When You Start With A Gold Standard, The Reading Bar Is Raised Higher, For The Rest Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      As 2020 was winding  down, and it was still the Christmas Holidays, I thought about  reading  something  Christmas-y!!!!!!!!!!  My first  thought was  of  Dickens' "A Christmas  Carol," which I have read,  but when  I perused my shelf,  I disovered that,  while,  as of  this year,  I  have read the entire Dickens canon, I do not own certain works.  And 'Carol' was one of those.

                                         Then  I recalled  the  opening of "Great  Expectations" takes place at Christmas  time.   Since that, and  "David Copperfield," are my two favorite Dickens works,  I decided  to give  it  another reading.   This one was, at least, the fourth; and  I am only guessing here;  there are probabably  several more. The hardbacked edition,  picutred  above,  is the  one  I read.  As  always,  the novel never  ceases  to amaze me,  but it caused me  to wonder about some  aspects of myself.

                                            Of course, I love  the whole  Gothic elements  of Satis  House,  Miss  Havisham,  and  Estella. I  love  how all connected threads come together.  When  I first  read  the  novel,  which was in my high school  sophomore year  of English class,  the  connective  device  was new,  and  amazed me.   I have read many novels since  that used it,  but none  so  skillfully as  Dickens.

                                              It stirred guilt  in me. Have  I,  at any time,  been Pip,  acting like an  entitled  snob, ashamed  of  my origins?   I  know I  have gone on  about how I felt  my early education was  mishandled,  but was it?  Did  I  ever  treat anyone  the way Pip treated Joe Gargery and Biddy?  I have no  remebrance  of such,  and,  like  Pip,  I am certain  if  I had  I would have asked forgiveness, as Pip asked  theirs.

                                                Loneliness....isolation....love,  or  the  lack of it...all  are thought provoking topics brought  out in the  novel.  Is anyone here truly content?  In the end,  it seems only Joe Gargery and Biddy are.  And possibly Herbert Pocket.

                                                  This time  around, characters  who may  hitherto go unnoticed  stood out  for me.  Wemmick,  and  his Aged  Parent, (which I always forget is  in THIS novel,  not "David Copperfield") the imposing figure of that most rigid upholder of  the  law, Jaggers, whose manner  conceals  a humanity indicated by his treatment of  his housekeeper, Molly, who  turns  out  to be important for  special reasons.  Not to mention  Abel Magwitch, the convict.

  

                                                  The sadness of  Miss  Havisham  getting  a comeuppance she really did not deserve resonated emotionally, with me. In raising to Estella  to be  heartless, to avenge  what she felt was done  to her by the  male sex,  she  still  wanted real  love from Estella, a mother  to  daughter  kind.  All Estella  could do was follow  Miss  Havisham's  teachings,  so how could  she end  up otherwise?

                                                       Which is  why the ending  is best  left ambiguous.  The  romanitc  in  me  wants  Pip and  Estella  to  end  up with one  another.  But,  just  like Bud  and  Deanie (Warren Beatty  and Natalie  Wood)  in  1961's "Splendor In The Grass," which turns  60  this year, I do not think the alliance would work.  Better  to  leave Pip and Estella  separate,  with outlying possibilities.

                                                           Laughter,  tears, Dickesn gives it his all  in  this book,  considered by many his  greatest.   Every time  I read it, I learn  someting  illuminating.  If  you haven't read it in awhile,  you owe it to yourself  to  do so.  If you have never read it, what is  wrong?  Get busy,  right away.

                                                          "Life  Begins  At 8:40," was a musical revue, which opened on Broadway in  1934.  For at least one  character in this novel,  life  stopped at 8:40.

                                                             Beware rigid  embitterment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!