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Pip first meets Herbert Pocket in the garden of Satis House as a child when Herbert challenges him to a fight. Years later they meet in London, and Herbert becomes Pip’s best friend and key companion. He is a loyal, jovial, and kind-hearted young man who quickly develops into one of the most valuable people in Pip’s life. The best summation of Herbert’s character comes from Pip himself, who remarks that he had “never seen anyone then, and I have never seen anyone since, who more strongly expressed to me, in every look and tone, a natural incapacity to do anything secret and mean.” Herbert’s friendship is a comforting oasis for Pip (much like Joe’s presence during Pip’s childhood) as he struggles to find his footing and his place in the bustling, industrial London.
Like Pip, Herbert comes from humble origins (he is the poor son of a tutor) but he does not share Pip’s desire for a complete rags-to-riches transformation. Herbert simply wishes to become a merchant so that he can afford to marry his beloved Clara Barley. Herbert’s modest and practical life plan provides an interesting contrast to Pip’s lofty ambitions and his delusional belief that Miss Havisham secretly wishes for him to marry Estella one day.
Herbert also emphasizes the novel’s key message that loyalty and human decency are more important than social standing and ambition. Early into his and Herbert’s friendship, Pip hypothesizes that Herbert’s warm, easy-going nature will keep him from a bright and prosperous future. However, by the end of the novel, Pip acknowledges that he was wrong. Herbert and Pip’s firm in Egypt may not be “grand,” but it earns them an honest living and allows Herbert to live happily with his best friend and the woman that he loves. He may not be rich in wealth but he is certainly rich in joy, which Dickens argues is more important than material means.
