other hand,they also brings negative effects---the study of Dickens appears to stop.In this study, the author attempts to jump out of the traditional barriers,to re-examine Dickens from another angle, especially fromhis outstanding work inGreat Expectations.100 years ago, the British novelist George Gissing oncecalled Dickens as romantic realist. In recent years, some domestic scholars havetried to create research onthis idea of Dickens' life, but it is a pitythat they do not study it thoroughly. This paper will setGreat Expectations as an example, through the in-depth analysis, revealDickens's romanticism andletpeople have a better understandingof his works, so as to promote the research of Dickens's novels. 1 Brief Introduction to Dickens and Great Expectations As one of the most famous English writers of the 19thcentury,Dickens writes many famous novels,most of which are based on his real life.All his mature thinking and understanding aresummarized intoGreat Expectations. Inthispart,the autobiography of Dickens as well as the summary of the novel will be introduced. 1.1 The Autobiography of Dickens Charles Dickens, the greatest representativeof English critical realism,was born in 1812 at Portsmouth. When he was four years old, his family moved to Chatham, and the five years he spent there were the happiest of all his boyhood. One day, he found a pile of English novels, which aroused his curiosity. Since then,the key to the treasure-house ofliterature had been put in his hand. In 1821 the Dickens family moved to a poor quarter in London. Mr. Dickens was heavily in debtsand did not know which way to turn for money.Finally he was taken to the Marshalsea Prisonbecause of debts. Shortly afterwards,Mrs. Dickens and the younger children went to the prison, too.The 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory in the East End of London. Work there began at eight in the morning and ended at eight at night. Sundays he spent at the prison, and during the week he was out working all day. His miserable life at the factory left an everlasting, painful brand on the boy’s mind. Years later, when he was a man, he would not walk by the place where the factory had lain. All this had a deep influence on Dickens’ thought and work in after years. Charles Dickens visited American in the fallof 1867. Wherever he went, the reception was always the same. The night before tickets went on sale; crowds arrived and lined up before the door. By morning the streets became campgrounds with men, women, and children sitting or sleeping right there. Hustlerswere asking $25 for $2 tickets and $50 for $5 seats. In New York City, over 5,000 people waited from nine o’clock in the morning for the evening performance. Everywhere the readings were successful, but audiences were surprised to hear their favorite novel characters speak with an English accent. The main stylistic feature of Dickens is his use of critical realism. such as in the factory or in the street. Art to fun humor, nuanced psychological analysis, as well as realism, romanticism describe the atmosphere and the organic integration of the said. Dickens’ novels are set in realistic environments. His characters represent all aspects of society from beggars, criminals and orphans to factory owners. This critically realistic description of Victorian working class life is perhaps the very essencewhich makes Dickens one of the greatest authors of all time.Charles Dickens dies by stroke on June 9,1870. He was buried at Westminster Abbey in the Poet’s Corner.“He was a sympathizer to the poor,the suffering, and the oppressed;and by his death,one of England’s greatest writers is lost tothe world.”(http:// zhidao.baidu.com/05.01.2010) 1.2 The Summary ofGreat Expectations Great Expectationswaspublished in 1861.The one paragraph of the book which is more popular is: “That was a memorable day to me,for it made great changes in me.But,it is the same with any life.Imagine one selected day struck out of it,and think how different its course would have been.Pause you who read this,and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold,of thorns or flowers,that would never have bound you,but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”(Dickens, 2010:21) The story is divided into three phases of Pip's life expectations: In the first expectation, Pip lives a humble existence with his ill-tempered older sister and her strong but gentle husband, Joe Gargery. Pip is satisfied with this life and his warm friends until he is hired by an embittered wealthy woman, Miss Havisham, as an occasional companion to her and her beautiful but haughty adopted daughter, Estella.After years as companion to Miss Havisham and Estella, he spends more years as an apprentice to Joe, so that he may grow up to have a livelihood working as a blacksmith. This life is suddenly turned upside down when he is visited by a London attorney, Mr. Jaggers, who informs Pip that he is to come into the "Great Expectations" of a handsome property and be trained to be a gentleman at the behest of an anonymous benefactor. The second stage of Pip's expectations isin London, he learns how to be a gentlemen and how to join cultured society.Although he always engage in honest labour when he is a young boy, he now is supported by a generous allowance, which he frequently lives beyond. He learns to fit in this new milieu, and experiences not only friendship but rivalry as he finds himself in the same circles as Estella, who is also pursued by many other men, especially Bentley Drummer, whom she favors. As he adopts the physical and cultural norms of his new status, he also adopts the class attitudes that go with it, and when Joe comes to visit Pip and his friend and roommate Herbert to deliver an important message, Pip is embarrassed to the point of hostility by Joe's unlearned ways, despite his protestations of love and friendship for Joe. At the end of this stage, Pip is introduced to his benefactor, again changing his world. The third and last stage of Pip's expectations alters Pip's life from the artificially supported world of his upper class strivings and introduces him to realities that he realizes he must deal with, facing moral, physical and financial challenges. He learns startling truths that cast into doubt the values that he once embraced so eagerly, and finds that he cannot regain many of the important things that he oncecast aside so carelessly. Dickens was prevailed upon to change the ending to one more acceptable to his readers' tastes in that era, and this "new" ending was the published one and currently accepted as definitive. Dickens has Pip as the writer and first person narrator of this account of his life's experiences, and the entire story is understood to have been written as a retrospective, rather than as a present tense narrative or a diary or journal.Still, though Pip’s life we know that he uses only very subtle foreshadowing to let us know the events in the story.Pip does, however, use the perspective of the bitter lessons he's learned to comment acidly on various actions and attitudes in his earlier life. 2 Romanticism 2.1 Developmentsof Romanticism Romanticism as a literary thought and creation started in the late eighteenth Century and prospered in the early nineteenth Century. Look from the whole, the romantic literature is not the only form of literature in this period,but the dominant literary thoughts.During this period, the romantic literature can be said to have a brilliant development, it spreadsto Europe, and becomesa powerful literary movement in some countries, affectsother areas of the development of literature. This phase of the romantic literature is based on the succession to the former generation of thought and theory,combining with the characteristics of the times, which has strong characteristics of the times.The European romantic experiencesthree stages in itsdevelopment process. The first stage belongs to the romantic rising period. The three Lake Poets Lyrical Ballads come out, marking the romantic literature began to rise in the UK; In Germany, Schlegel brothers founded Temple of Athena Nikewhich marks the rise of German Romantic Literature.A pioneering French romantic is Chateaubriand.The lake poets flat against the classical and elegant. Their writing theme began to turn to the inner world of people from the outside world.However,in Germany, there are three factions stage: early Jena school, Heidelberg school and middle late romantic.In France, the word Romantic spreadsto France through the book Theory of Germany which is writtenby Madame de Stael. And the first who called himself the“romantic”is Stendhal. (http:// en.wikipedia.org/,02.03.2013) The second stagemainly appeared in the UK. British romantic literature represents the highest achievement of thenineteenthcenturyEuropeanromanticliterature.British romantic internal spirit is complex, it includes: Coleridge's romantic supernatural,Wordsworth’s the Anglican orthodox doctrine, Shelley's atheism spirit, Byron's revolutionary liberalism.Especially Byron wasin the highest fame. (http:// en.wikipedia.org/,02.03.2013) The third stage is the climax stage of Romanticism. Romanticism in this period has spread to Eastern Russia and America.In France, Hugo became the owner and leader of French romantic literature.His Cromwell Prefacewas an important literature in the romantic literature.He pointed out that the blind imitation of ancient was absurd, andcriticized the provisions of classical tragedy and comedy impassable factors.During this period the French literary was over-endowed,Georgesan became one of the most democratic ideas of romantic writers and Dumas became the most outstandinghistorical novelist.But in Russia, the rise of romanticism was represented by Pushkin, he was not only the founder of Russian romanticism,bue also the founder of realistic literature.He eulogized freedom and liberation of individuality, blame society,and in his works described the typical"little people" and "extra" image.In American,democraticromantic poet mainly represented byWhitman.(http:// en.wikipedia.org/,02.03.2013) 2.2Major Opinions of Romanticism Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization. It also extents a reaction against the Enlightenment and against 18th-century rationalism and physical materialism in general. A modern term applies to the profound shift in western attitudes to art and human creativity in the first half of the 19th century. Reaction is against the prevailing neoclassical spirit and rationalism during the Age of Reason. The Romantics think that faith in individualism and intuitive perception, the man can known the world through their own abilities and can be succeed by their own inner passions and struggles. A new view of the artist is as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures, an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth, an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins. 3The Romantic Tendency in Great Expectations Romanticism advocates"remembrancethingsofthe past", "return to nature", "pay attention to children",which themesin DickensGreat Expectationare well represented. 3.1 Recall the Past in the Romantic Tendency “Recall the past”is the romantic works of creative theme.Romantic writer Wordsworth is a poet of "cherish the memory of the past ”, his masterpiece Overturewhich through the author’s life, literary journey, tells the story of the hero from infancy to adulthood growth experiences. Since then, the perspective of children and adultsreflects together,the writing style of the consciousness of recalling childhood and childhood growth process in adults become popular.This way of writing in Dickens's Great Expectations embodies in the most incisive. 3.1.1Pip’s Childhood Memories Pip, an orphan who is about six years oldand raised by his harsh sister, Mrs. Gargery, who beats him regularly, and her husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith and Pip's best friend.They live a simple but happy life in the quiet and refreshing village.But all this ischanged because of Pip’s accident experience. He encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard and steals food and a fail for him under his threaten. One day Pip is asked to visit Mrs. Havisham, a wealthy spinster whose heart is hurt by the man, and her adopted daughter Estella in Satis House. Hefalls in love with Estellain the first time. But he is hurt many times by two ladies’ ridicule. Later, when Pip is a young apprentice at Joe's blacksmith shop, a lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, approaches him and tells him that he is to receive a large sum of money from an anonymous benefactor and must immediately leave for London, where he is to become a gentleman. There he loseshis good nature and fells proud of being a dandy. Assuming that Miss Havisham is his benefactress, he believes that Estella will marry him under the authority of Mrs. Havisham. Years later, Pip has reached adulthood. However, he is now heavily in debt. Abel Magwitch, the convict he helped, reveals himself to Pip as his benefactor. When Pip learns the truth, he feels it is a joke that the fate plays on him . Finally he abandoneshis selfish and tries his best to help Magwitch flee away with the help of his friends, Herbert Pocket and Startop. Pip also discovers that Estella is the daughter of Magwitch.During the escape, Magwitch kills his enemy Compeyson. Police capture Magwitch and jailshim. Pip visits ill Magwitch in jail and tells him that his daughter Estella is alive. Magwitch died and Pip is about to be arrested for unpaid debts when he falls ill. Joe comes to London and nurses Pip back to health and pays off his debts. Pip realizes that in his fruitless pursuit of Estella and wealth, he has callously ignored Joe. Pip asks Joe for forgiveness, and Joe forgives him. Pip loseshis fortune and goes to Egypt and works as a clerk. When he comes back, he visits Estella, who is a widow now. She asks Pip to forgive herand assureshim that misfortune has opened her heart and she now empathizes with Pip. As Pip takes Estella's hand and leaves the ruins of Satis House, he sees “no shadow of another parting from her.”(Charles Dickens.2004:389) 3.1.2Pip’s character and its formation Pip’s two most important traits are his romantic idealism and innately good conscience. Once he understands ideas like poverty, ignorance, and immorality, Pip does not want to be poor, ignorant, or immoral. His long to become a gentle man and marry Estella makes him losthis nature for some time. Pip is also a very generous and sympathetic young manat heart. He helps Magwitch, secretly buys Herbert’s way into business. Pip’s main line of development in the novel may be seen as the process of learning to place his innate scene of kindness and conscience above his immature idealism. During the novel Pip goes through many changes in hispersonality. 3.2 Return to the Nature in the Romantic Tendency "Return to nature" is also a reflection of Great Expectationsromantic tendency, which is the French Enlightenment thinker Rousseau's slogan.For him,humans are very pure in the beginning, but after entering the society begin to be polluted. He saysthat the community is hypocriticaland believes that the development of society,especially the development of interdependent relationship between the societyand the manis of simple kindness adverse.Therefore,he encourages the people to return to nature, return to the simpleand natural life.(http://wenku.baidu.com/,03.04.2012) 3.2.1 Characterization of two perfect natural persons In Great Expectations, Dickens expresseshis "back to nature" understanding. In this paper, he not only praises the country beautiful natural scenery, but also describesJoe and Beateywho aretwo completely not contaminated by the civilized society and the perfect natural persons .They live in the countryside all the life and on the behalf of the natural person.They are ordinary people, but have a noble, honesty,simplicty and good nature. They are not rich and endure the hardships of life, but happy. Joe is Pip's brother-in-law, a perfect natural person. He does not have a higher education, but sets a good example to people in the life.Joe is like his father, protecting him against his sister's abuse.To him for guidance in life, teaches him how to behave, how to distinguish good and evil.He tells him to enjoy life, happy todie.When Joe goes to London for the first time to visit Pip who has become agentleman ,Pip looks down him.But he does not change his love to Pip in the past . Later, when Pip is sick,he does not hesitate again and goes to London to take care of him and helps him to pay off the debts.The nature of Joe is also embodied in his life satisfaction, although with childhood suffering and violence of the wife, but he never complains about life. His cruel father beats him and his motherand ruins his dream at school,but he is still thinking about the advantages of his father.He never resists his violent wifeand complains about her, although his wife always scolds him.He only remembersher meritsand thinks that his wife does a lot to him and Pip, not for her own.He often tells Pip: “Your sister is God sent to you and me.” (Charles Dickens.2004:380) Biddy is another perfect natural person who is a plain country girl with a heart of gold. When Pip's sister is atacked and injured, she comes to the Pip's home to take care of his sister.Biddy is always optimistic about life.Pip tells her to become the members of the upper classes, but she says: “If I were you, I would not, I just want you to live comfortably.”(CharlesDickens.2004:391)Even when he tells her how much he loves Estella and wants to be a gentleman, she still gives him the best blessing, although sheloves him. Later, Joe and Biddy get marriedand livesa simple but happy life in thecountry. 3.2.2 Comparison of the Country and the City Dickens'love of nature is also reflected in the city (London) and country in his description. Dirty,noisy London and quiet, beautifulvillagesformsasharp contrast.When Pip goes to London on occasion, he notices that the Smithsquare is a very bad place, everywhere is dirty, greasy, bloody, foamy and surrounded with people. London leaves a very bad impression on him. In such a dirty city, a personfrom the country with simple nature is very vulnerable to be polluted. Mr Jagers is a typical representative of the city life style.He is a lawyer, a pay consultant, the operator of a conspiracy. He is always able to rely on hisown cunning and guile to successfully defendguilty people.He never free. In dealing with his party, he is decisive and calm . He never lets personal feelings to interfere in its affairs, cold and the pursuit of money is the most distinctive feature in his character.He is the epitome of the British legal systemwhich the foundation of this system is based on money and services to the rich man.Quiet and fresh image of the countryside,kind and simple rural residents, dirty, noisy city scene and hypocrisy, cunning city residents forms a sharp contrast. This comparison is written with romantic creation characteristics of the typical rural life, also expresses the desire to stay away from the city. 3.2.3The Natural Man to Social Man In addition to Joe and Biddy, Pip's experiencesalso reflects the writer "return to nature" view.Pip is a completely natural child in the early time, he lives a hard but happy life.when he discovers that the criminal is Abel Magwitch, he steals food and file to him and keeps his mouth shut about itbecause of the sympathy and pityfor the criminals. When he knows the police are looking for the criminal, he also worries about the safety of criminal and whispers to Joe: “I hope they can't find him”.(Charles Dickens.2004:321) This is all due to his life is in a completely natural environment, the purity of him makes him hadhisown moral standards and sense of responsibility.Because Joe goodness and love, he does not care about the sisterand thinks that home is safeand a heaven to him. However, when he first goes to Miss Harisham’s home and sees the pride and beautiful Estella,everything is changed.Estella's contempt and insult lets Pip know that he is a poor boy and lives a common life. Thinking about his sister's bad temper, home is not an ideal paradise to him anymore. He believes that his sister's cruel and brutal makes him become timid and sensitive.Joe's image is also not so tall. He hopes that Joe has had a good education ,he will not be so. Compared with the city life , he starts to complain about his life.He is from a naive boy into an ambitious young man. Hehas a strong desire,hopes to become a noble quality people, then marries Estella. In London, he spends money like water and gets into a lot of debts. His pure and good nature has been replaced by the desire, even without feeling, stingy and devoid of gratitude.When he knews that Joe must come to London to see him, he is afraid of his shabby clothes and bad manners will let him be ashamed, he thinks "If I give him money, he will not come, I would give him the money".(Charles Dickens.2004:361)What's more, when he knows that he had saved the criminals who is the real support of him, he has not said any, but so disgusted with his patron. The improvement of social status does not bring joyness to him, but at the same time his confidence and happiness continue to reduce. He often feels disappointed, frustrated and sad. His extravagance makes his in debt,what hurts him most is when he hopes to return to Miss Harisham 's house, Estella comes to him the same cold and tells him that she decides to marry a rich man. It is not difficult to see, Pip’s life experience typically confirms Rousseau's thought.Before he goes to London, he seems to be a kind and natural person without any vanity. He goes to London to enter into the civilized society, where, he losesthe simple nature, and then begins to fall.After twists and turns, he finds that the city is not an ideal place for him to stay. Finally,he returns to the village, returns to nature, to pick up the lost nature. 3.3 Pay Attention to Children in the Romantic Tendency "Pay attention to children" is another feature of the romantic tendency. In the early eighteenth Century, childrencan be seen in the idea of people is defective, not well developed.After Rousseau's Emile was published, it has changed the traditional views on children.Romantic writers begin to regard childhood as their themes and create a variety of innocence, such as the chimney sweeper Black and Wordsworth under the pen of Lucy. Since then, the important attention to children and society havebecame an important theme of romantic writers. Dickens inherits this pass system.He successfully creates many images of suffering children and influences of a largenumber of writers in the nineteenth Century creation, such as Charlotte Bront, Emily Bront, George Eliot, Mark Twain, Henry James,Lewis Stevenson and etc.. 3.3.1 The Tragic Childhood of Dickens In Great ExpectationsDickens really puts his own heart and soul into characters by weaving his own experiences into his works. Philip Collins writes “GreatExpectations,indeed, though overtly autobiographical than David Copperfield, is a more searching and self-critical account of Dickens' own inner impulses.”(http:// en.wikipedia.org/,02.03.2013) It is almost as if there is a real possibility that Pipor someone likeshimactually existed. That is perhaps what Dickens personally experiencesin his childhood and this impression obviously leaves a permanent imprint on his mind. “The long repressed loneliness and senses of abandonment find their way in his fiction. They are stirred alive from the unconscious level, heading for the conscious, during which the author reconciles himself to his traumatic experience and receives his salvation.”(http:// en.wikipedia.org/,02.03.2013) The significance of creating a necessary detail depicting the loneliness of the protagonists is more emotional than practical. Through the process of writing, Dickens relives his own dark experiencesand acceptsthem as a part of his life. Dickens’s own drastic change in life—when he feelsdesperate about his own prospect, his father receivesan unexpected legacy from Dickens’ grandmother, which helpsthe family survive the debtors’ suits. However, to understand the significance of the plots in the novels requires a profound analysis to Dickens’ internalization of unexpected change in life. The inheritance can be understood as an incident that dramatically changesthe destiny of Dickens and giveshim the chances of becoming a real gentleman. As if hitting the lucky lot, his entire life isthus redirected to the normal track and his chances of becoming somebody aresaved from being lost. 3.3.2 The Sympathyfor Children During the Victoria age, there is such a usual scenery in England－in everyearly morning, little children from poor households would climb up the chimney and do the cleaning work for the rich people. This job is dangerous and dirty forlittle children. As common people, they would simply ignore this social phenomenon. Estella is a typical example. She isadopted by the upper class peopleand livingan extravagant life. Sheis beautiful, wealthy but ruthless, arrogant, rude. She is training to become a tool of Miss Harisham to revenge the man. However, Dickens is able to sense the sorrow of those little workerswho sufferfrom the toilsome work in an immature age and he displays his concernsfor the poor children as well as the inhuman society in his works.He carrieshis duty forward to the criticism of the society and the defense of the mass. Although writing from different techniques, hesharesone thing in common, that is, his works areall concerned about the fate of the common people. He isangry at the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the money-worship, utilitarianism, widespread misery, poverty and injustice. He conveys the strong criticism of the society in his novels in order to awaken the public consciousness to the social problems. Conclusion There is no doubt that Great Expectationis a successful novel not only it represents Dickens' peak and maturity as an author,but alsobut also full of romanticism. As far as Dickens is concerned, people should live a simple but happy life and stay away from the life of city. As an important realistic novelist, Dickens criticizes him around the poor,hypocrisy, corruption and injustice of the social phenomenon. However, he is not only a realistic writer, but also full of romanticism.He shows a romanticism tendency in Great Expectations.This thesis mainly focuseson the growing experiencesof Pip. By analyzing the growing experiencesof Pip, we can draw the conclusion that Pip experiencescharacterfrom puretodegenerate.His good nature has been replaced by the desire, even without feeling, stingy and devoid of gratitude after going to London. 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