My sister’s bringing up had made me sensitive. In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 8. Pip’s harsh upbringing by his abusive sister Mrs. Joe, rather than hardening him has the opposite effect. It makes him more sensitive to the injustices done to people. He speaks about the concept of justice to a young child. Using a vivid metaphor he highlights that to a small child a small injustice feels as great as a large Irish hunter horse.