Always thought Great Expectations was about Pip finding happiness, but then I read an essay about how it's really about class guilt and financial trauma.

Found it in a literary journal at my local library Tuesday and now I can't stop seeing the whole book differently - is that a legit reading or am I overthinking a Victorian novel?

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anderson.spencer2d ago

...and now I'm sitting here wondering if my whole life is just a series of financial traumas wrapped in class guilt, like some kind of sad Victorian sandwich. Seriously though, I think that's a totally legit reading. Great Expectations is basically about a guy who gets money and instantly becomes miserable, which feels pretty relatable in this economy. I'm pretty sure Dickens was just writing about his own stress over money, because let's be real, the man knew a thing or two about debt. So no, you're not overthinking it - you're probably the first person to actually get the joke.