Human Development and Theories of Development
Human beings undergo various stages of growth after their birth. Basically, these stages provide an opportunity of learning to the growing individual as he/she interacts with the immediate environment. As the individual proceeds from one stage to another, it can be said that he/she is developing. Development can thus be described as the progressive series of changes that occur in a predictable pattern as a result of interactions between biological and environmental factors (Salkind, 2004). This paper attempts to employ theories of human development in practice so as to examine major life themes of an individual as he/she progresses from infancy to adulthood. In order to achieve this feat, it has been found prudent to examine a fictional character in a bildungsroman setting. In essence, Bildungsroman literature affords us an extensive opportunity to critically examine characters from cradle to death through the lenses of developmental theories. In examining the character, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will be employed as well as Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development.
Selection of Character
In the process of choosing a suitable character for the purpose of analysis in this work, many literature works and films were considered. Among the reviewed works, of interest, were To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain as well as Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens. As aforementioned, the choice of character greatly lay in the ability of the work in which he/she is featured to present episodes of growth from birth to the later stages of life. Finally, Great Expectations (1861) was chosen for the purpose of analysis. In Great Expectations (1861), Pip Pirrip is the main protagonist. As the first chapter opens, and the first scene set, Pip Pirrip is described as an orphaned boy, living with his elder sister. His adopted family is incredibly poor since its principal breadwinner is a mere blacksmith. As the story progresses, Pip continues to grow, recording interesting life experiences. He soon finds a benefactor, and thus trained to become a gentleman. Through this episode of good fortune, he meets Estella, his childhood antagonist now turned friend. A romantic relationship thus ensues before turning sour. At last, Pip becomes unfortunate due to the capture and death of his benefactor.
Identification of Stages and Life Themes of the Character
Four major life episodes will be analyzed in this work. These include 1-5 years stage, 6-12 years stage, 13-19 years stage and 20-60 years stage. In doing so, the character’s strengths and challenges in each stage will be examined through two developmental theories. Majorly, the work will focus on the occurrences surrounding each of the stages highlighted.
1 – 5 Years Stage
Pip’s first episodes of life are expressed through an interesting tale by the narrator of the novel, who is himself. The young boy is by the church yard, examining the tombstones of his deceased family. He first announces his name as Pip, because his father’s family name was Pirrip while his Christian name was Philip (Dickens, 1861). However, he confesses that as a child, he could not make sense of the two names. Thus, he simply referred to himself as Pip. As he examines the graves, he tries to make out the figures of his parents. Oddly, he thinks of mother as a freckled and sickly woman. Out of nowhere, a brutal fellow charges at the poor boy. The man commands the boy to show him his family. Out of fear, Pip points at the grave yard to the utter dismay of the man. However, it dawns on the intruder that the young boy was referring to the tombstones. Disappointed, the man searches Pip for valuables. However, he only finds bread in the boy’s pockets. He then demands to cut the boy’s throat as well as eat his cheeks. This induces a terrible fear in the boy, naturally afraid for his cheeks and throat. However, the man who assailed him finally leaves, and Pip rushes home in fear.
6 – 12 years Stage
Pip is exceedingly fond of Joe Gargery, his step brother as well as step-father. Their bond is strengthened due to their constant persecution by Mrs. Joe, Pips elder sister. Since they are constantly accosted by the woman, they view each other as suffrage mates. When soldiers come calling at their home in pursuit of the prisoners who had escaped from a prison boat near Kent, Pip is exceptionally afraid. However, he calms down when he is not directly found out to have been in relation with one of the prisoners. During a search party, Pip happily rides Joe’s back as they hunt for the prisoners. Pip is destined to be a blacksmith as his step-brother. Since he is fond of Joe, he does not see a problem with this arrangement. However, after a visit to Satis House, where he fulfills the whims of the incredibly wealthy Miss Havisham, his desires of joining Joe at the forge begin to wane. He recognizes a very beautiful girl at the premises. The girl is naturally rude towards him. During a game of cards, the girl expresses her disgust for his reference to knaves as Jacks. During his stay at Satis House, he begins to recognize his social class. He realizes that his hands are extremely hard, and that his clothes are cheap and rugged. Due to this, he desires to change his social standing, longing to become a gentleman. This induces his yearning for learning, making him force Biddy to teach him all that she knew. It also during this period that his love for Biddy begins to grow.
13 – 19 Years Stage
Pip is finally apprenticed with Joe to become a blacksmith. However, he increasingly desires to become a gentleman. He communicates this to Biddy, who has been his teacher. When asked why he would want to become a gentleman, he sites particular reasons. As he continues to work at the forge, Pip realizes that his work mate, Orlick, has a thing for Biddy. As he sleeps at night, he is at pains of finding out methods he would use to ensure that Orlick is dismissed at the forge. Occasionally, he visits Miss Havisham at the Satis House. Although he is hopeless in relation to becoming a gentleman, a chance presents itself in the form of a visitation by Mr. Jaggers, a lawyer from London and a representative of Pip’s new benefactor. Through Jaggers arrangement, Pip is disengaged from him apprenticeship. He is soon to join Jaggers in London so that he can pursue further studies. In London, Pip grows fond of Herbert Pocket, a son of his tutor. They become great friends, sharing secrets. During his stay in London, Estella joins them, and Pip is given the responsibility of picking her up from the station during her first visit. The lady is exceedingly beautiful and Pip is in love with her. One of Pip’s friends notice her too. Bentley Drummie, an exceedingly uncouth fellow, pursues Estella. At last, the two get married to the utter dismay of Pip, who is desperate and heartbroken.
20 – 60 Years Stage
Pip had previously invested in Herbert’s business endeavors. When unfortunate turn of events occur, leading to Abel Magwitch’s arrest and death, Pip is extremely forlorn. Firstly, the death of his benefactor translates to the loss of his fortune. Having been a big spender in parties around London, he becomes penniless. Due to disbelief, he is afflicted with an illness, which plagues him for several months. Joe Gargery learns of his illness and pays his medical bills. At last, Pip travels to his native home, having lost his great expectations. Again, he meets Estella, whose marriage has failed. Estella is sad individual, since her husband Drummie is now deceased courtesy of an accident. The two of them grieve, accepting their realities. After a few months in Kent, Pip joins Herbert and his business partner at the company where he becomes a secretary. Through toil, he rises through the ranks to become a partner himself.
Analysis and Evaluation of Major Life Themes
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow created a hierarchy of needs as a developmental theory, showing how individuals progress from the lower needs towards the higher ones (Sarma & Hoek, 2004). Maslow created a pyramid of the needs that need to be fulfilled during an individual’s lifetime. The first four needs were referred to as deficiency needs while the remaining three were referred to as growth needs (Martin & Joomis, 2007). Thus, an individual tends to fulfill the lower needs as he/she progresses towards the higher ones. The first need that needs to be fulfilled is the physiological need (Martin & Joomis, 2007). Physiological needs are vital for human survival and include food, shelter, and clothing. During the 1-5 year stage of Pip, he’s constantly in need of meeting these needs. When he was confronted by the brute man at the churchyard, he was found to have a piece of bread in his pocket. This illustrated Pip’s attachment to food. For Pip, food is viewed as a fundamental need at this stage. When the brute forced Pip to save his supper for him, Pip was in constant worry for his hunger. Pip’s constant concern with food stresses how the lack of physiological needs may adversely affect an individual. Unfortunately, his benefactor’s poverty greatly challenges him in relation to the fulfillment of this need.
McLeod (2018) posits that when physiological needs are met, the individual moves upwards to satisfy safety needs, then Love, Esteem, and self-actualization. Pip grew fond of Biddy in the quest of fulfilling his love needs. However, when he was humiliated by Estella during his visit at the Satis House, his esteem was greatly injured, leading him to long being a gentleman. When the chance presented itself, Pip became extravagant with his fortune, exposing Pip’s weakness of peer pressure during his adolescent years (13-19 years). He spent a lot of his fortune on parties in competition with Bentley Drummie for Estella’s love. During these episodes, Pip became extremely arrogant. However, he fell into misfortune after losing his benefactor. When this happened, Pip was forced to begin afresh, so that he could fulfill his physiological needs once more. Joining Herbert, this was achieved. Through hard work, he rose through the ranks to become a partner, thus reaching self-actualization. This showed that Pip was incredibly industrious, a virtue that enabled him to survive many challenges which afflicted him.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Needs
Erik Erikson was one of the first psychologists to propose a life span developmental theory as other psychologists were primarily interested with childhood development (Sokol, 2009). Erikson’s theory of development involved eight stages, with each stage having potential crises which an individual is expected to encounter and conquer before going on to the next stage (Sokol, 2009). Thus, each stage has a favorable or unfavorable outcome to the individual. The outcomes which are favorable to the individual are referred to as basic virtues while those which are unfavorable are referred to as maladaptations (Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory, 2018).
At 5 years of age, the individual is in a stage that establishes his purpose in life. Two outcomes may proceed from this stage, either initiative or guilt (McLeod, 2018). During this stage, Pip was constantly visiting Mrs. Wopsle to learn. During his visits, he was taught by Biddy, an industrious girl almost his age. When he went home, Joe Gargery would lament that he knew nothing of learning. Joe and Pip would spend a lot of time together as Pip taught him to write his name. This led to initiative at the end of this stage as Pip yearned to be more educated. He had a strength of industry.
Once Pip moved to Industry V. Inferiority stage, he was expected to visit Miss Havisham to indulge her in her whims. He was constantly humiliated by young Estella. Her disgust of his saying Jacks instead of Knaves exposed his illiteracy. He thus grew inferior. However, during a fight with the pale boy, he became aware of his strength when he knocked him down, thus re-asserting himself. During this stage, his poor economic background was a great challenge. However, his ambitions came to his rescue. Since he greatly admires Estella, he craves to be educated and thus win her heart. It is this strength of hope that leads him to overcome his social and economic challenges in his daily endeavors.
When Pip entered the Identity V. Role confusion stage, he was lucky to have a rich benefactor. However, he was in need of finding his identity (Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Crisis Life Cycle Model, 2018). Along with other boys from Pocket’s school, he joined a society of rich individuals around the city of London. This was done so that he could cement his identity as a man of fortune. During this stage, his fortune greatly helped him. However, the appearance of Abel Magwitch, who was his benefactor and former thief, threatened to upset his already found identity. Pip struggled throughout this period to hide his benefactor from the public eye since his benefactor was illiterate and unappealing.
Intimacy V. Isolation dictates an individual’s emotional feelings. When an individual is able to establish successful relationships, he she is able to become committed. However, if relationships fail, an individual may suffer episodes of isolation, loneliness as well as depression (McLeod, 2018). During this stage Pip pursued Estella relentlessly (Dickens, 1861). Unfortunately, Estella chose Pip’s nemesis, Bentley Drummie as the husband. This saddened Pip. After suffering an affliction due to the loss of his fortune, he returned to his native home only to find out that Biddy, his childhood love interest had gotten married to Joe Gargery, his step-brother and father. This father disappoints his romantic pursuits, as he had anticipated marrying Biddy when he returned to Kent. However, he is happy for them and decides to take a job with Herbert at the company. After this stage, Pip no longer has love interests, and thus isolates himself emotionally. Estella, who had focused on being heartless for the better part of her life, and who greatly failed pip, also falls into her own traps.
Conclusion
Pip, a character in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, underwent several stages of growth, which are differently categorized according to the developmental theory applied. In accordance with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Pip is considered to be in a race of fulfilling his needs as he moves from one hierarchy to another. However, in accordance with Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial needs, he is seen as passing through stages of learning, which ultimately affect his behavior in the world. Since each stage has a potential crisis, the lack of solving the said crises results in maladaptation while success in solving the crises leads to the acquisition of basic virtues which are instrumental in living a fulfilling life. After the analysis of the character of Pip, it has been established that theories of human development are important in providing insights into an individual’s fulfillment with life. Thus, these theories can be employed to understand an individual’s cause of failure or success. This may be achieved through the pinpointing of a particular stage in an individual’s life. When these stages are pinpointed and analyzed, an individual’s occurring behavior can thus be understood.
References
Dickens, Charles. (1861). Great Expectations. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/Great_Expectations_T.pdf
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/erikerikson/
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Crisis Life Cycle Model. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm#erikson_psychosocial_theory_summary
Martin, D. & Joomis, K. (2007). Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education. Belmont, CA: Wardsworth.
McLeod, Saul. (2018). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
McLeod, Saul. (2018). Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Salkind, N. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Human Development. California, Sage Publications.
Sarma, Anita & Hoek, Andre. (2004). A Need Hierarchy for Teams. ISR Technical Report: UCI-ISR-04-9. Retrieved on August 5, 2018 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6583/7e94943e8d3f84459c2f0422392fe33eabd3.pdf
Sokol, J. T. (2009). Identity Development throughout Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory. Graduate Journal of Counselling Psychology. Vol. 1, Iss. 2, Article 14
