爱华网GreatExpectations
It is a great honor for me to be able to spend time reading thefamous novel 《Great Expectations》during this summer vacation. Itwas written by one of the most illustrious English writer in the19th Century —— Charles Dickens, in a quite sarcasticway. And after finishing the whole book, I definitely learned andbecame aware of lots of things in life.
The protagonist, Pip, was once a poor orphan, but he lived a happylife with his kind uncle Joe and some ordinary friends. All hiswish was to become a blacksmith in the village. However, as soon ashe met and fell in love with Estella by chance, he always comparedhimself with her, He felt ashamed of his property and foolishness,Fortunately, he got an opportunity to inherit a fortune and to bewell educated as a gentleman. He felt abashed of Joe and evenlooked down upon his old friends. Nevertheless, after Pip haddiscovered the unbelievable truth, he gradually woke up to realityand realized his fault. He forgave and saved his enemy, protectedand supported his friends and became grateful to Joe. In the end,he gained his love.
Shocked and moved, I learned two important things from the novelwhich would have great effect on my future.
First, it is no use comparing with others blindly. Humans seem toshare a common interest in comparing every detail with each other.While it may sound reasonable to some extent that comparison makesprogress, I hold a different opinion. As we know, one persondiffers from another. Everybody has his or her own advantages andshortcomings. Our goal should be improving advantages andrectifying those bad aspects. If we always think that someone isstill better than us in some certain areas and waste a lot of timeto change ourselves, we’ll gradually lose our own character.Comparing with other people is a way with no end, because there isalways someone better than us. It can’t make one stand out. On thecontrary, it produces numerous people who are all the same, with noparticularity, creativity or even a definite view of their own.That would result in a terrible situation. From my perspective, Ifully agree on the notion that the only person one should comparewith is oneself. As long as we work hard, try our best and makeprogress day by day, we can surpass ourselves constantly and becomenot only a better self, but also a real individual!
Second, I got a deep feeling from the novel that we should alwaysbe grateful to our parents. They are just like Pip’s uncle Joe andhis friends, who have given him love and support which made him a“gentleman”. Pip didn’t appreciate, butdespised them because he washaving “great expectations”. He was absolutely wrong. Thinkingabout ourselves, it is our parents who have brought us up, gave uslove and encouragement unconditionally. So we should be grateful tothem through our lives whatever great expectations we might have inthe future. That is also the basic morality of being not only asuccessful person, but also a Man.
All the above is what I have learnt from 《Great Expectations》,about how to be a worthy person, and live a meaningfullife.
G080811 李滢
