Reading Is \"Great Expectations\" by Charles Dickens.

¶ … reading is "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. This introduction to a different kind of novel is a new experience for me, because as I finished reading the novel, I felt disenchanted and unsure of the story's final chapter, and the way Dickens ended his novel. I've always been acquainted with stories that depict life full of suffering, but in the end, one can always expect that the story will end up alright, that the protagonist, the sufferer, will emerge triumphant in the end. Not so with my first novel. Not only did I feel disenchanted, I was at a loss and did not know what really happened between the characters, Estella and Pip. Did they end up being together after all? Or did they realize/decide that they are just friends?

This disenchantment led me to further discover other kinds of literary works, especially the classic ones, and true enough; I discovered that Dickens' theme in "Great Expectations" is similar to other literary works that I have read. In fact, the similarity made me realize that I managed to break my stereotype of what a novel is like, or supposed to be: the convention that a story ends 'happily ever after' is not the norm for true literary reading. In fact, now that I've become acquainted with some of the famous and unconventional novels and short stories in the world of literature, I learned to identify and determine the cause why a literary work ends the way it ended in the novel, or what is the historical or social relevance that will make a character's actions or the story's development happen? These important questions made me not only appreciate the creative in which social, historical, and moral issues were discussed indirectly through literature, but to view literary works as the primary vehicle wherein issues in life are not delivered objectively, but with the subjective, or personal viewpoint, of the writer of the story/novel.

Take as an example the literary works of James Joyce, like the novel "Ulysses," and his compilation of short stories, entitled, "The Dubliners." In "Ulysses," James Joyce depicted the life of Leopold Bloom through a series of events that illustrates and reflects the life of the Dubliners and the social and moral issues that the characters confront in the novel's story. Leopold Bloom, or Poldy, is one character that is described to be a 'modern hero,' not because he performs heroic or admirable acts in the novel. In fact, Poldy is seen as a weak man initially, because of his inability to confront his wife Molly about her adultery with Blazes Boylan, Molly's co-singer. However, despite Poldy's passive behavior about some moral issues in the story (such as the pub scene wherein Citizen had admonished and ridiculed him about his belief), Poldy emerged to be a conscientious character in the novel, helping out Stephen Dedalus during his time of weakness, and his 'unhappy marriage' with Molly was finally settled by Molly herself, who had confessed in the last part of the novel that she truly loves Poldy. The transition of the story from Poldy being a passive and weak character to a 'modern hero,' as illustrated through the other characters in the story, shows how life is full of people like Poldy, who emerge as heroes in other people's eyes despite their human faults and character flaws. Indeed, without the characters' flaws in the novel, Joyce's "Ulysses" will lack the realistic and humanistic theme of the story. By shaping and creating his characters as one of use, or among us, we as readers can identify to the characters, making the novel's story meaningful to us. Evidently, one of the elements of the novel that I took interest in are the characters' development in the novel, and how they act, what they are, and what they have become as the novel finally ends. Thus, 'Ulysses' is a good study for identifying and confronting the human issue of morality and weakness as depicted by James Joyce's narrative.