After I had turned the worst point of my illness, I began to notice that while all its other features changed, this one consistent feature did not change. Whoever came about me, still settled down into Joe. I opened my eyes in the night, and I saw, in the great chair at the bedside, Joe. I opened my eyes in the day, and, sitting on the window-seat, smoking his pipe in the shaded open window, still I saw Joe. I asked for cooling drink, and the dear hand that gave it me was Joe’s. I sank back on my pillow after drinking, and the face that looked so hopefully and tenderly upon me was the face of Joe. At last, one day, I took courage, and said “Is it Joe?” And the dear old home-voice answered, “Which it air, old chap.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 57. The kind and caring Joe has been looking after Pip as he battles through illness. This passage highlights how amidst all the changes and turmoil in Pip’s life, one constant remains. That is Joe’s unwavering loyalty and enduring love for Pip.