Great Expectations The importance of Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations has two major parts: the significance of the character, and the symbolism of the character. The signifance of Mrs. Joe is to complete the figure of Joe The symbolism of Mrs. Joe is actually the physical manifestation of Joe's fears in combination with his desire for a commanding father-figure. First, Mrs. Joe's reign of terror is obviously necessary for Joe's existence. In the beginning of …showed first 75 words of 1108 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1108 total…short of buying the wedding ring herself to make the marriage a reality. So, Mrs. Joe essentially created Joe to be the character that he allowed himself to be. With the slow death of Mrs. Joe, Joe reclaimed his life from his earlier insecurity. Mrs. Joe's importance in tying Joe to Pip made the relationship between the two significantly more beliveable, and without her, the great expectation of this book would never have been met.