Ambition and Self-Improvement

All great novels have major themes on which the plot is based on, and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, is no different. One of the major themes in this novel is ambition and self-improvement. Dickens uses this as a universal idea for his novel, and from this theme he gets his title of Great Expectations. Another major theme in the novel is social class. Dickens uses the theme of social class to feed into his theme …

…ambition and self-improvement are not always good. Pip in the end is not truly by the definition a gentleman. He doesn't have very much money. Dickens shows us that having money is not the only thing that makes a person a gentleman. Pip's attitude changes at the end of the book and he realizes that being rich is not the most important thing but having social etiquette and a family is the most important thing.