The Welfare State can be seen within the novel and in our own society nowadays. It is used as a way to separate those who are doing well in life, of the upper class, from those who work every day for a lower class. Furthermore, social status tends to separate those who are educated from those who are not. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Dickens shows the reader the importance of being both upper and lower class and how this can change a person's morals. In the novel, a low-class citizen is represented as someone who could live the life of what they could achieve or earn on their own. Joe is a good example of a lower class citizen because he is a skilled blacksmith and makes the most of his life with the small income he receives. Joe is friends with Pip and their relationship is close because Joe is the kind of person who puts others before himself, even though Pip forgets about Joe, Joe never left Pip. When Pip returns to attend Mrs. Joe's funeral, he doesn't say a word to Joe that actually hurts Joe because Joe understands or knows that it won't mean anything to Pip. Since Pip is so surrounded by upper class citizens, he will not understand the importance of the friendship he had with Joe because the people around him now are only people who will be with him because of his class and wealth. But once Pip goes bankrupt and feels indebted, no one comes to help him except his old friend Joe. Even after all the pain Pip has caused Joe, Joe still comes back to help him pay off his debt, he then says this to Pip "Not wanting to intrude, I left because you are well again dear Pip and I'll do better without it ." (439) This quote shows that even though Pip no longer needs Joe because of the of...... middle of paper ...... as they change from one class to another. The fact that Joe is from the lower class shows how people at the bottom tend to help each other more, unlike those at the top who only focus on themselves. That's why if they were to be on duty or if something else were to happen to them, there may be no one available to them. Pip shows how people change as they rise in social status, Pip left everything behind for a life in the upper class but when things didn't go as he expected he had nothing to go back to. He left everyone behind as if he would never see them again and even when he had a chance to see them he still hasn't which is why he can't return because he knows what he did to them. Social status and wealth can indeed change a person and control their life, but when they try to run away from it, like pip, there is nothing left for the person to return to..