Pip's statement that Biddy has done "an injustice" and "an
injury" to him is ironic because she has not done him wrong at all. Biddy has only
spoken the truth, and in reality, it is Pip that has been unjust and injurious to her
and Joe.
After the death of Joe's wife, who is Pip's
sister, Pip promises pompously that he is not "going to leave poor Joe alone," and will
come to see him frequently. Biddy does not respond to his declaration, leading Pip to
feel hurt and to ask the reason for her silence. Biddy asks him, with a "clear and
honest eye,"
readability="7">
"Are you quite sure, then, that you WILL come to
see him often?"
Pip is
offended that she should doubt him, and reflects upon
readability="7">
"what an unkindness, what an injury, what an
injustice Biddy had done
(him)"
Joe, despite his rough
country manners has always treated everyone, and especially Pip, with deep love and
respect, but since Pip has come into his "expecations" and moved up in the world, he has
become ashamed of his uncle and has acted like he is very much better than him; evidence
of this uncomfortable change on the part of Pip is shown by the fact that Joe and Biddy
feel they must call Pip, the boy Joe has cared for, "Mr. Pip." Biddy has reason to doubt
that Pip will keep his word and do right by Joe, and Pip, though he is initially hurt,
admits as much when he says,
readability="9">
"...the mists...if they disclosed to me as I
suspect they did, that I should not come back, and that Biddy was
quite right, all I can say is - they were quite right too" (Chapter
35).
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