Editing Great Expectations (section)

===''Bildungsroman''===
Complex and multifaceted, ''Great Expectations'' is a Victorian ''[[bildungsroman]]'', or initiatory tale, which focuses on a protagonist who matures over the course of the novel. ''Great Expectations'' describes Pip's initial frustration upon leaving home, followed by a long and difficult period that is punctuated with conflicts between his desires and the values of established order. During this time he re-evaluates his life and re-enters society on new foundations.<ref name="victorianweb.org"/>

However, the novel differs from the two preceding pseudo-autobiographies, ''David Copperfield'' and ''[[Bleak House]]'' (1852), (though the latter is only partially narrated in first-person), in that it also partakes of several sub-genres popular in Dickens's time.<ref name="Davis 134-5">{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pp=134–135}}</ref><ref name="victorianweb.org"/>