These are my two responses to Charles Dickens' Great Expectations in the form of a critical review and, below it, a psychoanalysis.

Great Expectations response/critical review.
by Samuel Hammond

I cannot understand how quickly some people resolve to propitiate Dickens unbearably long novels on the basis of their themes and formidable writing styles. I cannot stress enough how needlessly long his books, particularly this one, are. Therein, Pip's story is like an eloquent British chap of maturing age who is still allowed to awkwardly breast feed off his aging mother, with an ostentatious pinky in the air; literally, Dickens is milking it for all it's worth.

I have even heard Dickens called the JK Rowling of the 19 th century, if not for his popularity, for his awful tendency to pad books with so much filler, that unnecessary words adorn each page; so much the back cover becomes stained with innumerous redundant paragraphs. There should be a warning on this book in big red letters: May cause catatonic state!

Pips adventure – once one gets passed Dickens axiomatic attempt at turning a relatively short story into the Encyclopedia Britannica – is actually quite depressing. If it wasn't sad enough that his earnest efforts for Estella's hand were in lifelong vain, then Estella's coldly corrupted personality, and gelid objectivity, coerced by the equally void Miss Havisham, should knock you out of the Fenway park of happiness, into the desolate car lot of Charles Dickens desire for happily-ever-after.

Mrs. Joe Gargery's injury and untimely death left me feeling dismayed that she never connected with Pip, save with the back of her hand. Pip's inability to adequately express loving gratitude toward Joe was frustrating if irritating, and worsened once Pip became the rising gentleman. In other words, the book itself is gloomily abhorrent; and totally sunshine corrupt, despite its captivating beginning and plot. Its' essence is that of a repugnant teenager helping a crippled lady up a flight of stairs, only to gingerly toss her arthritis filled hand away, and smirk as she falls hard on her back; this is the end of Pip's third stage of expectations. "Sorry Ms'. Twas an accident," he lies, as Dickens does with Havisham's silly break down, and Estella's out of character semi-decency near the end.

This book is the Alex DeLarge of bildungsromans, and though it struggles to end-happy, with Estella's decency, for instance, its' attempts are transparent, and the books great expectations couldn't be farther from fulfilled, which really is appropriate.

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Great Expectations response.
by Samuel Hammond

To me, this book seems to be one moral dilemma after another: Pip lies; Pip lies again; Pip is rude; Pip lies; Pip is ungrateful; and so on. Whomever Dickens is representing with Pip; the lying ungrateful, insolent hound, he must really dislike him. If read closely, you find that Dickens often shows sympathy for Pip, by shading each scenario with Pip's inner sincerity, innocence, and unknowingness, which incidentally, makes it seem like Dickens is deliberately trying to let Pip off easy, by making it someone else's fault, that Pip didn't know what he was doing, or that Pip was corrupted, and fundamentally he was not to blame.

For what reason is this sympathy assigned? Yes, I understand that Pip is the narrator, and people tend to sympathize with themselves, but I do not think it is quite that simple. Pip, throughout the book, is portrayed so objectively, be it humiliation or an instance of amoral consciousness, that it is hard to imagine Pip, with his expected bias, to narrate so openly without hiding behind a name. The book is peculiar for its mix of intense objectivity and labored sympathy. Let me give a few examples where objectivity peaks:

1) Pip is portrayed as shallow when Joe visits and Pip expresses shame.
2) Pip is portrayed as shallow when he chases Estella, whereas Biddy is more suitable match.
3) Pip is portrayed as unkind when he is mostly indifferent to the news of his sisters death. This is slightly redeemed in light of Pip's negative views of Orlick.
4) Pip is portrayed as ungrateful for Magwitch's expenditure.

The first two of these examples are Pip's arrogances from coming into wealth, but that is irrelevant, as they are objective nonetheless. If we are to expect that Pip is really the one writing the story, and not Dickens, it would more consistent for Pip to let himself down easy on every possible short coming through excuses and rationalizations. The third example is particularly good, because it's not written out quite so explicitly as the other two. Examples for peak sympathy are as follows:

1) Pip rationalizes his lying about the pie, brandy, and file, as done so in fear of the convict.
2) Pip seldom downplays his contempt for his sister, and typically his sister is demonized among him and Joe. This behavior is not scorned by future Pip, proving the contempt, or indifference remains. Dickens is thus sympathizing with Pip's exaggerated description of heartless Mrs. Joe Gargery, which would accurately be described as 'only being Pip's side of the story'.
3) Estella's insolence towards Pip is accented on every occasion, as if Pip, or Dickens, was making an extra effort for you to feel bad for him.
4) The reader is also obviously meant to sympathize with Pip regarding the unwelcome presence of Bentley.

So what does this inconsistency mean? The peeks and valleys of both objective self criticisms, and shameless self sympathy seem to tell the story of an insecure Charles Dickens who is more or less telling his life story, though most of it likely did not happen to Dickens himself.

Great Expectations is Dicken's autobiographical self-demagogy. Careful deconstruction reveals Dickens general contempt for women, via sympathetic passages rationalizing Pip's personal contempt for Mrs. Joe, Mrs. Havisham, Estella, Camilla, Sarah Pocket, and Geogiana, as being heartless, cold, and condescending money grubbers. To be fair, similar criticisms are placed on several of the men. I think the women stand out, however, because unlike the women, the men aren't all so vile. Biddy is an exception, which may have been modeled after Dickens' mother, or dream mother, as is suggest once Joe and her marry.

Further observation suggests that Dickens had a personal self loathing, too. One commonality with which many of the people that Pip/Dickens are contemptuous to, are that they are wealthy. I think in this, Dickens is showing disappointment with himself. Dickens through fame inevitably became wealthy, and with that wealth emerged his personal arrogance. I think Pip, in his ungrateful gentleman stage, is Dickens in disguise. Dickens is ashamed of his self, and secretly wishes that he can grow humble like Pip, or return to his innocent childhood. Until then, he documents his subtle misery in his book's characters, which are modeled after him. Pip's examples of 'rudeness' are like Dickens' insecurities, which, in Great Expectations, is why he usually lets himself off so sympathetically in those cases, too.

Great Expectations is like Charles Dickens personal cry for help. You can't write a five-hundred page novel that features one character on every page for all fifty something chapters without knowing something about them; and who does Dickens know best but Dickens himself.