The book "Tooth and Claws" contains several short and concise stories: "Sledney Vashta", "The Storyteller", "Gabriel Ernest" ”, “Tobermory”, and “She-Wolf”. Each story is not long, but it is wonderful.
The author of this book, Hecla Hugh Munro, is a journalist and a writer. He is good at telling vivid and wonderful stories in concise and clear language. He is famous for his wonderful short stories. He was born in 1870 and died in 1916.
The protagonist of every story in this book is a ferocious animal. The story is unreal and bizarre, but exciting. But the strange thing is that the author did not let these animals appear in the forest and grassland. Instead, these animals appeared in elegant rooms, the king's garden or the gorgeous manor. These animals can appear suddenly, catching people off guard. These animals use their own bestiality to harm or devour humans. But they can always tear down the disguise of human beings and expose their deepest nature. Among these articles, the one that impressed me the most was "Tobermori".
Tobermory is not the name of a person, but the name of a cat. Of course, this cat is no ordinary cat. It is an old cat raised by Sir Wilfred. After being trained by Mr. Appuin, it can actually listen and speak human speech. A cat that could speak human language would turn the world upside down, like Tobermory. It took advantage of its ability to speak and unhurriedly disclosed to everyone what every guest at Sir Wilfred's house had said. The greedy and selfish nature of human beings is fully exposed.
For example, there is a passage in the article like this:
There was another silence, and then Miss Reske asked politely, "Do you think it is difficult to learn English, Tobermory?" ?”
Tobermory looked directly at her with bright green eyes. It was clear that he didn't want to answer questions that didn't interest him.
"What do you think of human intelligence?" Mavis Pellington asked.
"Which person's intelligence?" Tobermory asked coldly.
"This, for example, my intelligence," Mavis said with a smile.
"You make me uncomfortable," Tobermory said, though he didn't look uncomfortable at all.
"Sir Wilfred was unhappy when Lady Bramley wanted to invite you here. 'Mavis Pellington is the stupidest woman I know,' he said.
'That's why I wanted to invite her,' replied Mrs. Bramley, 'I wanted her to buy my old car, and she'd be so stupid as to do it.'"
"That's not true!" cried Mrs. Bramley. "Don't believe him, Mavis!"
"If that's not true," Mavis said dryly, "then why did you say this morning that your car was just right for me?"< /p>
The author does not reveal human nature from the front, but tears down people's disguise through the words of a cat. The above short conversation has clearly exposed people's selfishness. The relationship between people is complicated. Everyone wants to benefit. But this truth was spoken from the mouth of a cat. I have to admit that this is a great irony, and it also makes people marvel at the brilliance of the author Hecla Hugh Munro.
But people are still selfish. In order to prevent his scandal from being leaked by Tobermory. It was decided to poison Tobermory. Tobermori died after all, but he was not poisoned as they expected. Instead, he went out to fight with other cats and was beaten to death. This also shows the nature of human beings, who can use all means for their own interests, no matter the cost.
The language of this article is concise, yet vivid, pungent and ironic. The author of the article uses the words of Tobermory to vividly describe human nature in humorous, lazy and pungent language. "Tooth and Claw" is indeed a good book worth reading.