How does Pip's upbringing contribute to the person he is?

Pip is
brought up in humble circumstances. He is orphaned and so is raised in the household of his much
older sister, called Mrs. Joe, and her husband, the kind-hearted Joe, a simple blacksmith.
Because Mrs. Joe is very resentful of Pip, she often treats him harshly and unfairly. Since he
has a compassionate role model in Joe and yet been subject to cruelty from his sister, Pip grows
into a modest and kind boy who understands what it is like to suffer. He also has a healthy fear
of punishment. This upbringing makes him the perfect person to help the convict Magwitch. Pip is
compassionate enough to see how the convict is suffering and to do what he can to help him, but
he also has a fear of what Magwitch might do to himand a fear of what his sister might do to
himthat causes him to keep his help of the convict secret. All of this will have a great impact
on his future.

Yet at the same time, his awareness of his own humble roots
causes him to be ashamed of Joe when he becomes a gentleman. Pip becomes snobbish and doesn't
want to be reminded of where he came from, so for a time, he avoids Joe and treats him, when
they meet, in a high handed way.

Pip's basic kindness and humility do
reemerge, however, at the end of the novel. He can't be immune to suffering, for he is
fundamentally an empathic person sensitive to the needs of others. This springs from his
experience, as a child, of what it was like to be oppressed.