Now, while this isn't meant to say that Dickens' wrote Pip's life to be a a literal parallel to his own, parts of the book as a whole have some interesting connotations with his life. For example, before writing Great Expectations, Dickens burnt all of his papers in correspondence of his last twenty years at Gad's Hill Estate, similar to a spiritual purge, and like the burning of Miss Havisham and Pips Hands. Also, Pip's family's economic troubles and dreams of a high class lifestyle very much mimic that of Dickens troubles with economic instability of his youth. And maybe Pips expectations, and the ease at which he gained a higher standard of living could be seen as Dickens' way of imagining a life where he could have grown up in luxury.