In an article on whether a "key to all mythologies" could be created, Manvir Singh mentions the figure of the "triumphant orphan" and lists examples from Cinderella and Jane Eyre to Harry Potter and Igbo stories from Nigeria. Before I began reading the list, I thought of "Oliver Twist" (1839), but Singh's example from Dickens is Pip from "Great Expectations" (1861). That seems odd to me. Pip may be an orphan, but unlike Oliver Twist, who is ultimately adopted by the wealthy Mr. Brownlow, he does not end the novel triumphant: the wealth of his "great expectations" has been lost, and unlike Jane Eyre, he cannot write, "Reader, I married her." (Andrew Shields, #111words, 8 March 2026)