Oliver Twist is a novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was serialized in Bentley's Miscenllany magazine from February 1837 to April 1839. It was first published as a book in 1838. Set in 19th century London, the novel tells the story of Oliver the orphan's life and growth.
Oliver's mother died in childbirth, so Oliver grew up in an orphanage. After nine years of hard life in the workhouse, he was sent to the coffin shop to work as a child laborer. Because he could not bear the abuse and insult of the owner of the coffin shop and the deacon of the parish, he fled to London and accidentally fell into the gang of thieves.
On his way to London, a kind old lady provided Oliver with bread and water to keep the young Oliver alive.
After witnessing two young companions stealing the handkerchief of the old gentleman, he was taken to court as a thief. But the kind old gentleman decided to let poor Oliver go and take him back to his home. Old gentleman and housekeeper showed great concern for Oliver. He taught Oliver to read more and become a useful person.
But it was not long before Oliver met Nancy and sicks on his way to return the book for the old gentleman, and he was caught again in a gang of thieves.
Finally, Nancy told Oliver's address to the old gentleman, which enabled Oliver to escape successfully from the gang of thieves. It also made good Oliver discover his own life.
Most people can feel the kindness of the characters after reading this book. For example,the whole novel exposes all kinds of ugly and cruel social reality, and presents valuable thoughts of kindness.
We also affirm the kind theme of this novel. But kindness without principle is weakness. So our theme of the book sharing is principled kindness.
Everyone has his understanding of kindness, and we can meet something kind in our daily life. But does every act of kindness lead to a good results? The answer is probably "no".
We all passed the story of the Farmer and the Snake. The kind farmer saved a frozen snake, but when it woke up, it ate the farmer. The farmer's kind act led to his death.
So what's the reason? This is because farmers ignored the principle that snakes are cold-blooded animals. They don't report anyone.
Oliver's experience is similar with the farmer. He is always kind. Even if the enemy gave him what kind of revenge, what kind of torture and punishment, he treats them with a kind heart, pure heart.
He was kind to Claypole, but the boy insulted his mother even more; He was kind to Nancy, but Nancy brought him into the gang of thieves twice; He was kind to Fagin, but Fagin wanted to kill him for self safety. His unprincipled kindness can only get more insulted by bad people.
So,it may hurt oneself to give the unprincipled kindness.
Author's creative method is a typical romantic realism. And he used many writing Skills like Contrast, Detail Description, Satire, etc.The novel makes comparisons between good characters and bad characters, such as Oliver and Claypole,the old gentleman and Fagin,Nancy and Sikes.
Detailed descriptions such as language and action are more vivid , which truly describe the personality characteristics of representatives of different classes. This novel satirizes the social injustice in Britain during the rapid economic and cultural development in the 19th century. And shows the huge gap between rich and poor, poor people live in the streets, minors forced to work and other real social problems.
We’ve probably heard some sentences in our life like,"You are so good, you will help me, right?" "If you don't help me, you won't be my good friend." "You didn't give your seat to the old man. You are an unkind person."
So what’s your real thought when you meet something like this? You may think that my goodness is not the reason I must help you, goodness is not the reason for moral kidnapping.
So we can not help others if his needs are unprincipled or unreasonable. And we should remember:Don‘t be kind blindly.
Finally, we make our own summary of our book sharing. We affirm the quality of kindness. kindness itself is not wrong, but we need to be kind properly . Don‘t be kind blindly.
Written by Rita & Nancy
Referwnce:
1.薄荷阅读https://reading.baicizhan.com/article/0c1aede87d5233fa30dea5c771a82a60
2.【雾都孤儿_百度百科】https://mr.baidu.com/xs1pkb7?f=cp
3.《农夫和蛇》出自《伊索寓言》，相传其中故事是一名埃塞俄比亚黑人奴隶所作,"伊索"即是"埃塞俄"的谐音。
4.薄荷阅读https://reading.baicizhan.com/article/0c1aede87d5233fa30dea5c771a82a60
