In Which We Progress in Our Expectations

Well, that’s over with. And thank goodness. Believe it or not, my need for allegorical novels espousing puritanical beliefs and values is actually pretty minimal (shocking, I know). The Pilgrim’s Progress was wearing thin by about page 25, but it is now in the past. And like Christian and later Christina, we have survived the journey to reach a better place. A place where we will never again have to read, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

I went into this one knowing that it would not be fun. The pre-1700s on the list are all rather difficult for me for some reason (one of my biggest cheats is probably The 1001 Nights; I have read all that I can stand, and I am counting that as a read, and there is no way you can possibly convince me otherwise). I tried to make it more fun by thinking of the role it plays in two of my favorite young adult novels (one is obvious, but bonus points if you know the second one!) and how reading this would give me insight. And perhaps to a certain extent it did.

But good gravy. Any work where characters are named Pliable, Knows Nothing, Enmity, and Hopeful is going to be a little heavy handed, and The Pilgrim’s Progress lives up to that expectation.

I’m not exactly sure why, but I decided to read Great Expectations after this one. I’m trying to knock off some of my dreads, and I guess that’s my justification. I certainly did not have great expectations going in, but surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Dickens is much more fun than I expect him to be, and I probably need to stop underestimating him.

First, the story is well plotted, and the character journeys are compelling. No one is perfect, but no one is beyond evil, either. Joe and Biddy come the closest to perfection in some ways, but they still feel like actual people (and who couldn’t love Joe). The scene where Estella confronts Miss Havisham is so powerful, and would make for a great scene. Pip is actually interesting, which I had not expected at all, and Herbert and Clara’s romance is lovely.

I’m a fan of Dickens’ first ending, not the re-worked one to make it more appealing or what have you. I’m not a particularly romantic person, of course, but the re-worked ending just doesn’t. . . work. Estella is who she is, and that isn’t going to change. I’d love to read a re-write of the story from her perspective, though.