Great Expectations and High Hopes

In both Great Expectations by Dickens and High Hopes by Leigh, the desire of obtaining a great fortune and future from characters with a low socioeconomic status is portrayed. In Great Expectations, the character Pip wishes to escalate to a wealthy social class in order to marry Estella, the daughter of Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is a wealthy widow who can be compared to the characters in High Hopes, Rupert and Laetitia, as they are a wealthy couple within an emerging social class. Similar to Pip, Valerie is a character in High Hopes who longs to fit in with the wealthy class just like Rupert and Laetitia. 

At the end of Great Expectations, Pip learns to value the relationships he lost during his path to wealth as opposed to only valuing social class advancement. Pip became humble and content with his lifestyle, just as the couple, Cyril and Shirley in High Hopes. Cyril belonged to the same lower social economic class as Valerie since they were siblings, but both characters had completely different values and desires. On the other hand, Valerie remains miserable throughout the film as she constantly continues to attempt to fit in with the upper social class and live in a “perfect” world.