a song of kindness

-----Review of „Oliver Twist'

Oliver Twist, one of the most famous popular works of Charles Dickens', is a novel concerning the tragic fact of life in Britain in 19th century.

The author who himself was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsea At the age of twelve, Charles Dickens experienced what was the key event of his life. His father was put into prison, young Charles was taken out of school and put to work in a warehouse in London. There he was treated cruelly as a apprentice Thus due to this miserable experience, Charles Dickens paid more attention to the working people in low-class as well their living concitions, which could be easily realized in his products. Also he spared no efforts 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. At the age of fifteen Dickens began working as an office boy for a law firm. By 1828 he became a reporter for the lay courts of Doctors' Common. When he was twenty, Dickens was one of the best Parliamentary reporters in England. During this same period Dickens' interest began to change from journalism to literature. And he published a large amount of works. He died

suddenly in 1870 from stroke at the age of fifty-eight. Charles Dickens was one of the greatest critical writers of Victorian Age, who had a great influnce on the world literature. His achievement was in fact in presenting the underworld and problems of poverty to the well-off in a way rarely attempted previously.

Oliver Twist', the hero of the story was an orphan. His mother, whose name no one knew was found on the street and died just after Oliver‟s birth. He was then brought up in the workhouse where he and other orphans ofen got bullied and insulted and constantly starved. Unable to bear it, he escaped the workhouse and ran away in desperation to London.There fell in with fagin and his gang of thieves headed by old Jew Fagin where he began his new life in the criminal underworld. In the thieve‟s den, Oliver was taught the skill of pocking and stealing and was forced to steal. He was once adopted for a time by the kind-hearted Mr Brownlow. Unfortunately, the gang members found him out and brought him back again. In order to help Oliver out of the extreme misery, Nancy who regreted for what she had done regardless of the threaten and stakeout, and sent the message to Mr. Brownlow who had taken a lot of time to hunt for his grandson that Oliver was. Nancy was murdered by

Sikes after she discovereed Monk sinister intention. But as was written in all the best stories, the justice will eventually conquer the evil . Bill Sikes, persued by his guilty conscience and an angry mob, he inadvertently hung himself while trying to escape. Fagin was arrested and executed. Oliver, the little kind boy was rescued and lived a happy life in the end.

In this book, Oliver, Nancy and Miss Rose were all the quintessence of kindness. However they were born in tribulation and grew up in a world filled with evil and gloominess, they never changed their innocence and virtue. All the sufferings could not force them to degenerate or completely. On the contrary, these affliction broughe out their immaculacy, and they were just like blooming lotus flowers, lived in the silt but not imbrued. Though Nancy was poisoned by the bad environment and degenerated at one time, she finally saved Oliver at the expense of her own life, and the act of kindness got her spirit sublimed.

But why could these kind angles stick to their postion no matter what the circumstance they trapped in?

As far as I can see, it was the matter of kindness that made them out of excellent men. Also the most important information

implied in the novel by Dickens who emphasized his belief of kindness was that kindness could conquer every difficulty For me, kindness is always necessary and benefical, which does good both for your self-image and inner-mind. He who is without kindness is an utterly worthless person . With a heart full of kindness, you are ready to help others. At the same time, you can enjoy the pleasure the grateful people expressed and appreciate the goodness of the world.

But nowadays some people seem to doubt the worth of kindness. They don‟t care the existence of kindness in humanity, even someone looks down to it. In their view, it foolish to be warm-hearted and be honesty is always at a disadvantage situation. As a consequence, they feel no mercy on those who involve in a extremally bad case. On the other hand, they attach importance to money and benefit, which become the only ruler to measure your value. I really feel sorry for this kind of people. 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

Charles Dickens once said: “Kindness makes the world go around.” These immortal words have inspired and will keep on inspiring us enjoy life and treat other people kindly. These principles are the roots and foundations of beliefs supporting this article and our mission together.

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