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You could call Great Expectations a “coming of age story.” Or you could use that fancy German word, “Bildungsroman,” which means the same thing. Either way, the rags-to-riches story of Pip borrows some elements from the early years of author Charles Dickens’ life. Until, that is, Dickens’ audience-pleasing imagination takes over. At that point, Pip is on his own.

Video Transcription:

Great Expectations, in one word:

B. I. L. D. U. N. G. S. R. O. M. A. N.

Bildungsroman.

Why not just call it a coming of age story?

Bildungsroman. It’s a big, unwieldy word. Just like Great Expectations is a big, unwieldy book.

No worries! The main point of the story couldn’t be simpler.

Bildungsroman is the term that English teachers use to describe a book that’s all about growing up.

And Great Expectations follows an orphan named Pip from boyhood to manhood.

But a coming of age story isn’t just about watching a character grow older. It’s also about watching that character change—hopefully, for the better.

In Pip’s case, the growth comes as he reevaluates his “expectations”—in other words, his ambitions.

In the first stage of his expectations, Pip’s ambition is to be a gentleman—wealthy, respectable, upper class. By the end of the story, Pip has grown into an understanding of what’s really important: Loyalty, kindness, and conscience.

You could say that Pip becomes a man only when he begins to care more about his character than about his class.

As for what happens in the 59 chapters it takes for Pip to learn his big moral lesson … I’ll give you the download in the next Recap.