“You and me is not two figures to be together in London…It ain’t that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall never see me no more in these clothes. I’m wrong in these clothes. I’m wrong out of the forge, the kitchen, or off th’ meshes. You won’t find half so much fault in me if you think of me in my forge dress, with my hammer in my hand, or even my pipe.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 27. Completely out of his element and uncomfortable in his fancy “holiday clothes,” Joe recognizes that he doesn’t fit into Pip’s London society during a visit there. With a strong sense of identity as a blacksmith, he knows that he is at his most competent and comfortable at home in his country forge.