Indies. It occurs to Pip that Herbert might not know exactly what he is talking about. Pip has come to like Herbert and listens respectfully to his big career dreams, but he does not think that Herbert will actually be successful in this regard.

We learn what finally becomes of Herbert's aspirations in Chapter 58. He and Pip end up working together in a shipping company. They never make the vast fortunes that Herbert predicted, but at this stage in his life, Herbert is quite contented with what he already has.

The answer to this can be found towards the end of Chapter 22.  Herbert appears not to really have any sort of a profession just at the moment.  He is "looking about," presumably to find some sort of work that he can do that will not be too hard.

Even though he really does not have a profession at the moment, Herbert has big dreams.  He aspires to be a big shot in the shipping business.  He intends to insure ships that travel all over the world to trade.  He believes that he will be able to make a great deal of money in that way.

Herbert Pocket is a young London gentleman who becomes Pip's roommate and best friend. Mr. Jaggers, Pip's guardian, has arranged for Pip to live with Herbert so that he can acquire the manners and good and bad habits of a gentleman from this well-mannered but impecunious youth. When Pip first meets Herbert in London he realizes that this was the same person he had a fight with at Miss Havisham's house when they were young boys. Herbert had illusions about being a boxer and challenged Pip to a boxing match, which Pip quickly won.

Herbert is the son of Matthew Pocket, who becomes Pip's tutor, also by arrangement with Mr. Jaggers. Both Matthew and his son are related to Miss Havisham. Their connection with her and with Pip's guardian Mr. Jaggers serve to convince Pip that Miss Havisham must be his secret benefactress. Herbert does not know anything about this but assumes that Pip is probably correct in his deductions. Pip goes further in his deductions. He assumes that Miss Havisham is having him taught to be a London gentleman because she intends to have him marry her adopted daughter Estella and to leave them all her money with which to live a life of luxurious indolence.

Since Miss Havisham never married or had any children, she has no close relatives. Matthew Pocket is one of her distant relatives, and Herbert therefore is slightly more distance. Miss Havisham has several other distant relatives who are continually visiting her and expressing their deep affection for the old lady because they hope to inherit some of her money. They all hate Pip because they are afraid he might get exactly what he dreams of when Miss Havisham finally dies--that is, the hand of Estella in marriage and the bulk of the old spinster's fortune. She enjoys tantalizing all these distant whom Pip sees as toadies and humbugs when he first encounters them at Miss Havisham's home in Chapter 11.

Herbert is useful to the plot of Great Expectations because he is instrumental in teaching Pip the manners, tastes, and values of a gentleman. He can also tell Herbert a lot about Miss Havisham's family history, and useful when Abel Magwitch makes his appearance in Chapter 39. Pip discovers that Magwitch's return to England is known to the authorities and that he must get out of the country immediately or face hanging. Herbert helps Pip practice rowing on the Thames and then tries to help him catch a steamer bound for Hamburg or another steamer bound for Rotterdam on the outgoing tide. But they are betrayed by Compeyson, Magwitch's arch-enemy, and Magwitch ends up in the prison hospital ward in grave condition because of his age.

Pip later persuades Miss Havisham to give Herbert enough money in secret to enable him to purchase a partnership in a small East India business enterprise and to marry the girl he loves.

Herbert is a nephew of Miss Havisham's.  Pip met him when he was younger at Miss Havisham's house.  Now he and Pip are roommates.  Pip's tutor is Herbert's father.  Lacking the money to become a gentleman,and thereby do nothing,  Herbert has embarked upon a career.

Herbert Pocket, Jr. is Pip's roomate in college and his best friend. Herbert is not terribly bright, but he is an extremely kind person and a loyal friend. Herbert is unquestioningly generous; when he comes into an unexpected fortune, he expansively offers to share it with Pip, and, at the end of the story, when Pip is left destitute, he kindly offers him a job. Herbert's patience and gentle demeanor extends even to the difficult alcoholic Mr. Barley, and, happily, he ends up marrying Mr. Barley's daughter Clara, a woman who is as kind and good-natured as he is. Herbert Pocket's even, easy-going personality is a stark contrast to Pip's driven, acquisitive one; he remains constant through his ups and downs in fortune, while Pip is much more mercurial.

There is another Herbert Pocket in the story, the young Herbert's father, Herbert Pocket, Sr. The elder Pocket is a teacher, albeit an inadequate one; he works at his trade not out of love for what he does, but so that he can keep his wife and children fed. Despite his ineptness, Herbert Pocket's household is a welcoming place, and his son and his friends often gather at his home.

Herbert Pocket is the son of Matthew Pocket, who is the cousin of Miss Havisham. Perhaps exclusively, the Pocket family does not seem to lust after Miss Havisham's fortune. Herbert puts a great emphasis on being a gentleman, and his father even tutors many young boys in the practice of being gentlemanly. Upon their very first encounter, Herbert challenges Pip to a fistfight in which there are several rules. Later, Herbert becomes Pip's best friend when they meet in London.

As he is young, Herbert is in no particular line of work; however, he dreams of becoming a merchant and making a name for himself in the world of capitalism. He often speaks fondly of how thrilling the game of gaining and employing capital must be. Though he never strikes it rich, he does find a satisfying career in a shipping company by the end of the story.