When I went to school, there were twins in the class, the older brother studied well, the younger brother studied badly, when the college entrance examination, the older brother took a good university, and then the two people exchanged identities, the younger brother went to college, and the older brother re-studied for a year to take the college entrance examination again.
At that time, on the one hand, he was touched by his brother's dedication to his brother, on the other hand, he envied his brother, and many times he also had twins who could exchange their lives with falsehood and truth, saving themselves from the danger of learning scum.
It wasn't until I later watched the TV series "White Night Pursuit" that I found that my understanding of exchanging life was too shallow. Older brother Guan Hongfeng has a phobia of the night, and can only be replaced by younger brother Guan Hongyu at night, which seems to be a perfect cooperation, but if possible, will they choose to exchange lives?
If the brother wants to investigate his brother's case, he must go back to the police station to investigate the case and help his brother overturn the case, because of the phobia of the night, he cannot go out at night. Since his brother was a suspect, he had to hide during the day and go to work at night in disguise as his brother.
Two people's talking habits, behaviors, and ways of thinking are different, and both sides need a lot of effort to adapt and change, if it weren't for the brother's involvement, the two people probably wouldn't be willing to live as another person, right?
1. Is it twin life interchange terriers?
When I first started watching "The Other Half That Disappeared", it was easy to wonder if the author was laying out the memes of exchanging lives. It is obvious that the younger sister Stella is stable, studious, and has an elite temperament. And the sister Desilei is bold, rebellious, and always has the potential to break through. Such twins with obviously different personalities are destined to have different lives, and isn't it more eye-catching to exchange terriers?
Sorry, I'm smaller.
The author wrote from the racial discrimination in the United States in the sixties and seventies, using the different choices of small people for their destiny, wrote a convincing and touching story, so that I could peek into the whole leopard and more specifically understand the attitude and style of the society to the black community at that time.
That's why the Vigne twins had to flee a small town that pretended to discriminate against blacks. But within a few years, her sister Desilei returned alone, with a black daughter. Everyone in the town was speculating, why did she come back, sister Stella?
Her sister Stella pretended to be white, stayed in town, cut off contact with everyone in the family, and married a wealthy white boss.
After the two sisters went out of the town, they had already come to a fork in the road and chose different lives.
2. Is it about identity?
Some say it's a book about identity, but it's not. Stella, though not identifying with her black ancestry, struggled to escape her native family and marry a white man to live an upper class. But when a black family lived in the community, Stella couldn't help but want to be close to the hostess, and the black blood did not make her inferior at this time, but let her find a sense of identity with the black community.
Desilei also has no sense of identification with black identity, otherwise she would not have encouraged Stella to pretend to be white to go to the interview, let alone return to Mara town to escape domestic violence. For de Silei, who grew up rebellious, returning to Mara town was a compromise of real life, she did not feel that black people were dirty, nor did she feel that white people were noble and unattainable, she just wanted to return to her familiar hometown and the warm embrace of her mother, and escape the man who hurt her. Like the color of her skin, neither black nor white, she could not find a true identity.
Stella, on the other hand, pretended to be white after she got a job. At this time, she began to imply that she was white from the bone, and if it were not for Jude recognizing her, she would not return to Mara town for the rest of her life, although the reason was to completely cut off her mother and sister. Her identity is misplaced and hurts the feelings of her family.
3. Regardless of the joys and sorrows of life, the foundation is "love".
In the end, the whole book is still about the delicate emotions between sisters, mother and daughter, and lovers.
Desiré spent the rest of her life waiting and searching for Stella, and her feelings for her sister were irreplaceable. She said to Earley, don't stop, don't stop looking for Stella. When Stella actually appeared in front of her, she said to Stella, don't come over. There was anger in the voice, there was excitement, there was shock, there was relief.
She blames Stella for abandoning her, but laughs at her own grievances at this time, like a child who has been abandoned on the playground and cried.
After a few glasses of wine, I can start communicating with Stella normally and asking her why she didn't come back. Even when Stella said that for the sake of freedom, for the sake of men, for the sake of family and daughters, but not for the sake of mother and sister, Desilei felt that if she asked why she could abandon her mother and sister and not abandon her husband and daughter, she would be as naïve as a child, after all, they were adults, their life trajectories were different, and mature people would not ask shallow, sad words.
The next morning Stella did not quit, and Desiré was not surprised, but remembered the night before the two of them lying together whispering, saying that they could not open their eyes and did not want to close their eyes, and could not help but cry.
This is the deep love that Desi lei has for Stella, the love that has been impossible to express for so many years, the love of expectation, after Stella is gone, she cried out bitterly.
After that, even after her mother's death, Stella did not return to her mother's funeral, and she was relieved. Before her mother died, she recognized her as Stella, and she told her mother that she was Stella and never left.
Since her parting, she has been defending Stella's personality, protecting her from destroying Stella's life.
Since parting, she had understood that choice was free, and the best way to love Stella was to let her live as she wished.
In addition to the sisters, the book is interspersed with narratives of feelings between Desilei and Earley, Jude and Reese, Stella and Black, and several mother-daughter pairs.
No matter which pair of lovers, the most important thing is not skin color, nor gender, but real love between people. Jude is willing to work while studying to raise money for Reese's sex reassignment surgery, Earley is willing to search for Stella for Decades, and Black, who supports all of Stella's ideas, even supports her to become a teacher in college, which is a rare spiritual force in the era of prevailing housewives.
Although the social hierarchy is strict and black and white are clear, in the eyes of these people, black and white have been integrated into one color, and the concept of using skin color to determine life is ridiculous even miss Kennedy. Miss Petite envied only her unreachable, similar to Jude's love.
You see, life is like this, no matter what choices you make, there will always be feelings as a basis for you. Regardless of your status, money doesn't come first. No matter how bad your birth family is, there will always be people who give you strength.
The other half that disappeared, only prejudice disappeared, and feelings never went far.