And now, because my mind was not confused enough before, I complicated its confusion fifty thousand-fold, by having states and seasons when I was clear that Biddy was immeasurably better than Estella, and that the plain honest working life to which I was born had nothing in it to be ashamed of, but offered me sufficient means of self-respect and happiness.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 18. In the novel Joe and Biddy represent the decent and honest working class, one in which Pip grew up in. As a boy he knows that he should be proud and not ashamed of his social class roots. However, his encounter with the proud and beautiful Estella has plunged him into conflict about where he wants to fit in socially in the world. The scale of his confusion is emphasized by the use of the hyperbolic description “fifty thousand-fold.”