Great Expectations is a book which I find very interesting. I humbly propose, though, that I am not the average reader of the book. Much of what conveyed interest to me was Dickens' writing style. This source is lost in the version of the book which is found in the standard 9th Grade English book. Without it, I don't think that I should be able to keep my interest in the book for long enough to see the other interests it offers.
Great Expectations does not have the most interesting plot ever. At first glance, it seems simply depressing, and indeed it is depressing even after the first glance. Depression, though fine for the subject of a short essay, can get old when prolonged into a 430-page novel. Luckily, Dickens gave the book a point, or perhaps more than one point. The one which is most immediately obvious to me is that a heart, more than anything else, is necessary for being a good person.
Miss Havisham has no consideration for others' well-being, no heart, until quite late in the book. She is not exactly a good character at the end, but at least she seems repentant. It's rather amazing to me how long she sustains her effort to revenge herself on the male sex, without any consideration for them at all. For some reason, this reminds me of war.
Estella is brought up with no heart, and acquires one eventually. Although her transitional experience is similar, her possession of a heart is reversed from that of Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham starts out with a heart (or so we are led to believe), and has it broken by an act of complete unkindness by Compeyson (who lives and dies heartless). Estella, on the other hand, is brought up with no heart but acquires one thanks to being beaten by her husband. I find it interesting that similar experiences have such different effects on the two characters.
Pip, to some degree, goes through a similar transformation. Though not completely heartless at the start, he too has a pronounced disregard for the well-being of others. His journey to maturity is slower than Estella's or Miss Havisham's. On the other hand, he ends up more definitely good than either one. Rather than a single bad experience, his change seems to happen because of a combination of several events. For one thing, the death of Magwitch has an effect on him, but this may be after the main change has already happened. I see the change happening when he conspires to get Herbert a job. Why does he do this? My idea is that he feels really low because of his own deeds. This is also what caused Miss Havisham to turn around.
As I said earlier, the plot of Great Expectations is not the most elaborate ever created, although it does have intricacies which I have not encountered before. What it does have is character development. Dickens shows amazing skill in his creation of the characters of Great Expectations. I am looking forward to reading more of his books over the summer.