The 29th Annual Book Report Competition
For Secondary School Students
Class: 5A
Name: Kong Tsz Chun
Title of the book: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Publisher: The Commercial Press
I read a book titled Pride and Prejudice. It is a love story between Elizabeth and Mr
Darcy. It is set in the 19th century in England. After I finished reading it, I am
enlightened about getting along with others and know some background information
about the tradition of marriage in England dated back to the old days.
I think I probably understand the reason for naming this book as “Pride and
Prejudice”. Mr Darcy stands for ‘pride’ and Elizabeth stands for ‘prejudice’. At the
beginning, it is mentioned that Mr Darcy is a proud person as he looks down on the
people living in village and regards himself as a more superior person than the Bennet
family. Then he was slandered by Mr Wickham, A ‘prejudice’ towards Mr Darcy was
formed in Elizabeth. “Pride” refers to the characteristic of Mr Darcy and “Prejudice”
refers to the relationship between these two characters. His pride results in many
problems, including Elizabeth’s prejudice against him.
When reading, the most delightful moment I think was that Elizabeth opens up her
mind to Mr Darcy. It was because the effort Mr Darcy has paid off. He loves
Elizabeth for long and some slanders seem to have jeopardise the relationship
between them. The love of Elizabeth is the most valuable he has got in the story. One
of the enlightenments I have gained from Mr Darcy is that we have to be perseverant
till the end for love. Mr Darcy shows his vow of love to Elizabeth but gets rejected.
Eventually, she discloses her prejudices against Mr Darcy. She then accepts and falls
in love with him.
From the story between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, I have also learnt the seriousness
and the catastrophic nature of prejudice. A prejudice is too easy to take shape, perhaps
due to a sentence, a word or a behavior. Whether you intend to or not, some sort of
prejudice against you depends very much on the first impression you have left
someone. It is impossible to prevent any prejudice from being added onto you because
everyone has a different way to observe and judge the matters which happen around
them. For example, the Government channels more funds on education. Some people
may view it as good since students can learn in a better environment with better
provision of resources whereas some others may see it as something bad. They may
think it is a waste of money as public funds should be channeled in other meaningful
areas. We can’t stop ourselves from doing so. We can try to forgive the people who
have hurt us or tend to see people’s behavior in a more positive manner. It is actually
not simply for the sake of getting rid of prejudice being made, but it is for our own
lives. Less doubt and thinking positively are conducive to our mental health.
I know Chinese tradition about marriage is not a matter of freedom. Instead, it was
almost laid in the hands of the family or parents. I couldn’t tell for sure before reading
if it is similar to the situation in England in the 19th century. In this book, each person
sets different criteria in choosing a life partner. To cite an example, Mrs Bennet
focuses on money and hopes her daughter will marry a wealthy man. Besides, Mr
Dancy takes the fame seriously as he feels confused about Elizabeth who lives in
village. In the story, only Mr Bennet is normal. He has a right notion of marriage,
supporting his daughter to choose her partner based on her true feelings. It is fortunate
that I was not born in the old days. It is utterly impossible to get happiness if my love
life is controlled by others. Life to me would be more miserable than death.