"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. " Great Expectations is a coming-of-age novel and a classic work of Victorian literature. It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. Pip, like Dickens himself, dreams of becoming a gentleman after he met the beautiful girl Estella who makes him ashamed of his country manners and coarse hands. However during the course of the novel Pip comes to realize that there is more to life than wealth and station.