Making Connections

A book that is similar to Great Expectations is To Kill a Mockingbird. There are similar themes and motifs in both books. Both books have the motif of mystery, and both have the theme of growing up. Pip and Scout have different life styles and the plots are not similar at all! But they have similar meanings and Pip and Scout learn a few of the same lessons.

The motif of mystery is strong in both books. Some examples in Great Expectations are the question of Pip's benefactor, who hurt Mrs. Joe, the spirit in Estella, and more. A few from To Kill a Mockingbird are Boo Radley and his family, Mayella and her family, Dill's parents, and Scout and Jems mom. The mystery's in the books are not the same and have different feelings, but the motif is the same throughout the book.

The theme of growing up is also a big thing in both of these books. Pip and Scouts lives are pulled out throughout the books, but Pip does grow up more in age. They both learn things too much for them at their age, but handle everything very well. Pip goes through helping an escaped convict at a young age, having to go play at a creepy old ladies house and falling in love with her adopted daughter before the age of 18, and having to leave his family completely around the age of 18. Scout goes through bullying from her fellow classmates because of her dad defending a black man, a rape trial, and being attacked by a drunk man.
 This picture shows the growing up that was forced upon Scout in the rape trial.

One last similar thing is that Pip was to grow up to be a gentleman, and Scout to be a lady. There was a difference in the fact that Pip wanted to be a gentleman and his family didn't, and Scout didn't want to be a lady but eveyone else wanted her to. The both had the expectations of it though. These two books are very different in some ways, but in the themes and motifs I talked of they are the same.