The Virtual Coffeehouse

While I agree with many of the posts concerning Pip and Alice's similarities, I think that one of the main similarities that jumped out to me was that both stories tell the story of the growth and development of the child protagonist. Both characters in the beginning of the novels seem to be very ignorant and innocent and then as the story progresses mature and become more knowlegable about the world. Alice at first believes she knows who she is and understands the world around her but then all that is challenged when she goes to Wonderland. The more time she spends in Wonderland, the more she is able to understand how it works and progress in it. Similarly, it is easy to tell even in the beginning of the novel that Pip too undergoes some growth as the story is told by him once he is older and looking back on the events that happend. We are able to get a sense of the child Pip as well as the matured one because he relays how he felt when it actually happend and also how he feels about the same stuff when he is grown more. Overall, I think that Pip and Alice are similar so far as they both seem to be undergoing some type of growing up and maturation.

I agree with several of the things that Abbie mentioned. As we saw in Alice, she became more assimilated into the world of grownups as her time in wonderland progressed. She learned how to interact with the people she met in a way that was more sophisticated than when she entered. When she met the rat she could hardly control herself talking about her cat and dogs. Later she becomes more refined when she talks to the different queens to keep her in the queens' good graces.
Similarly, Pip is learning how to conduct himself in the presence of Miss Havisham and is learning to be a good companion for her. He's also learning to have a thicker skin when dealing with Estella. At first, she made him cry but he then vowed to never cry for her again. Only time, and more reading, will tell how much he matures in the story.

I agree with both Abbie and Jennifer. Both Pip and Alice begin their adventures as naive and ignorant of the world around them. As they become emerged in their worlds they begin to acknowledge what is going on around them. Both children are also very observant. Alice notices every thing around her, quickly following and learning the rules in the new world. Pip asks questions constantly to learn what is going on around him. Both children also learn to grow within the confines of their world. Alice quickly changes her manners to conform to the new rules in wonderland and Pip learns how to deal with the two new women in his life.

I agree with what Sarah said about how observant both Alice and Pip are. It is their observant natures which allow these children to comprehend, at least in a causual way, what is happening around them. This level of comprehension is what allows both Alice and Pip to "grow," in a sense, from their varying circumstances.

I am finding myself to agree with many of the posts that have already been submitted. I have found like Alice the Great Expectations story is very similar. Pip and Alice are both in stories that seem to grow with the characters. Childhood comes with many characteristics and many children have to face different obstacles. Sometimes many characters are made to feel more like an adult versus a child. It seems as though the story is growing with the characters and as the characters mature so does the story. Alice and Pip are faced with many of these childhood experiences in both stories. Many children sometimes are not matured enough to know like an adult would and sometimes that causes ignorance between the children and adults both in real life and in stories. It seems that both characters are similar in many of these childhood ways.

I agree with many of the statements about Alice and pip as well. I think the chief difference in Alice and Pip resides within the environments they have grown up in. While both are schooled and taught lessons, Alice’s real world experience is one of nurturing and room for imagination where as Pip’s lessons seem to be an afterthought in a world where he is not always met with kindness, especially from his sister. Alice's education revolves around lessons of rhymes and memorizing where as Pip's initially seems to be a basic education that will play a very small role as he is told he will become an apprentice under Joe. A similarity between both children is their understanding that they are often patronized and lectured by adults. This is reflected in Alice’s dreams of Wonderland and the Looking Glass world and Pip’s narration of his experience at Christmas dinner.