oliver twist, one of the most famous works of charles dickens’, is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in britain in18th 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.

《飘》，是我最喜爱的书。喜欢斯佳丽的勇敢坚强，喜欢瑞特的机智果断，喜欢玫兰妮的外柔内刚。对于斯佳丽这个人物，我的感觉是矛盾的，是讨厌却又不得不敬佩她。她是个非常有个性的人物，她一生中爱了两个男人，而她却没一个是了解的。假如她了解阿希礼，那她就不会爱他;假如她了解瑞特，那她就不会失去他。她一直以来是辜负瑞特的，她只是不停追寻着自己梦中的王子——阿希礼。她只是把自己爱的特点认为阿希礼有，她只是做了一件华丽的衣服，让阿希礼穿上，而后爱上他。而事实是，她爱的只是那件衣服。对于她，我是不得不佩服的，佩服她的坚强，佩服她对土地的执着，佩服她能在那中环境下放下以前所受的教育下田干活，佩服她能不顾社会上的言论而开创自己的事业。她生命有几个灵魂，一个是她的母亲。他的母亲是一位非常能干、温柔的典型贵夫人，是她最敬佩的人。可是，母亲为了救人而被传染伤寒，去世了。另一个，是她十几年来最爱的人——阿希礼。她能在逆境中站起来，有很大一部分原因就是阿希礼。她对阿希礼是异常执着的。还有一个，就是玫兰妮。在一起奋斗的十几年里，玫兰妮已经成为她生命中不可缺少的一部分了。我觉得斯佳丽就像个小孩子一样，对自己想要的东西异常执着，而对自己所拥有的东西却不屑一顾。一面在拼命让自己幸福，一面又不断地把幸福推离，把爱人推向深渊。斯佳丽爱的是阿希礼，可是，阿希礼却不要她。就像瑞特说的，阿希礼是个君子，只是生在了一个和他格格不入的时代。他还是用旧世界的游戏规则生活，只会撞得一鼻子灰。斯佳丽不了解阿希礼，所以她爱他，想尽一切办法得到他，而当她认清他时，她再也不爱他了。 斯佳丽是个矛盾体，可又有谁不是矛盾体呢?她在生命的道路上一路走来，当她面对困难时，她选择迎接，当她面对责任时，她选择担负，可当她面对爱的抉择是，起初，他选择蒙蔽自己，当她终于认清，要面对时，却已为时已晚。而她，在无能为力时，就会告诉自己，明天是新的一天，明天一切都会好了，tomorrow is another day。她在整个故事中，都是个布满生气、布满斗志的人。我最欣赏的，便是她的这句“tomorrow is another day.”。永远布满了希望，布满斗志，永远不会放弃，永远不会绝望。这份精神，是最值得我学习的。所以，每当我碰到困难、心情不佳时，我便会告诉自己：“tomorrow is another day.”。书中另一个使我十分佩服的女性，便是玫兰妮。她是个外柔内刚的女性，她几乎拥有了女性所能拥有的一切美德。正如瑞特说的，她是他所见过的少数贵夫人中的一个。她是坚强的，她是爱国的，她用她的心爱身边所有的人。当她丈夫打仗时，她在后方默默守侯，做她力所能及的事，当北佬打进城而她又快要临盆时，她依然镇静，当她身体虚弱而没人下地干活快要没饭吃时，她和斯佳丽一样，放下过去所受的教育和优越感，拖着虚弱的身体下地干活，当她看到斯佳丽杀了一个北佬时，她没有惊慌失措，而是帮着掩埋尸体，搜查钱财，擦拭血迹，当战争终于结束，她痛恨的北佬士兵来到她门前要求照顾而她们自己也没有过多粮食时，她还是尽她所能地帮助他们，因为她希望在远方也有一个好心的北佬女人给她正在回家的丈夫一口饭吃。如此一位坚强的女性，却又是如此的温柔善良和善解人意。她执着地相信斯佳丽和阿希礼，即使有人亲眼看见他们搂在一起，也执着地相信他们，保护斯佳丽。她明知自己的身体无法再承受生育的痛苦，却执着地要再为阿希礼生个孩子，最终离开了她爱了一辈子的亲人们。真的是太伟大了，看着玫兰妮，使我想到许许多多的中国古代女性，她们也是如此的善良，任劳任怨，相夫教子，然后默默无名地老去、死去。整部书中，我最为喜欢的人物就是瑞特。他勇敢、执着，他能那么深地爱着斯佳丽十几年不变。他想保护斯佳丽，宠爱斯佳丽，照料斯佳丽，让她事事称心，而斯佳丽却拒绝了。他说过，再永恒的爱也会有磨光的时候，而他的爱，是被斯佳丽，被阿希礼，被斯佳丽愚蠢的固执磨光的。他的心，死了。当他女儿离开他时，他的心，再也回不来了。他说过，他从来没有那个耐心把剪碎的裤子缝好，再告诉自己这就和新的一样，自欺欺人罢了。碎了就是碎了，再也回不去了，即使修好，上面仍然留有裂缝，再也不是原来那条了。瑞特是个复杂的人，他有良好的家世，但却仍和旧时代格格不入，他有锐利的眼睛，可以在乱世找到自己的处身之道，他对国家有热情，即使他明知必败无疑，却仍在最后关头入了军。他爱斯佳丽，但他更了解斯佳丽，所以他从不说，只是通过行动表达，而斯佳丽却从来不想去了解他。最后，他绝望了，一次又一次的失望使他再也没有勇气再去尝试，他累了。《飘》绝对是部值得再三品味的好书，文字美丽，情节跌荡起伏、扣人心弦，虽然其中由于作者的主观因素，对于美国南北战争的评价并不客观和全面，但以文学角度来说，这绝对是一部绝世佳作，值得一看。