John Locke a philosopher, created the theory of tabula rasa, which stated that from people from birth are a blank slate. They start out with no information and along their way in life they get taught rules and take in information. In Great Expectations Pip and Magwitch are two characters that grow up from nothing. They grow being people based of what others have written on them, but also grow from their personal accounts. Pip and Magwitch’s story truly supports this theory growing up into the type of people based off factors around them. Everyone starts out as a blank slate, and due to their environment along the people around them it creates a base for how a person may become.
From the time people are born they start off without any morals or values. They are are taught or written upon by their parents or teachers. Taught right or wrong by the people they are surrounded by. Taught how they should act, what is acceptable and how to react to certain topics or situations. The environment a person grows up in along with the other factors, affect how a person becomes. Depending on who influences and what the encourage, impacts the type of person someone becomes. All these factors are different for each person which is why everyone is not alike. Based on their own experiences they have had in life and what they have been through it influences them as a human. We get told what race, ethnicity, age or type of person we are. These things are out of control. Through experience, growth and being written on my many we being to take action in what we can control from what information has been given. If we were born with a certain set of moral and abilities people wouldn’t change as time went on, yet people do. This theory not only applies the people but the characters in Great Expectations.
People are important factors that determine how and what type of person someone might be. Through time and age Pip became the person he was written as by others. As he spent time with people more wealthier than him he was written off as “coarse” and ‘common”. He did not know that he was those things until people told him. He called “jacks”, “knives” and did not know it was wrong until he was told by others. Through that experience he had more information on his slate. Due to that, he began to see himself in that way. He became the person others told he was even though he did not want to be seen in that way he could not control it. He was based off what others wrote him as. But as he got older he got money and was told that he was a gentleman. Since people labeled him as a gentleman he became an image of what a gentleman would be. Pip changed his clothes, spoke differently, acted a certain way and did all the things that would said to be done by a gentleman. Since he learned new information and had new experiences he developed as a person and continues too. Which altogether supports John Locke’s philosophy that what a person is a due to its factors and data given.
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Not only can people affect a person but the environment they grow up can be the most impactful factor. Magwitch was born a poor orphan. Forced to live on the street and scavenge for food was where he had to grow up. People would tell him that he was going to be a criminal when he was older, which he did. Based off the environment he had to live in along with people writing him as a thief created him. Magwitch took part in illegal crimes making counterfeit money and cheating others causing him to go to jail. This all shows based off what was written on his slate formed how he became. Through the influence of his situation and others labeling him it put him in jail. Although he was classified as a criminal he did not stay one through learning and understanding from the information he had that he could be better. And with that he was able to work later becoming rich. All because he could use what he had and new supporting that the theory of tabula rasa is true.
The environment to the people around can affect a person’s future which can all vary, the reason why there are some many types of people around. Each person has different experiences, and people in their life that writes on their slate forming them into a person they become. With what they learn they either grow into being a better or worse. Which is shown by everyone, be it be a character from a book to a person in real life everyone starts out as a blank slate.
