Lollipops

After three weeks of reading and analyzing Dickens, moving to Lolly Willows is a relief. The dark, depressing voice of death that is omnipresent in Great Expectations is now replaced by a more playful and colorful tone in Lolly Willows. It seems as though we have made the transition from gloomy graveyards to happy ones.

Despite the obvious differences between Lolly Willows and Great Expectations, there are many deep set similarities. So far, one of the most prominent is the way that the main character stands out from his/her surroundings. Both Pip and Laura lose parents, both are either unable or unwilling to marry, and both have significantly lacking social lives. In a similar manner, they seem incapable of living in the world as “normal” people.

That said, Pip in Great Expectations makes himself an outsider because of his ambitions to become a member of the upper class, mainly so that he could marry Estella. In stark contrast, one of the strongest causes of Laura's outsider status so far is her refusal to marry or to be "trained" to be a proper wife. Instead, she chooses to place her joy in the peaceful, unaltered world. She is more than content with the relationships she is given, at least as long as her father is alive. While Pip needs to distance himself from Joe and Mrs. Joe in order to reach his goal, in Laura's ideal world she would need no one other than her family.

It will be interesting to see how Lolly Willows develops-whether Laura is able to find a way to fit into the world as Pip seemed to do, or if she will become progressively more outside as she pursues her own path.