and humorously views it as a miracle of erudition (G.E. 41). Joe wants to see Pip succeed but he doesnt understand the importance of education because he has been able to provide a livelihood using his hands as a blacksmith. Joe wants to give Pip a different kind of education. He wants to teach Pip to be a blacksmith. Pip sees Joe struggle to read this letter and he is more determined to better himself by learning to read and write. Pip thinks if he can teach his coarse hands (56) to write, he will someday be Estellas cultural equal. Dickens returns to the imagery of the hand as Pip finally began, in a purblind groping way, to read, write, and cipher on the very smallest scale (40). Now that Pip has seen Estella and Satis House, he has great expectations of being educated so he can leave the common life of a blacksmith and join the exciting lifestyle of the wealthy.Pip is so blinded by his infatuation with Estella and his desire to become a gentleman in her eyes, that he fails to see that Estellas world is corrupt. Dickens knows that any world that revolves around wealth and position has the potential to be corrupted, and he uses hand imagery to illustrate this sinister lifestyle to Pip and the reader. Pip receives his first warning subliminally. He is standing over the graves of his parents and five little brothers when he imagines that his brothers had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence (G.E. 1). Joseph A. Hynes notes that the brothers imagined position is Dickens way of stating that Pips brothers felt the world owed them a living (259). Dickens wanted Pip and the reader to know that its better to work honestly for your money than it is to take handouts. Considering the fact that none of his brothers survived, this should have served as a warning to Pip. Unfortunately for Pip, he is distracted by the appearance of Magwitch an...
