Pip's Quote, and a life altering day for me

"Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the information of the first link on one memorable day."

 When Pip reconciles this quote, he means that what you do or think on just one day will change your life and perspective on something for eternity. Like a chain, one link is connected to another which is connected to another and so on, but the first link is what every other link is built off of, and will have an influence on all of the other links. The changes that occur in Pip's personality and ideas put in his head when he goes to Miss Havisham's house give him negative thoughts about his home and Joe. What Pip fails to realize is that Joe has always been there for him, and always will be. Someone like that doesn't deserve to be ashamed of, but Pip is ashamed anyways.

 A life altering day for me was when I was told I was being evicted from my house, which had already begun to not be a home. It was last year and I just didn't know what to do with myself.. I didn't cry, but instead I just went straight to my room and filled a box of the things I valued the most. I mostly filled the box with pictures of my family when it was whole, and that was all I took. I didn't want to be reminded of the life that was being thrown away.
 At the time my grandmother whom I wasn't very close to was living in our house with my little brothers and me, my dad was in jail and my mom was unheard of. I learned things in life aren't free, and it sucks. Every choice has a consequence, and my parents consequence of spending the money meant for bills on drugs and other unnecessary items was the loss of our home. I don't just mean our physical house either, I mean like the homey sensation you feel inside when you're with the people you love the most. Now, even with my dad living at my grandparents with my brothers and I, I still feel homesick constantly. This experience taught me that I need to look out for myself though, and I'm glad for that. I get to school on my own everyday without assistance aside from the city in which I live, and I never have to ask for money, I find ways to get it on my own. Being evicted made me realize that my parents can't support me, so I need to support myself. And I'm much more independent because of that.

Beginning Stage Two

 Pip goes through some major personality changes. He is building upon multiple themes and motifs in the novel Great Expectations. Most of these changes have grown from the theme of “becoming a gentleman”. This starts in the first stage when he felt as if he was better than his good friend, Herbert, and now Pip is acting rudely to his friend, Biddy. Becoming a gentleman starts other motifs, such as Pip's being ashamed of Joe. Pip's changes create a contrast that build upon the theme of becoming a gentleman.
 By the second stage, Pip has become a “double” of his former self at the start of the novel. During the first few chapters of the book, Pip and Joe are a practically inseparable pair. However, Pip starts to change once he learns that he is going to become a gentleman. With this and his growing older, Pip is losing his innocence and becomes ashamed of his working class family. By the second stage of the novel, Pip is judgmental, and has an “I’m better than you” kind of attitude towards many people he knows, even his best friend in London.