Great Expectations that Dickens' attitude backs Britain's exploitation of Middle East "through trade and travel", and that "Great Expectations" affirms the idea of keeping the Empire and its peoples in their place—at the exploitable margins of British society. However, the novel's Gothic, and Romance genre elements, challenge Said's assumption that "Great Expectations" is a realist novel like Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe". Dickens's novel has influenced a number of writers, Sue Roe's "Estella: Her Expectations" (1982), for example explores the inner life of an Estella fascinated with a Havisham figure. Miss Havisham is again important in "Havisham: A Novel" (2013), a book by
Dickens in America of Dickens's children and Grip the raven that Dickens and Catherine took with them to America. Miriam then boards the RMS Queen Mary 2, which like the RMS Britannia which transported Dickens, his wife Catherine and Catherine's handmaid, is a Cunard ocean liner. It is summertime. Dickens embarked on January 2. One of the first things she sees is a sign saying "Do not use the handrails when descending" Apparently that helps avoid getting diarrhea aboard the moving ship. Miriam wanders the ship and says, "It's huge. It's like a village." Dickens on the other hand complained how small the