I always treated him as a larger species of child, and as no more than my equal.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 2. Pip says this of Joe after he informs him that Mrs. Joe is looking for the boy brandishing Tickler the whipping cane in her hand. This speaks to the endearing relationship between young Pip and Joe. Pip looks up to him as not just a parent figure, but a friend who protects him from the larger world and his aggressive wife.