In Chapter XXXIV of Great
Expectations, Pip begins to realize that his "great expectations" have been
delusionary. In moments of increasing maturity, Pip reflects that he may have had a
happier life if he had never met Miss Havisham, for then he would have been content
with being apprenticed to Joe and living on the forge. As he sits in the evening gazing
into his fire, Pip feels that there was "no fire like the forge fire and the kitchen
fire at home."
With this realization of the illusionary
properties of his new life in London, Pip learns in the following chapter, Chapter XXXV,
that Mrs. Joe has "departed this world." Pip's reaction to this sad news is a
"shock of regret without tenderness." That is, he feels rue
that he has lost his sister and wishes that he could have pursued Orlick, whom he
suspects of having murdered her. At the same time, his memories of Mrs. Joe are touched
with the recall of Tickler, and the harsh treatment that she dealt him as a child.
However, these memories are softened some by his assessment of his own shortcomings; so,
he hopes that when he, too, dies, others will soften their memories of him. These
reflections also indicate the new maturity of Pip.
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