oliver twist, one of the most famous works of charles dickens’, is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in britain in 18th century.
the author who himself was born in a poor family wrote this novel in his twenties with a view to reveal the ugly masks of those cruel criminals and to expose the horror and violence hidden underneath the narrow and dirty streets in london.
the hero of this novel was oliver twist, an orphan, who was thrown into a world full of poverty and crime. he suffered enormous pain, such as hunger, thirst, beating and abuse. while reading the tragic experiences of the little oliver, i was shocked by his sufferings. i felt for the poor boy, but at the same time i detested the evil fagin and the brutal bill. to my relief, as was written in all the best stories, the goodness eventually conquered devil and oliver lived a happy life in the end. one of the plots that attracted me most is that after the theft, little oliver was allowed to recover in the kind care of mrs. maylie and rose and began a new life. he went for walks with them, or rose read to him, and he worked hard at his lessons. he felt as if he had left behind forever the world of crime and hardship and poverty.
how can such a little boy who had already suffered oppressive affliction remain pure in body and mind? the reason is the nature of goodness. i think it is the most important information implied in the novel by dickens-he believed that goodness could conquer every difficulty. although i don’t think goodness is omnipotent, yet i do believe that those who are kind-hearted live more happily than those who are evil-minded.
for me, the nature of goodness is one of the most necessary character for a person. goodness is to humans what water is to fish. he who is without goodness is an utterly worthless person. on the contrary, as the famous saying goes, ‘the fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose’, he who is with goodness undoubtedly is a happy and useful person. people receiving his help are grateful to him and he also gets gratified from what he has done, and thus he can do good to both the people he has helped and himself.
to my disappointment, nowadays some people seem to doubt the existence of the goodness in humanity. they look down on people’s honesty and kindness, thinking it foolish of people to be warm-hearted. as a result, they show no sympathy to those who are in trouble and seldom offer to help others. on the other hand, they attach importance to money and benefit. in their opinion, money is the only real object while emotions and morality are nihility. if they cannot get profit from showing their ‘kindness’, they draw back when others are faced with trouble and even hit a man when he is down. they are one of the sorts that i really detest.
francis bacon said in his essay, ‘goodness, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the deity, and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.’
that is to say a person without goodness is destined to lose everything. therefore, i, a kind person, want to tell those ‘vermin-to-be’ to learn from the kind oliver and regain the nature of goodness.
《飄》，是我最喜愛的書。喜歡斯佳麗的勇敢堅強，喜歡瑞特的機智果斷，喜歡玫蘭妮的外柔內剛。對於斯佳麗這個人物，我的感覺是矛盾的，是討厭卻又不得不敬佩她。她是個非常有個性的人物，她一生中愛了兩個男人，而她卻沒一個是瞭解的。假如她瞭解阿希禮，那她就不會愛他;假如她瞭解瑞特，那她就不會失去他。她一直以來是辜負瑞特的，她只是不停追尋着自己夢中的王子——阿希禮。她只是把自己愛的特點認為阿希禮有，她只是做了一件華麗的衣服，讓阿希禮穿上，而後愛上他。而事實是，她愛的只是那件衣服。對於她，我是不得不佩服的，佩服她的堅強，佩服她對土地的執着，佩服她能在那中環境下放下以前所受的教育下田幹活，佩服她能不顧社會上的言論而開創自己的事業。她生命有幾個靈魂，一個是她的母親。他的母親是一位非常能幹、温柔的典型貴夫人，是她最敬佩的人。可是，母親為了救人而被傳染傷寒，去世了。另一個，是她十幾年來最愛的人——阿希禮。她能在逆境中站起來，有很大一部分原因就是阿希禮。她對阿希禮是異常執着的。還有一個，就是玫蘭妮。在一起奮鬥的十幾年裏，玫蘭妮已經成為她生命中不可缺少的一部分了。我覺得斯佳麗就像個小孩子一樣，對自己想要的東西異常執着，而對自己所擁有的東西卻不屑一顧。一面在拼命讓自己幸福，一面又不斷地把幸福推離，把愛人推向深淵。斯佳麗愛的是阿希禮，可是，阿希禮卻不要她。就像瑞特説的，阿希禮是個君子，只是生在了一個和他格格不入的時代。他還是用舊世界的遊戲規則生活，只會撞得一鼻子灰。斯佳麗不瞭解阿希禮，所以她愛他，想盡一切辦法得到他，而當她認清他時，她再也不愛他了。 斯佳麗是個矛盾體，可又有誰不是矛盾體呢?她在生命的道路上一路走來，當她面對困難時，她選擇迎接，當她面對責任時，她選擇擔負，可當她面對愛的抉擇是，起初，他選擇矇蔽自己，當她終於認清，要面對時，卻已為時已晚。而她，在無能為力時，就會告訴自己，明天是新的一天，明天一切都會好了，tomorrow is another day。她在整個故事中，都是個佈滿生氣、佈滿鬥志的人。我最欣賞的，便是她的這句“tomorrow is another day.”。永遠佈滿了希望，佈滿鬥志，永遠不會放棄，永遠不會絕望。這份精神，是最值得我學習的。所以，每當我碰到困難、心情不佳時，我便會告訴自己：“tomorrow is another day.”。書中另一個使我十分佩服的女性，便是玫蘭妮。她是個外柔內剛的女性，她幾乎擁有了女性所能擁有的一切美德。正如瑞特説的，她是他所見過的少數貴夫人中的一個。她是堅強的，她是愛國的，她用她的心愛身邊所有的人。當她丈夫打仗時，她在後方默默守侯，做她力所能及的事，當北佬打進城而她又快要臨盆時，她依然鎮靜，當她身體虛弱而沒人下地幹活快要沒飯吃時，她和斯佳麗一樣，放下過去所受的教育和優越感，拖着虛弱的身體下地幹活，當她看到斯佳麗殺了一個北佬時，她沒有驚慌失措，而是幫着掩埋屍體，搜查錢財，擦拭血跡，當戰爭終於結束，她痛恨的北佬士兵來到她門前要求照顧而她們自己也沒有過多糧食時，她還是盡她所能地幫助他們，因為她希望在遠方也有一個好心的北佬女人給她正在回家的丈夫一口飯吃。如此一位堅強的女性，卻又是如此的温柔善良和善解人意。她執着地相信斯佳麗和阿希禮，即使有人親眼看見他們摟在一起，也執着地相信他們，保護斯佳麗。她明知自己的身體無法再承受生育的痛苦，卻執着地要再為阿希禮生個孩子，最終離開了她愛了一輩子的親人們。真的是太偉大了，看着玫蘭妮，使我想到許許多多的中國古代女性，她們也是如此的善良，任勞任怨，相夫教子，然後默默無名地老去、死去。整部書中，我最為喜歡的人物就是瑞特。他勇敢、執着，他能那麼深地愛着斯佳麗十幾年不變。他想保護斯佳麗，寵愛斯佳麗，照料斯佳麗，讓她事事稱心，而斯佳麗卻拒絕了。他説過，再永恆的愛也會有磨光的時候，而他的愛，是被斯佳麗，被阿希禮，被斯佳麗愚蠢的固執磨光的。他的心，死了。當他女兒離開他時，他的心，再也回不來了。他説過，他從來沒有那個耐心把剪碎的褲子縫好，再告訴自己這就和新的一樣，自欺欺人罷了。碎了就是碎了，再也回不去了，即使修好，上面仍然留有裂縫，再也不是原來那條了。瑞特是個複雜的人，他有良好的家世，但卻仍和舊時代格格不入，他有鋭利的眼睛，可以在亂世找到自己的處身之道，他對國家有熱情，即使他明知必敗無疑，卻仍在最後關頭入了軍。他愛斯佳麗，但他更瞭解斯佳麗，所以他從不説，只是通過行動表達，而斯佳麗卻從來不想去了解他。最後，他絕望了，一次又一次的失望使他再也沒有勇氣再去嘗試，他累了。《飄》絕對是部值得再三品味的好書，文字美麗，情節跌蕩起伏、扣人心絃，雖然其中由於作者的主觀因素，對於美國南北戰爭的評價並不客觀和全面，但以文學角度來説，這絕對是一部絕世佳作，值得一看。