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.

故事讲述的是一个名叫奥力弗.退斯特的弃婴在孤儿院里被悲惨地教育了9年，然后又被送到棺材老板那儿当学徒。由于难以忍受的饥饿和暴力以及侮辱，他逃亡伦敦。又不幸误入贼窝，期间被一位善良的的老绅士班布尔先生收留。但又被那一伙贼绑回贼窝。最后善良的女扒手南希为了营救奥利佛，不顾贼头的监视和威胁，向班布尔报信，说奥利佛就是他找寻已久的外孙儿。南希被贼窝头目杀害，警察随即围剿了贼窝。奥利佛终于得以与亲人团聚。
　　在书中并不起眼，但是不能没有的人就是女扒手南希，她的形象是世上母亲的形象，看到可怜的而有善良的小奥力弗，她不顾背叛他所爱的人塞克斯，也不顾自己冒着被抓，被处以绞刑的危险，为小奥力弗逃出悲惨的生活，最后掺死于塞克斯的拳头之下。没有太多对于南希的描写，但是她的内心世界读者能略微感受得出来：无助，愤怒，矛盾。她与习艺所的曼太太形成了鲜明的对比。可憎的曼太太贪婪地剥削着那些可怜的小生命，却从来不为自己的行为感到可耻，也许我们也不能太多地责怪于曼太太，生活的残酷造就了人们的残酷。只是在一些勇敢的人心中残存的那一点善良给予了我们那么一点感叹，但是最后的命运仍逃脱不了悲惨的死去。
　　这本书给我的第二个很深的感触就是主人公小奥力弗的勇敢的精神，虽然在黑暗的习艺所里饱尝了生活的艰辛，但是并没有给这么一个美好的心灵蒙上灰尘。由于饥饿他向干事提出需要一碗稀粥时，被那些干事认为“这2孩子将来一定会被绞死。在当学徒的时候他面对人们对于他母亲的羞辱，奋起反抗。他啊也许是由于初生牛犊不怕虎，竭尽全力反抗着。后来逃亡到伦敦后，纯洁的心灵让人们感到可笑。其中有一段话让我记忆尤深“那些都是老先生的，在我还热病快死掉的时候，是那位好心的先生把我带到他家里去，照看我养好了病。哦，求求你们把这些都送回去吧，把书和钱还给他。你们要我一辈子待在这儿都可以，我只求你们把这些东西送回去，不然他们应定会以为我逃跑了的，你们可怜可怜我，把书和钱送回去吧”这是小奥力弗被抓后说的话。我不禁被他维护尊严的行为所打动。一个人活着就要有尊严。
　　合上这本书我没有太多的感慨，只有一个：人活着只要不断地向这梦想千金不需要顾虑太多，不要向命运低头，命运永远在我们手中。