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
Estella (Great Expectations) but "coarse" ways, and from that point on, Pip grows dissatisfied with his position in life and, eventually, with his former values and friends as well. Pip spends years as companion to Miss Havisham and, by extension, Estella. He harbours intense love for Estella, though he has been warned that Estella has been brought up by Miss Havisham to inspire unrequited love in the men around her, in order to avenge the latter's disappointment at being jilted on her wedding day. Estella warns Pip that she cannot love him, or anyone. Miss Havisham herself eventually decries this coldness, for Estella