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Andrea Rossi Ms. Gardner English 10 Period 0 4 March 2014 Darkness Can Bury Your Inner Light Light and dark: a common symbol used to show good vs evil. In Charles Dickens Great Expectations light and dark shows more than good vs evil, it shows emotion. It implies that as Pip grew up in a brutal household, and that Estellas was mentally challenging. Darkness is brought by the convicts presence as well. The contrast of darkness from Pips life and the light that Estella is referred to brings Pip into realization that darkness buries him into his past memories even though his inner light wants to shine. Pip thinks of his life as very dark. He describes the marsh near his house as a long black horizontal line (5). His describes this scene when he is visiting his familys tombstones. He sees the sky as a cloud of black because his life consisted of great sadness as a child. His parents and siblings died when he was very young; the dark sky represents that. It shows they are always there watching over him. His family watching over him brings sadness into his life because he wishes they were standing with him, not just watching over him. The dingy room,

the melancholy room and the burdensome room all foreshadows his past life. He has made his room dark for abuse goes on in his household every day. Pip receives physical abuse from his sister by the action of her bringing him up by hand (7) and Joe obtains both verbal and

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physical abuse from Ms. Joe. Pip being brought up by hand was an achievement for Ms. Joe and Pip struggles to live with himself after he received these beat downs from his sister. The memory of her abuse haunts him causing him to describe his life in the house as a gloomy place. The abuse from Ms. Joe is not just on Pip. Pip grew up hearing her yell at Joe over and over while continuously hearing Joes cries of pain. Ms. Joe was an abusive woman and these

horrific memories cast a shadow of darkness upon Pips future. Pip meets Estella-meaning star in Latin- when he firsts visits Ms. Havisham, and falls madly in love with her because of her elegance. Upon his arrival at Ms. Havishams, he says she came along a dark passage as a star (58) when in fact, further on in the novel he realizes she is only a star because of her beauty. Stars are supposed to be brilliant, vivid and helpful while Estella is ignorant, inconsiderate, and insulting. Pip finds Estella to have an unpleasant personality but her radiant appearance hides the truth. Stars are extremely hard to see on some foggy nights and Estella is that star in the distance. She is that star in the distance because Pip will never be able to reach her. She can only be his guiding star (200) because the passion he has for her is only making him walk in circles away from the truth. What really guides him is her beauty. She is glowing on the outside but if you look further into Estellas life, you can tell she really grew up as someone she did not want to be. Ms. Havisham forces Estella to have no emotions. Ms. Havisham thinks of Estella as a star though she never says it because she strives for Estella to be a better star than she was. A new star Estella forms from a supernova Ms. Havisham-. Supernovas are stars that greatly increase in brightness. Ms. Havisham is trying to pass the brightness down to Estella. Estella is upset trying to be molded into someone she does not want to be. Being forced to be cold hearted and sneaky makes Estella the misleading star Pip fears.

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The convict Magwitch- enters Pip life as a young boy but Pip believes the convict will be out of his life sooner than later. When the convict was caught he saw that the torches were flung hissing into the water (39) and the torches immediately went out. When Magwitch is sent to prison, he leaves England and Pips life. Pip believes that it was all over with him (39) when really his journey with Magwitch had only begun. Once Magwitch has left Pips life, he sees a small amount of light and Pip tries to reach it. He reaches that small amount of light thanks to Magwitch. Magwitch acts as Pips guiding star because he is the reason to Pips rise in social class. Without Magwitchs money Pip would not have raised in social class and would still be just a blacksmiths son. Everyone is led by emotion. Pip is led by his love towards Estella. Estella is led by her loyalty towards Ms. Havisham. Magwitch is led by his love for Pip. Their different emotions have dark times and bright times but the contrast throughout their lives is what makes their lifes so different. The darkness hides what Pip, Estella, and Magwitch do not want others to see in them when deep down they can be seen because of a small radiant light: their inner star. To find your inner star you must shine through the clouds of darkness.