It is a great honor for me to be able to spend time reading the famous novel 《Great Expectations》during this summer vacation.
It was written by one of the most illustrious English writer in the 19th Century —— Charles Dickens, in a quite sarcastic way.
After finishing the whole book, I definitely became aware of lots of things in life，like love and appreciation.
The protagonist, Pip, was once a poor orphan, but he lived a happy life with his kind uncle Joe and some ordinary friends. All he wanted was to become a blacksmith in the village.
One day , He saved a criminal called Magwitch by stealing some bread and a file from the store.
Later, he met and fell in love with Estella who came from a rich family by chance, he always compared himself with her, He felt ashamed of his property and foolishness。
Fortunately, he got an opportunity to inherit a fortune and to be well educated as a gentleman. He felt abashed of Joe and even looked down upon his old friends.
Nevertheless, after Pip had discovered the unbelievable truth that estella is the daughter of Magwitch, who is found by police. The wealth Pip owned had gone and he gradually woke up to reality and realized his fault.
He forgave and saved his enemy, protected and supported his friends and became grateful to Joe.In the end, he gained his love.
Being shocked and touched, I learned two important things from the novel which would have great effect on my future.
First, it is no use comparing with others blindly. Humans seem to share a common interest in comparing every detail with each other.
While it may sound reasonable to some extent that comparison makes progress, I hold a different opinion.
As we know, one person differs from another. Everybody has his or her own advantages and shortcomings.
Our goal should be improving advantages and rectifying those bad aspects. If we always adore someone blindly without self-examination， we’ll gradually lose our own character.
Comparing with other people blindly is a way with no end, because there is always someone better than us. It can’t make one stand out.
On the contrary, it produces numerous people who are all the same, without even a definite view of their own. That would result in a terrible situation.
From my perspective, I fully agree on the notion that the only person one should compare with is oneself.
As Jobs said, Do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. we can surpass ourselves day after day.
Second, I got a deep feeling from the novel that we should always be grateful especially to our parents. They are just like Pip’s uncle Joe and his friends, who have given him love and support which made him a real gentleman.
Pip despised instead of appreciating them because he had“great expectations”. He was absolutely wrong.
Thinking about ourselves, it is our parents who have brought us up, gave us love and encouragement unconditionally.
So we should be grateful to them through our lives whatever great expectations we might have in the future，especially parents.
Being not only a successful person, but also a real one. All the above is what I have learnt from 《Great Expectations》, It tells me how to be a worthy person, and live a meaningful life.
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