外国文学英语读后感

外国文学名著简爱英文读后感
　　Oliver Twist, one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens’, is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in 18th 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.

　　你留个邮箱，我写过oliver twist的论文

　　Richard Matheson who was born on February 20, 1926 ，is a famous American author and a screenwriter. He primarily works in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. Richard Matheson has a great influence on many other undead fiction writers. Anne Rice stated that when she was a child Matheson's short story "A Dress Of White Silk" was a prime early influence on her interest in vampires and fantasy fiction（Williamson）
During the summer term, we have learned a short story which was created by him on 1951, “Drink my blood”. Although this was my first time experiencing his writing style, I am deeply impressed. I was shocked by the plot of the story. Despite his diction is very spare and simple, it made the portrait of tragic hero powerful and visual.
Following the reverent to the original story “Drink my blood” on the text book, I found that Richard Matheson had created another famous short story, “I am legend” which have been created as film version four times. “But among his fans, Matheson is most revered for “I Am Legend”, his 1954 apocalyptic novel about one man surviving in a world of blood-sucking ghouls.” (Collis). It is considered the most influential vampire novel in 20 th century.
Comparing those two short stories, they have many common grounds.
Setting:
I am Legend was written in 1954 and set in the futuristic Los Angeles of the 1970’s. The story describes the only man left living in a world full of vampires. Much of the book revolves around his struggle to secure his home against the nightly visits of the vampires. His earlier work“ Drink My Blood” was not set in a specific year。
Plot:
As same as Drink My Blood, the plot of I am Legend is connected to the horror genre. Robert Neville is the last living man on the earth. But he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his Home and prays for the dawn.
Style:
Horror genre, “Documentary style”(Amazon.com review)
Characterization:
Robert Neville lives in isolation. As an archetype, in my view, he is created as both self and shadow. As human, he is a hero. However, he has a tragic destiny. Just like Jules, the archetype in “Drink My Blood”. They are both tragic heroes.
To vampires, Robert is the only human who lives and fights with those zombies, he is the hero who commits himself to find the way to save the world. However, in the contrast, he could also be the shadow in the novel. For the reasons, in the world where almost everyone has become a vampire, the inescapable result would be a new civilization of vampires as their characteristics and behavior would become the norm while the only surviving humans would be recast as monsters. He is the shadow in vampire’s world. He lives with sunlight, garlic, silvered cross. He killed vampires in the day time even thought they were women or children. He had to do it in despite of he was struggling and guilty. At the end of story, the author illustrates that “To them he was some terrible scourge they had never seen, a scourge even worse than the disease they had come to live with. He was an invisible specter who had left for evidence of his existence the bloodless bodies of their loved ones.”(Matheson, “I am Legend”p76)
Symbol:
As in vampire fictions in general, symbol is extremely important in “I am legend". To enhance the characterization of archetype, Richard builds up a plenty symbolizations through the whole story.
-Robert Neville’s house, the enclosing castle
To protect himself from the attacking of vampires every night, Robert placed a mass of garlic around his house. Again, as human being, that is his only way to survive. In another view, in vampire’s world, Robert can be recast as “monster” that lives in the “remote Gothic castle”. Much similar as Count Dracula that appears in the story “Drink My Blood”.
-The mirror he hangs up in the home.
When “He looked at the distorted reflection of himself in the cracked mirror he'd fastened to the door a month ago.”(Matheson I am legend,p2), he just looked at his “cracked” soul as well. It illustrates that Neville teeters on the edge of sanity,

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