Great Expectations

Joe is one of the least affected by the desire for property and money. He is a down-to-earth character who is happier with his lot and work and life than most of the other characters, and thus he does not have to blindly seek material things in order to establish some sort of money-oriented self-esteem. As Angus Calder writes in the Introduction to the novel, it was Pip who underestimated the worth of Joe's character in the beginning, only later coming to understand the simple goodness of the man: "Joe, who at first, (Pip) confesses, 'I always treated as a larger species of child, and as no more than my equal,' is recognized as his right preceptor, 'a gentle Christian man'" (p. 23).

What Joe has in the way of material things is minimal, but he is nevertheless more than willing to share with the oppressed Pip:

Joe's station and influence were something feebler (if possible) when there was company, than when there was none. But he always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own, and he always did so at dinner-time by giving me gravy, if there were any. There being plenty of gravy to-day, Joe spooned into my plate, at this point, about half a pint

. . .
its on a "black velvet couch" and that her four great dogs "fought for veal cutlets out of a silver basket." They also hear that Miss Estella "handed . . . her cake and wine at the coach-window, on a gold plate" (p. 97). It does not matter that Pip is exaggerating and inventing what he supposedly saw at Miss Havisham's; the point is that the episode clearly demonstrates that Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe are materialists, when push comes to shove, and their characters are seriously distorted by that materialism. Both Miss Havisham and Miss Estella are as bad as, if not worse than, Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe. The former two live the rich life that the latter two would love to live, and their characters are just as seriously flawed by their possessions as are the characters of Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook by desiring those possessions. All four characters have materialistic visions of themselves and other human beings. They measure a person's worth by what he or she has, and they fail to see the human qualities in people which underlie their possessions or their lack of possessions. Though their characters undergo changes, the personalities of Miss Estella and Miss Havisham are shown to be at this point negatively shaped by the wealth
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1576
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)