Connections

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens conveys the message of living a simple life to the reader. He shows through the passionate character, Pip that life can be seen more beautifully through a simple life. Once come power, fortune, and class, it is never easy to put it away. Dickens portrays through Pip that though he plans on becoming a gentlemen, life is better lived sweet and simple.

Pip starts off seen as an innocent and young boy doing what he is told. He knows who he wants to be like, and that is his brother-in-law, Joe. But when Pip gets a taste of much more after meeting the beautiful Estella, he looks much further than Joe. Pip's dream is now to become a gentleman.

Little Miss Sunshine nearly mirrors Great Expectations with its similar characters and matching plot. It begins with a young girl, named Olive Hoover, full of hope and innocence; just as Pip is seen. Olive is looked upon by her dad as someone that needs to be something in life; however coming from the small town they live in, that dream is far ahead of her. Olive's grandpa, Edwin Hoover, her relates to Joe in Great Expectations because he thinks no less of Olive and her dreams of becoming a beauty queen. After receiving an exciting phone call about a pageant, Olive's journey begins.

Just like Pip, Olive cares about how people see her, and though her family knows Olive does not look nor act like the other girls, they do not stop her in becoming a beauty queen. With all the obstacles that get in their way of reaching the pageant, the Hoover family sways between falling apart and coming back together day by day on their journey. In the end, once they realize the need to support Olive, the family unites to turn away the ridicule from the crowd, and finally willing come together.

Both Olive and Pip both strive to be the ideal person, but in doing so they both come to better know themselves and better understand who they are as a person. I predict that Pip will realize, just as Olive did, that he is seen as a better person in his own thick black boots (and red cowgirl boots in Olive's case.)