A Beautiful Fairy Tale
"The Little Princess" mainly describes the Indian girl Sara’s life before, during, and after his father died. Before his father's death, her life condition was superior.Captain Crewe, Sara’ father, sent his daughter to a noble school in London ,whose principal was a middle-age woman with noble beautiful appearance but dark ugly heart. The principal went to great lengths to provide everything to Sara, making her the "signature students" of the school. Though Sara had every thing she wanted and was spoiled like a princess, she never lost her politeness and kindness to people, even after her father’s death when huge change of life condition, forces of the snobbish principal, taunt and indifference as well as all kinds of torture poured together towards her. During the toughest time, Sara’s optimistic attitude to life become the most powerful weapon for her to overcome the adversity. She then became a real princess in soul, kind, gracious, composed and noble.
When I was a child, I used to read the book’s Chinese version and it was also a particularly brief one which only showed the main structure of the story. To be honest, as a child, I was just attracted by the wonderful and exquisite insets on that book. As for the story and the philosophy behind it, I thought I was just too young to understand. Yes, as a seven-year-old child in reality, unlike the main character in “The Little Princess”, I was a lot more childish and even ignorant. That’s why I consider this book a comparatively realistic fairy tale.
The main character Princess Sara was the only child of Captain Crewe, a rich and powerful Indian official who lost his beloved wife when Sara was born. It’s apparently that Captain Crewe had put all his love and attention to his only child. He gives Sara everything she wanted and certainly a rich and luxuriant life. In general, a kid brought up in this kind of condition would usually become arrogant and self-centered, especially in the age when class division is still distinct. But surprisingly, Sara didn’t group up into a arrogant or self-centered person. On the contrary, she was sensible, generous and can always make a clear distinction between right and wrong. She knew clearly about what should be done and what should not be done. At the age of seven, Sara was sent to London for better education. She loved her father so much that she definitely don’t want to separate from him. But sensible as Sara, she knew that only when she learn enough knowledge and become more capable can she truly share the burden with her dear father. Even though the future life would be contained with loneliness, hardship and other unknown difficulties, the little girl never changed her mind.
Another quality of Sara which greatly surprised me is her equal attitude towards all kinds of people regardless of their appearances, characters or status. Looking back on Sara’s growing environment, the country she used to grow in was a typical feudal one, and she was right at the upper class of the society admired by the servants and other ordinary people. It’s unbelievable that a princess-like girl would develop a though that people are all equal.
I try to find out the reason. It probably had something to do with her father’s education. But the book dosen’t talk much about that, so it’s hard to find out some proof. Then I notice something else——Sara’s biggest hobby reading. According to Sara’s father, the clever little girl liked reading so much that it’s sometimes hard to pull her away from her books. Moreover, the range of her reading is also quiet wide. As the famous proverb said, “knowledge is power”. Reading can broaden one’s horizon, release one’s mind and improve the ability of thinking. Knowledge and understanding may lead to tolerance. Therefore, as far as I’m concerned, the hobby of reading might have contributed a lot in shaping Sara’s good qualities.
That’s the only realistic reason I could find in the book. Besides that, all the things seem to be magic and dreamlike. It’s probably because I’m an adult now that I always consider things in an extremely realistic way. Sometimes I just forget that this is just a story for children.
Perhaps I have paid to much attention to how the story was developed and why the plots went in this way. Back to the original place, the story’s most significant meaning was to present the goodness and virtues people should hold during their life. Telling those through a seven-year-old girl might make the story a beautiful and impressive fairy tale.
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