What Money Means for Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations
There's a moment in Great Expectations that sums up everything wrong with Victorian attitudes toward money, and it happens over a Christmas dinner table. Meanwhile, Mrs. But joe watches with something like hunger in her eyes. Plus, she's not offended by Pip's humiliation. Because of that, she's basking in the reflected respectability of the meal, the guests, the occasion. Because of that, a young Pip, bleeding from a fight, is forced to stand in the corner while Pumblechook — a man with seed corn and nothing else to recommend him — delivers a pompous speech about how the world rewards "upward" people. The money and status Pumblechook represents have nothing to do with him, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that he has both, and they don't.
That's the lens we need when we look at what money represents for these two characters. It's not complicated on the surface, but Dickens being Dickens, there's more going on beneath That's the part that actually makes a difference. No workaround needed..
Who These Characters Are — and Why They Matter
Let me give you the quick setup if it's been a while since you cracked open Great Expectations.
Mrs. Joe is Pip's older sister, twenty years his senior, who essentially raises him after their parents die. She married Joe Gargery — the kind, gentle blacksmith who becomes Pip's true family — but she treats both of them terribly. She's harsh, quick-tempered, and fundamentally resentful. Her resentment is the engine of her character.
Pumblechook is the village seedsman and corn merchant. He's a fixture in the Kent community, a man of modest but visible means. He has pretensions above his station, speaks in grandiose terms about "business" and "prospects," and treats those he considers below him with thinly veiled contempt Worth knowing..
Both characters matter because they're not villains in the traditional sense. Think about it: they're something worse — they're ordinary. Which means they're the people who actually existed in every English village when Dickens was writing. And their relationship to money tells us everything about what the pursuit of wealth was doing to English society in the mid-1800s No workaround needed..
The World Dickens Was Writing About
Here's the thing most people forget: when Great Expectations was published in 1860-61, England was in the middle of a massive social upheaval. The old aristocracy was being challenged by a new class of industrialists and merchants. The Industrial Revolution had created new fortunes almost overnight. Money was becoming the great equalizer — and the great corrupter.
Dickens saw this firsthand. Also, he knew people who'd climbed the ladder and immediately forgot where they'd started. He knew people who'd been crushed underfoot by those who'd climbed over them. And he knew that money, in his England, had become less about survival and more about worth — less about what you could buy and more about what you meant.
That's the world Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe inhabit. And that's the world their obsession with money reflects.
What Money Represents for Mrs. Joe
Let's start with Mrs. Joe, because her relationship to money is more complicated than it first appears.
On the surface, she's poor. The Gargery household is humble — not starving, but not comfortable either. Also, joe works hard, but there's never quite enough. And Mrs. Joe resents this. Deeply And that's really what it comes down to. And it works..
But here's what most people miss: her resentment isn't really about the money. It's about what the money means. She doesn't want wealth for its own sake. She wants it because she believes wealth equals worth. She's watched her husband — a good man, a skilled man, a man who deserves respect — get overlooked, passed over, treated as common. And she's decided that the only way to matter is to have what the "important" people have That's the part that actually makes a difference..
Honestly, this part trips people up more than it should.
That's why she's so bitter toward Pip, actually. Not just because he's a burden — though she uses that excuse — but because he's a reminder of their low station. So every time she looks at him, she's looking at her own failure to rise. The money she resents not having is really the respect she believes she's owed.
The Christmas Dinner Scene
This is where it becomes undeniable. When the wealthy relatives come to dinner, Mrs. Joe transforms. Here's the thing — she becomes almost gracious. This leads to she decks the table with her best things. She tolerates the indignity of Pumblechook's speeches because the alternative — being a poor family with no one important to host — is worse Still holds up..
And watch how she treats Pip during this scene. He's bleeding from a fight with his convict (the opening of the novel), and she's more concerned with him ruining the tablecloth than with his pain. When Pumblechook delivers his homily about upward people, she's rapt. She's learning.
What does money represent to Mrs. Joe? It represents the dignity she believes she's been denied. The respect she thinks she's owed. The escape from a life that has never let her feel important Small thing, real impact..
What Money Represents for Pumblechook
If Mrs. Joe's relationship to money is complicated, Pumblechook's is almost painfully simple. Almost.
Pumblechook worships wealth. Still, money, in his mind, transforms a person from nobody into somebody. Not for what it can buy — though that's part of it — but for what it does. And he desperately wants to be somebody.
Look at how he behaves. He mentions his business constantly, not because anyone cares, but because he needs to feel that his life has weight. He speaks about "prospects" and "advancement" in language far grander than a seed merchant's life warrants. He's performing importance he doesn't actually have Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
And watch what happens when Pip comes into money. This is where Dickens is at his sharpest.
The Transformation
When Pip receives his "great expectations" and becomes a gentleman, Pumblechook's entire personality shifts. Suddenly, he's at Pip's service. Consider this: suddenly, he's the first to claim association with the "promising" young man. He's not just friendly — he's fawning. He rewrites history to insert himself into Pip's success Less friction, more output..
This isn't mere opportunism, though it is that. Worth adding: it's something deeper. Pumblechook genuinely believes that wealth is the measure of a person. Also, when Pip has money, he matters more. And Pumblechook, by attaching himself to Pip's wealth, hopes to borrow some of that mattering for himself Worth keeping that in mind..
What does money represent for Pumblechook? It represents the entire hierarchy of worth. Here's the thing — it's not a means to an end — it's the end itself. The be-all and end-all of human existence. He has no other metric for value Turns out it matters..
Why Their Attitudes Matter to the Novel
Here's where we connect the dots Not complicated — just consistent..
Dickens isn't just depicting two unpleasant characters. In practice, the obsession with money, with status, with "getting on" — he saw it everywhere, and he saw what it did to people. He's showing us the disease that was rotting English society. Practically speaking, joe bitter and cruel. Practically speaking, it made Mrs. Which means it made Pumblechook small and grasping. It made them both incapable of seeing the actual good in their lives — Joe's kindness, Pip's loyalty, the simple dignity of honest work.
And the tragedy is that neither of them learns. Even when Pip rises, Mrs. Also, joe can't rejoice in his happiness — she's too busy resenting that she didn't get there first. Even when Pip shares his fortune, Pumblechook can't feel genuine warmth — he's too busy calculating what he might extract from the relationship No workaround needed..
That's what money has done to them. It's blinded them to everything else.
The Contrast with Joe
Basically why Joe Gargery is so important to the novel. He has almost nothing, and yet he's the most generous, kind, decent person in the book. That said, he's the counter-example. He doesn't measure his worth by his wallet. He doesn't measure anyone else's worth that way either.
Dickens is saying something specific: money doesn't make you good. Plus, the pursuit of it, taken to the extreme these characters embody, actually makes you less. Smaller. It doesn't make you worthy. Bitter. On the flip side, it doesn't make you important. Blind to the things that actually matter.
The official docs gloss over this. That's a mistake.
Common Mistakes in Understanding These Characters
Here's where I'll push back on some common readings It's one of those things that adds up..
Mistake one: treating them as purely comic. Yes, Pumblechook is ridiculous. Yes, Mrs. Joe's temper is almost farcical in its intensity. But Dickens isn't just making us laugh. He's making a point. These aren't character sketches — they're social critiques And that's really what it comes down to..
Mistake two: seeing them as uniquely evil. They're not. They're ordinary. That's the horror. Any of of us could become them if we let money become our measuring stick. Dickens knew this. That's why he's so merciless in showing us what that path looks like.
Mistake three: missing the class dimension. Both characters are working or lower-middle class, and both are desperate to escape their station. Dickens is showing us how the class system distorts people — how being told you're less important than others makes you desperate to prove you're not. The money obsession isn't just about greed. It's about survival in a brutal social hierarchy.
What We Can Learn From Them
Alright, let's bring this down to something practical Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
If you're reading Great Expectations — or any Victorian novel — pay attention to what money means to each character. It's rarely just about wealth. It's about self-worth, social standing, power, safety, dignity. The characters who obsess over money are usually the ones who feel they lack something else. And the ones who don't care about money are usually the ones who've found worth elsewhere Small thing, real impact..
This is useful beyond literature, honestly. Think about the people in your life who are most consumed by money. Not people who work hard or want financial security — everyone wants that. I'm talking about the ones who measure everything by it. Also, the ones who can't enjoy a meal without calculating its cost. The ones who can't be happy for someone else's success without envying their bank account Simple, but easy to overlook. Practical, not theoretical..
They're usually not greedy in the simple sense. They believe, like Mrs. They're usually scared. Joe and Pumblechook, that money is the only thing standing between them and worthlessness But it adds up..
That's not a defense — both characters are genuinely unpleasant. But understanding what's driving them makes them more than just cautionary tales. It makes them human. And it makes Dickens's critique sharper Most people skip this — try not to. And it works..
FAQ
Why does Mrs. Joe hate Pip so much? She doesn't hate Pip specifically — she hates her circumstances. Pip is a constant reminder of the life she's stuck in. He's also the one thing she has power over, which makes him an outlet for her resentment about all the things she can't control.
Is Pumblechook meant to be funny? Yes, but he's not only funny. Dickens uses him to satirize the middle class's obsession with wealth and status. The comedy makes him memorable, but the critique is serious Small thing, real impact..
Does Dickens think money is evil? No. He thinks the obsession with money is destructive. Several characters in his novels achieve comfortable wealth without losing themselves. The problem isn't having money — it's letting money become the measure of your worth.
How do these characters relate to the novel's main themes? Great Expectations is fundamentally about what makes a person valuable — birth, money, character, or something else. Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook represent the first two answers, and Dickens shows us exactly what's wrong with those measurements That's the whole idea..
Does either character change by the end? Mrs. Joe is permanently injured by Orlick and becomes more dependent on Joe, which softens her somewhat. Pumblechook continues being Pumblechook. Dickens isn't interested in redemption for these two — he's interested in showing us what they cost the people around them Simple, but easy to overlook..
The thing that stays with me about these characters isn't their unpleasantness — it's their sadness. Mrs. Pumblechook will never know if people like him or just like what he might do for them. Joe will die never having felt worthy. They've traded everything that actually matters for a currency that never stops demanding more Worth knowing..
Dickens saw that happening all around him, in real people, in real lives. And he wrote these two so we'd see it too — so we'd recognize the obsession for what it is: not ambition, but emptiness. Not a plan for the future, but a wound that never heals.
This is the bit that actually matters in practice.
That's what money represents for Pumblechook and Mrs. In real terms, joe. And that's why, even now, they're worth thinking about.
