Why do you think Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a good book?

One principal reason why Great Expectations is such a good book is that it contains such memorable characters. It is hard to think of any other author except Shakespeare who could create so many characters who are so vivid, so different and so lifelike that we can hardly help thinking of them as real human beings. Dickens had a genius for creating believable and "human" characters. Even the minor characters like Mr. Pumblechook and Trabb's boy seem like unique human beings. In Great Expectations the memorable characters are Pip, Joe Gargery, Pip's termagant sister, Mr. Jaggers, Miss Havisham, Abel Magwitch, and Estella. Perhaps there are a few others as well. Mr. Jaggers is truly remarkable as a creation. We feel we can see him and hear him. For example, when Pip finds out that Magwitch is his real benefactor and goes to Jaggers' office to verify what he has been told:

“Now, Pip,” said he, “be careful.”

“I will, sir,” I returned. For, coming along I had thought well of what I was going to say.

“Don't commit yourself,” said Mr. Jaggers, “and don't commit any one. You understand—any one. Don't tell me anything: I don't want to know anything: I am not curious.”

Another reason that Great Expectations is such a highly regarded novel is that it reveals important truths about life and about humanity. We all have great expectations when we are young, and most of us are disillusioned, just like Pip. We make up a lot of fantasies when we are young and expect to have them realized when we grow up. Pip's story is largely a story about his disillusionment. He is disillusioned about gentlemen and gentility. He is disillusioned about money, about love, about himself. The most shocking chapter in the book is the one in which all of Pip's great expectations come tumbling down around him. That is Chapter 39, in which the convict materializes out of the howling storm and reveals himself as Pip's true benefactor.

“Yes, Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has done it! I swore that time, sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I swore arterwards, sure as ever I spec'lated and got rich, you should get rich. I lived rough, that you should live smooth; I worked hard that you should be above work. What odds, dear boy? Do I tell it fur you to feel a obligation? Not a bit. I tell it, fur you to know as that there hunted dunghill dog wot you kep life in, got his head so high that he could make a gentleman—and, Pip, you're him!”

It is not only Pip who is shocked; the reader experiences the same emotions. All along, the reader has been cleverly led to assume what Pip assumes--that Miss Havisham is Pip's benefactress and that she intends to have him marry Estella and will leave the two of them all her money and property.

Dickens' novel dramatizes an important truth. The fine gentlemen and ladies of civilized society are all exploiting the poor, ignorant people who do all the world's hard labor. 

The novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, is considered a good book because it does what Dickens intended.  Dickens used his writing to criticize the establishment, the ruling class, in their use of prisons and poverty and the expectations of a young man like Pip.  His stories often use the images of prison with its hunger and lack of humanity to show the plight of those with no resources.  This book does that with clear images such as Magwitch eating as a dog would eat, even thinking of eating a boy which is a horror to most readers.  Throughout the novel, the image of prison is always there, hanging over whatever Pip does, even when helping Magwitch.  Pip is trying to help Magwitch redeem himself into a better human being and at the same time, to be a better human being himself.  Pip is also trying to become a man with prospects that a woman might look at positively. That he succeeds is part of the theme Dickens uses over and over--redemption is possible if we are given the chance.

If you use this response in your own work, it must be cited as an expert answer from eNotes. All expert answers on eNotes are indexed by Google and other search engines. Your teacher will easily be able to find this answer if you claim it as your own.

Why is Great Expectations considered a classic?

A classic is defined as a work of art that transcends its own time, remaining relevant and entertaining to generations of audiences long afterward. Classics also tend to be first-rate examples of their chosen mediums or genres. Many of Dickens's novels have attained this status, but Great Expectations is one of the most loved by critics and scholars.

Great Expectations is a classic because its themes of social class are still relevant. While technologies, social norms, and fashions have changed since the novel was serialized in the early 1860s, human nature has not. Pip's desire to better himself by becoming a gentleman is still relatable, even if now people increase their social status by seeking celebrity status rather than by taking on the manners of nobility.

The book is also considered a good example of plot construction and characterization. Even among Dickens's works, the characters here are particularly rich, including the complicated Estella, a standout among Dickens's more sentimental treatment of female characters. The book is also packed with memorable, gothic images that have remained in the cultural consciousness: Pip and Magwitch's meeting in the graveyard, Miss Havisham in her rotting wedding dress, and Pip and Estella's shadows merging in the final scene.

Meaningful plots and superb characters make classics.  Few novels ever are designated as classics without intriguing characters, and Dickens is an absolute master at creating memorable characters.  For, who has read A Tale of Two Cities ever forgets Madame Defarge, who has read or seen "A Christmas Carol" ever forgets Scrooge?  And, who has read Great Expectations and does not remember the innocent child who is ridiculed for no reason--who has not experienced this same gratuitous cruelty? And, who ever forgets the eccentric Miss Havisham?  How bizarre, yet understandable, is she?

I haven't come across many other novels that are as dense and meaningful as Dickens's Great Expectations.  While I've had students moan and groan at the prospect of having to read it (I think mostly because they've heard it's long and know that they'll HAVE to read it), they generally come to understand just how masterfully Dickens is able to give us insight into human interaction and the human spirit.  (Take, for example, the open-ended essay on the AP exam; Great Expectations is the third most frequently listed novel, because it examines so many different aspects of both intra- and inter-personal relationships. 

I have to throw in a bit of a warning here.  I don't care for Dickens much, but that's really beside the point. 

While it is true that "great works" stand the test of time, for the majority of history, those who have bestowed this mantle of superiority have been men, mostly white men, in the Academy.  For hundreds of years, it has been men who decide what goes into an anthology.  Therefore, these texts are read over and over again and eventually are deemed "great."  Works of equal or even "greater" brilliance have been dismissed or considered not up to par with the writings of women and minorities. 

The standards by which a book enters the canon, therefore, are judged by the values those men hold.  As one of my favorite critics, Nina Baym, argues, there is a "bias in favor of things male -- in favor of say, a whaling ship rather than a sewing circle, as a symbol of the human community."

Just something to chew on. 

A book is considered a classic when it stands the test of time and appeals to generation after generation of readers and is relevant to all of them.

As a classic book, Great Expectations, contains vivid characters who struggle for survival, discover love, encounter failure, work hard and achieve success.  Dickens fills his novel with real experiences filled with alienation, lonliness, ambition, success, failure, family, and self-discovery. Pip grows up in this novel and his journey is very relevant to the human experience. 

"However, modern critics have little but praise for Dickens' brilliant development of timeless themes: fear and fun, loneliness and luck, classism and social justice, humiliation and honor."