True Love Stays

True love is a concept that many have yet to grasp. Although, why do so many long for this feeling? Why do so many spend their days searching for this? The answer to this: love is the closest thing we have to magic. In the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, love stays, never leaving, through every terrible word or thought, through every rise or fall, through every smile or frown. After such cruelty from Pip, Joe stays—his loyalty and love for Pip, everlasting.

As a youth, Pip grew to be Joe’s companion, Joe’s escape. They were inseparable and worked through every hardship, growing fonder of each other through it all. “But I loved Joe—perhaps for no better reason in those early days than because the dear fellow let me love him.” (40) There is truth in these words. Loving a person is not a forced thing it is a feeling that grows over time; something that you have to work at. Joe had discovered that Pip was worth pursuing. Though he pushed him away once he became successful, Joe knew that the little, innocent boy whom he loved, was somewhere deep inside of him. And he was willing to wait for that boy to resurface.

When Joe discovers that Pip is home and ill he immediately goes to tend to his every need. This loyalty is a shock to Pip. “For Joe had actually laid his head down on the pillow at my side, and put his arm around my neck, in his joy that I knew him. ‘Which dear old Pip, old chap,’ said Joe, ‘you and me was ever friends. And when you’re well enough to go out for a ride—what larks!” (468) Joe sees no reason to hold any grudges against poor Pip, but only comes to comfort him and show that he truly has forgiven and forgotten. Their friendship had always meant more to him than life itself.

As Pip grows stronger each day, Joe becomes more and more detached. Though he loves Pip with all his heart, his fear of getting hurt and pushed away once more is obvious. Joe’s strategy is to give Pip no reason to push him away, for he will already be gone. But the thought of Pip will hold a place in his heart for eternity. To show this to Pip, he pays off the young man’s fine for him. Seeing this, he realizes how he’s lost his chance of apology. Instantly, he sets out for home—on a mission to mend the ties between Joe and himself. For Joe fled before he was able to show how he had changed; how he had found himself once more and was regretful of his behavior—longing to fix what had been broken.

It is a glorious thing to find what truly matters to you. Sometimes you don’t see what you have until you’ve lost it—and finding it once again can be the adventure of a lifetime. Pip realized this slowly, but the important thing is to see what truly matters before you lose it. Take nothing for granted and your chance of losing those things will lessen over time. Joe comes to nurse Pip back to health. He comes with a humble heart and a caring heart. Through all that Pip has done to him, he comes, bringing no complaint. Throughout this novel, love is apparent; the truest of love is demonstrated through the most wounded of relationships. This only proves that love can find you, and love can stay—bringing joy to what once was silence and abandonment. “I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape. Be as considerate and good to me as you were, and tell me we are friends.” (489)