Family

"Joe made the fire and swept the hearth... it was a dry cold night... the frost was white and hard. A man would die to-night of lying out on the marshes" (Dickens, 49)

By using opposites, like fire and ice, Dickens is showing that even though Pip is an orphan, he does have a family and a home, which is more then many others will ever have. Although his situation isn't one of perfection, Dickens is showing that perhaps Pip is fortunate in some ways, although not fortunate by societies standards.