Great Expectations 3

In Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, the main theme running through the work deals with the maturing of individuals, and the question of what being a gentleman consists of. From his first encounter with Miss Havisham and more significantly, the young Estella, Pip's main focus and goal is on improving his simplistic and rustic lower class lifestyle, and his aims to become a gentleman. He sees many errors in his common working class ways, and is …

…rigid class system of England, but now had to work hard for the money he earned. It's apparent to the reader that at the end of the story, Pip is still as much of a gentleman as he was in his more fortunate times, but to the society he was living in, he wasn't. Dickens furthers this point by showing that through all of his learning and maturing, Pip has truly become a real gentleman.