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Charles Dickens tells the tale of an orphan who grows up to discover that it is quite difficult to live up to one’s expectations and even more difficult to live up to “Great Expectations”. Summary of the Book Pip is orphaned at a young age. On a visit to his parents’ graves, the seven-year-old boy runs into an escaped convict who forces him to find food for him. The convict coaxes Pip to help him file away his shackles. Soon, Pip finds a home at the house of a wealthy lady who takes him in to play with her adopted daughter. Pip falls in love with the young girl, and the lady seems to encourage his feelings. However, a mysterious lawyer appears at the house one day and informs Pip that he has come into an inheritance of his own. Years later, Pip is a young man with only debt to his name. He meets the wealthy benefactor who sent him some money, only to discover that it is none other than the convict he helped. The man is still wanted, and he asks for Pip’s help once again. In doing so, Pip discovers that his expectations, the great ones he had of becoming a gentleman, are slowly dying away as he slips into a life of lies and treachery. About Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was an English novelist and critic who lived during the Victorian period. He is largely considered to be the greatest novelist of his time, and he was extremely popular even during his own lifetime. Among his other works, Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol enjoy a wide and varied audience. Great Expectations was adapted into several films, however, the 1946 version starring John Mills, Bernard Miles and Alec Guinness has yet to be surpassed in its portrayal of Dickens’ characters and plot.