Great ExpectationsIntroductionThe novel I read this time is “Great Expectations” written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). He is the greatest representative of English critical realism. Dickens was born in a poor family. At the age of 12, his father was put in prison and young Dickens was sent to work in a factory. From 1827 to 1829, Dickens worked as a clerk in a low firm and later as a newspaper reporter. Dickens was horned by the Queen of England three months before his death on June 9, 1810. The wo rds of his grave read as follows “by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.”He has many masterpieces, s uch as “A tale of cities” “David Copperfield” “Hard time” “Oliver Twist” and so on. “Great Expectations” is one of his masterpieces. The story in this book happened in middle of 19 century and it reflects the gap between the rich and the poor in the capitalistic society.The summary of the bookThis story tells us about a young man who wished for the unreal/imaginary lives, and eventually his hope was extinguished by the real life. Pip was an unfortunate boy. His parents both died when he was a baby. He was brought up by his elder sister and her husband Joe Gargery. Joe was kind to Pip and he also wanted Pip to be a good blacksmith. But the emergence of Estella has changed his life. He fell in love with Estella and he wanted to be a gentleman for her. Then a mysterious person came to help him to realize his great expectations. At first Pip thought that it was Miss Havisham, a strange woman made plans for him. But at last, it proved that an escaped convict who he had helped when he was a little boy was his benefactor. When the escaped convict was arrested again, his expectations were at an end. Finally he realized that he only wanted to be a gentleman but he had ignored his old friends. He came to the real life again eventually. After suffering so many pains he and Estella came together at last.My view on this story“Great Expectations”, I think there is an irony included in this title. It relates to some unrealistic dreams. From this novel, I have learnt a lot.Firstly, I pick up several lessons from Pip. One can have great dreams, but we should achieve our dreams by our own effort instead of depending on other people. In this story, Pip had an unrealistic dream. He didn’t want to be a poor blacksmith like Joe. He wanted to be upper class people, to be a gentleman and he imagined that there was someone had made a plan for him. It is true that Abel Magwitch helped him secretly. But when Abel Magwitch was arrested, it put an end to Pip’s great expectations. He ha d nothing left. And in this book, Herbert and Pip form a poignant contrast. Herbert made great efforts to realize his dreams. In the end, his business was doing well, and his company had offices overseas. Therefore, we should realize that if we want to achieve something or fulfill one of our ambitions, we must make efforts by ourselves. There is no one in the world that makes plans for us. And there is no short cut for success.Secondly, I have learned from Pip’s experience that we should be grateful to others. We know that Pip was brought up by his sister and Joe. And Biddy was also friendly to him when he was at home. But when he was helped by a mysterious person, he moved to London to learn being a gentleman. He began to be proud and look down upon those people at home. He wanted to forget his poor life and his poor friends. But when his “great expectations” were ruined, it was still those people who helped him out of trouble. However, when he began to realize it, his sister has died; it was too late to say thanks to her. What I want to say is that no matter how successful we are, we should not be proud; we should not forget the people who had helped us, and return for them. If I have learned anything about giving thanks, it is this: give it now .Don’t hesitate until it is too late to give our thanks.Thirdly, I also learn some lessons from Miss Havisham, She is a woman full of hatred, and she lived in hatred for so many years. She brought Estella up in order to revenge on man.I think what she did is not worth at all. On one hand, she was not in real happiness, although she revenged on other peo ple. On the other hand, she had ruined Estella’s life. In addition, she also made other men miser able. As for as I’m concerned, if I was Miss Havisham, I will choose another different kind of life. I will make myself live better than before to prove that I can live better without that man. From her experience, I think we should learn to forgive,learn to give up some bad things that had happened. No matter what had happened in the past, we should not be always lost in the past and we are supposed to look forward, and continue our new life. There is no doubt that if she had chosen a positive way, she will have a satisfactory life.What’s more, when it comes to Estella, I want to say that we should live our own life, and do not only live up to others’ expect ations. We know that, Estella was brought up by Miss Havisham to revenge on man. She did everything that Miss Havisham told her. We can say that she was “made” by Miss Havisham, and she was proud, cold. At last, following Miss havisham’s requirements she married to a man she didn’t love at all. I think she lived an unhappy life. She only did as other people told her. And she didn’t do something what she liked. I think this kind of life is meaningless. We should have our freedom. It occurred to me that nowadays, parents have high expectations on their children. They decide so many things for their children without getting their children’s permission. I think children should have their choice of life. Parents should not put their children into cage. It is wise for them to set their children free to look for their own sky.In a word, from this book, I have learnt how to be myself, how to realize my dreams and how to live my own life.。
