Great Expectations was written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian period and follows the life of Pip, our protagonist, as he rises through the ranks of the social hierarchy of Victorian society. It was first published as a serial from 1860 to 1861. It is written as a bildungsroman: a genre of writing that follows a character's life from childhood to adulthood. This novel was enormously influenced by the author's own life; who also climbed the social ladder. The story is written in a retrospective narrator: Older Pip looks back on his childhood and tells the story. Charles Dickens uses characters to represent different classes. The lower working class is represented by Joe. The character of Joe is based on Dickens' father who was also a friendly, hospitable and generous man just like Joe. Pip describes him as a dear, gentle, good-natured boy with a gentle disposition, easy-going and foolish. Charles Dickens tries to show that the working class is nicer than the upper classes. Joe is happy and very comfortable with his class. Pip describes him as being very uncomfortable when asked to move away from his working-class identity. “Nothing he wore then fit him or seemed to belong to him” shows how “out of place” he felt and looked when Mrs. Joe made him wear formal clothes. In complete contrast to Joe is his wife, Mrs. Joe. Joe is very ashamed of his position in society. She keeps referring to how she hates having to be "a blacksmith's wife." This shows that she desperately wants to move up in her class in society and tries to do so by pleasing other upper class characters like Mr. Pumblechook in the hopes that they will grant her the status she desires. She tries harder... middle of paper ...... other figure. In conclusion, Charles Dickens's life experience and knowledge about the class of his time greatly influenced this novel. Having faced some of Pip's problems himself, Charles Dickens put a lot of himself and the people around him into the story. Even though the whole novel is about Pip wanting to be a gentleman and his high expectations of himself; the real gentleman throughout the novel has been Joe. Joe has never changed the way he fits in with anyone, but he is very comfortable with who he is. Charles Dickens shows that being a “gentleman” has nothing to do with wealth and status but respectful and gentle behavior. Dickens made a lot of reference to class in the novel because it was a very important part of society then. However, social class is not as important in our society today, as it is largely based on meritocracy rather than our social status..