Great Expectations

Why does Pip describe the seven little Pockets as tumbling up instead of growing up?

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Last updated by Jill W
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The Pocket children are completely unsupervised. Tumbling up rather than being brought up means they're left to their own devices and learning from their mistakes.

And unless I deceive myself on a point where my interests or prepossessions are certainly not concerned, I saw that Mr. and Mrs. Pocket’s children were not growing up or being brought up, but were tumbling up.

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Great Expectations