This is a fast-tempo society, everybody has an established time schedule and lives in his own world. It is love and communication that combines our different worlds together. However, as we spend too much time chasing our goals and dreams, we have ignored the partners and friends around us more or less. So that one day, when we suddenly pause and think, we find ourselves getting lost in the human crowd.
After reading Daddy-Long-Legs, I am forced to stop and rethink, and save myself out of the confusing crowd. When I was young, I read a lot of romantic fairy tales, and have builded up a wonderful fictitious world in my mind. However, when I gradually grow up and enter the society, the real world appears to be completely different from what I have thought. Hence, I feel very upset about the fraudulent tales, and begin to refuse the deceptive social intercourse. This attitude has helped me to maintain a pure heart, but meanwhile drived the love and friendship away from me. As a result, I』ve always been alone. So although I study very hard and obtain good grades, I』m not happy at all, my life has been filled with depression and coldness for a long period. It is Daddy-Long-Legs that makes me believe in love and miracles again.
Just like the fairy tales, this story is very romantic and beautiful, too. However, as there are no princess or beast, this novel is more close to our real life. It is about an orphan who is so humorous and hardworking that she finally gains her true love.
Judy Abbott was the heroine of the whole book, she was brought up at an old-fashioned asylum. When she was young, she had to wholly depend on the charity and wear other people』s cast-off clothes, this makes her very self-contemptuous. Nevertheless, the miserable fact doesn』t sweep away her good sense of humor, on the contrary, it gives her a special ability to express her feelings in a funny way.
One day, Judy is informed by the asylum』s dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to send her to college. This mysterious man believes that Judy has potential to become an excellent writer, he decides to pay her tuition fees and gives her a generous monthly allowance. He doesn』t ask for any thanks or repayment, but requires Judy to write him a monthly letter to practise her writing skills. However, Judy will never know his real identity; she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he will never reply.
Judy catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor, and knows he is a tall man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him 「Daddy-Long-Legs」。 Later, Judy attends a women』s college, and begins to write letters to her trustee. As she is good at describing anecdotes with childlike line drawings, her letters appear to be interesting and meaningful. Afterwards, Judy gets stuck in the affection entanglement with Jervie, this makes her extremely confused. She tries to consult her Daddy-Long-Legs and finally succeeds. However, when she meets the secret man, miracle happens. She finds that Jervie, the man she really loves, is Daddy-Long-Legs, who has always supported her as a relative. Then the story comes to an happy ending, they get married and live a happy life.
I love this story because it demonstrates an ideal world which is full of kindness and warmth, although there is a huge gap between the main roles. It shows that miracles do happen to those who are always hopeful. So no matter how bitter the life is, we should never lose our faith, we must believe that tomorrow will be better. Life is a long way filled with misfortune and adversity, we should learn to confront it bravely. Because when we shed tears for missing the sun, we shall also miss the stars.
When Judy is in the orphanage, she is all alone in the world and almost doesn』t have anything belong to her, but she still lives happily with optimism. Compared with Judy, today』s adolescents are much more fragile. Take a glance at the newspapers and TV programmes, you may not be surprised to find so many youngsters committing suicide, because it is just too common in today』s society. This reveals that today』s young people are too pessimistic and hopeless, thus they won』t treasure their life seriously. This problem is quite alarming among the poor students from the countryside, since they have to face more obstacles and barriers, they are more stressful than their peers. For example, last year a college girl who named Liu wei ended her life because of the unbearable financial pressure. As a result, it is quite urgent for the society to show their loving care to the disadvantaged group.
However, the fact is still far from being. In China, the rich people seem to be more and more cruel and coldhearted toward the poor class. They prefer to take advantage of their dominant strength to exploit others』 industrial fruits rather than help the people who are not so lucky as them. So the economic gap between the rich and poor is still expanding. Furthermore, the wealthy people also discriminate and look down upon the impecunious group, which gives them a strong feeling of inferiority. I experienced this feeling when I just attended the university, at that time, many classmates tended to exclude and spurn me, my roommates even refused to use the same washing machine with me just because my dressing was antipathetic to them. I felt insulted. Hence, I am confused that why don』t the well-fixed people be like Daddy-Long-Legs?
In this book, Daddy-Long-Legs is not only a successful entrepreneur but also a kindhearted philanthropist. He always uses his fortune to help others without expecting any return, and respects the poor people just as his friends. So although he is among the hypocritical trustees, Judy likes him specially. This proves that conscience and kindness will lead to love and happiness, moreover, if everyone treats others sincerely and selflessly, the world will become a better place to live.
In addition, Daddy-Long-Legs also reminds me to treasure the love and friendship in my life. I realise that I』m not alone at all, at least I』m not an orphan, so I am much luckier than Judy to some extent, because she has nobody to rely on except her Daddy-Long-Legs, but I have my parents and friends who will always be there for me to turn to. As a result, I decided to write letters to my parents by imitating Judy』s writing style. When my parents received the letters, they were pleased, which indicated that my letters were grateful and effective. As my parents never went to college, they were quite interested in the campus life, and my letters presented them an active and wonderful university image, so they were delighted. Besides, since I have got a channel to express my feelings and understandings about different people and circumstances, I don』t feel lonely any longer, especially when I received their reply, I felt very happy and contented. It is true that Daddy-Long-Legs has made my family life more joyous and harmonious.
What』s more, Daddy-Long-Legs also teaches me to show my gratitude to the people who really care and love me. For quite a long time, I live in my own world solely and gloomily, regardless of others』 feeling or doing, thus my world has become so small and cold. But when I try to view things in an appreciative way, subtle changes occur in my life. I find more friendly greetings and smiles on the way, and I usually feel accommodative in the class. I think I』m blending into the group and my life circle is being enlarged, this feeling is quite joyful for me.
In conclusion, Daddy-Long-Legs is a book full of love, warmth and miracles, it shows us how to live happily and meaningfully with hope and kindness. In the blue days, we should keep optimistic and work hard to earn a better life; while in the bright days, we should pay more attention to the poor people who are not so fortunate as us, then the world will become more beautiful and cozy. Moreover, It also reminds us to value the love and friendship around us. We are all living in the same world, but if we don』t keep contact with each other, all of us will live in different worlds. As Judy has set a good example for us to write letters in a humourous way, we should also contact our parents and friends, share our happiness and tears with them, and show our gratitude to them. In that way, our little worlds will be combined together, then we will never feel lonely or helpless.
All in all, we should believe in love and miracles. With love and miracles, our life will be filled with sunshine and surprises.