“I’d never do it again! I know that. I may truly say I’ve never had this apron of mine off since born you were. It’s bad enough to be a blacksmith’s wife (and him a Gargery) without being your mother.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 2. Although Mrs. Joe is Pip’s older sister, she resents having to bring young Pip up after the death of their parents and views him as a burden and extra mouth to feed. She also makes an unkind comment about her kindly husband Joe. In it she suggests that she is not happy with her status as a blacksmith’s wife and would like to break out of the limitations of her social class.