Mrs Joe: A Religious Being Trained To Bend
Throughout the early part of the novel Mrs Joe Gargery is depicted as a tyrannical, abusive, and self-righteous woman who broadly boasts of raising Pip by hand. Mrs Joe does not see penitence as something she needs; she views it a baseline requirement for Pip. She believes children are naturally corrupt and must be constantly mortified to keep them in line. Her version of parenting is rooted in making Pip feel like a perpetual sinner who owes a deb to society just for being alive. To instill this penitential character before he goes to Miss Havisham she hands Pip over to Mr Pumblechook. Before that he is soaped, scrubbed, and pinned into tight uncomfortable clothes that restricts his movement. Mr Pumblechook denies him proper breakfast, but quizzes him brutally on arithmetic. This ritual is not about cleanliness; it is an act of forced penance. She wants Pip to feel small, uncomfortable, and deeply conscious of his low social standing, bef...