"We owed so much to Herbert's ever cheerful industry and readiness," (Dickens 480). This quote shows how Herbert's optimism helps Pip tolerate his lack of opulence. The quote continues to say, "I often wondered how I had conceived that old idea of his inaptitude, until I was one day enlightened by the reflection, that perhaps the inaptitude had never been in him at all, but had been in me." (Dickens 480). This passage illustrates how Herbert is always an honorable person who would never estrange his family, but Pip, with his shortcomings dealing with interpersonal interaction, fails to realize this until Herbert provides a home for him. These examples delineate the moral differences between Herbert and Pip. .
Another congruity between Pip and Herbert's situations is that at the end of the story, they each find contentment in their lives, which shows growth and change in character. Though both characters grow and change, Herbert matures into a morally developed individual, while Pip remains quite immature and woefully inconsiderate of the feelings of others. Earlier in the novel Pip is not content with being poor or common and he wishes to distinguish himself from his peers. However, in the end Pip chooses his friendship with Herbert over a wealthy, but lonely, future. He also begins to earn his living honestly, instead of unknowingly taking money from a poverty-stricken convict. "I went out and joined Herbert. Within a month I had quitted England, and within two months I was clerk to Clarriker and Co., and within four months I assumed my first undivided responsibility. [.] I lived happily with Herbert and his wife, and lived frugally, and paid my debts, and maintained a constant correspondence with Biddy and Joe." (Dickens 480) This passage shows how Pip's character develops from the ungrateful poor boy he is in the beginning of the novel to the honest, frugal, and content man he is in the end.
