More than 150 years ago, Louisa May Olcott wrote about the four sisters of the March family, each with her own talents, in her famous book "Little Women".
Although they are poor, they are intelligent and kind. Four sisters have four paths, they have been confused and lost, but in the end they have found their own way in life.
No path is easier, and no one will look down on another person's choice because of their own choice. Each path is a personal practice and has its own meaning and value.
Stills from Little Women
Coincidentally, there is a similar setting in the first novel "Sisters" by Zhu Mo, the producer of "My Babylonian Lover".
The eight-year-old sister with very different personalities laid the groundwork for different directions in life in the year of her parents' divorce. Sister Tao Jiang in the big city to work hard for the cause, sister Tao Ran in the hometown early marriage and children, completely different lives in a moment of fate to coincide.
They had misunderstandings and quarrels, but never wanted to give up on each other. In the 6 years of correspondence, they finally learned to understand each other, hug each other to warm up, and re-understand the meaning of home and self-growth.
1. Growing pain and healing
When Tao Jiang was 18 years old and Tao Ran was 10 years old, his parents divorced.
Tao Jiang desperately wanted to leave this devastated "home" and was admitted to a graduate school at a key university in Beijing. After graduation, Tao Jiang entered the private advertising company East and West to work, from the market manager to the marketing director, until the company was listed, all the way through the thorns, the surface is bright and beautiful, but the taste, only he knows.
At the same time, the 10-year-old Tao Ran is still in ignorance, after experiencing the snubs of both parents, comparison and pointing by the surrounding crowd, only one person can slowly digest the trepidation of "parental divorce".
Since then, the two sisters who have encountered different occasions have chosen two different directions. The sister chose to give up her feelings, and the sister decided to give up her career and survive under the decisive renunciation. And in order to defend their choices, they are like two outlaws, running wild on their chosen path, and also sticking to their chosen path.
2. The brokenness and reunion of the family
In the opening introduction, Zhu Mo quotes the Japanese female writer Xiang Tian Kuniko's understanding of the family:
The family gives us love and warmth, and also binds us together to suffer for each other's edges; the family supports and protects us in our times of trouble and hardship, and also troubles us in the small daily things. We grind, bump, knead, chisel, prune in this relationship, we are disciplined again and again, growing up according to its shape, and its good and bad become a part of us.
This kind of family perception is most suitable for the two sisters of Tao Jiang Taoran.
Tao Ran, who longs to love and be loved, chose early marriage and early childbearing just after graduating from college, hoping to establish a stable, harmonious and loving family. But what awaits her is her husband Chen Baosheng, who does not care about herself, the mother-in-law who values sons over daughters, the sister-in-law who reverses right and wrong, and the indescribable chickens and dogs in life.
Compared with the younger sister of Wai Rou Andi Gang, the independent sister Tao Jiang is more like a sobering agent in life. The roaring letters, one after another shattering the shell of TaoRan's snail-like evasion, were both weapons and medicines, giving her endless strength and hope.
In Tao Jiang's questioning and worry, Jiang Ran began to wake up:
The situation in the outside world cannot be changed in a short period of time, you can only make your heart stronger, and it is meaningless to blindly complain about the world.
At the same time, Tao Ran, who slowly walked out of his comfort zone, also gave Tao Jiang a strong dose:
You can't just praise one life just because you chose one life, and don't criticize my life because I didn't listen to you and chose another life. Just because we need affection doesn't mean we're not there; the desire to protect our families isn't a shameful thing.
In the movie "Little Women", Meg once said something similar to Joe who persuaded her: "My dream is different from yours, but it does not mean that it is not important." ”
Women in the family can still have very different life choices, there is no right answer, the key lies in the free choice and the freedom to choose the future life.
3. Women's dilemmas and choices
A pair of sisters, two lives, mirror each other, equally difficult.
There is no doubt that the younger sister Tao Ran chose the family. The embarrassment of her parents' divorce, the struggle between the mother-in-law and the eldest sister-in-law, and the husband's only promise not only suppressed her to the bottom, but also let her grow up quickly, doing her best to put everything back on track and live the life she wanted.
From breaking through all difficulties to move out, to taking on private design work, teaching painting and painting part-time teachers, and finally opening an independent studio to teach children to draw, Tao Ran has been trying to balance family, life and work, and doing better and better, getting better and better, slowly growing into the "kind, smart, brave Tao Ran" that his sister Tao Jiang has been looking forward to.
On the other hand, Tao Jiang, who chose a career, also experienced many workplace "killings", and chose to study abroad at the age of 30 to see different landscapes.
It wasn't until the loneliness of returning to China invaded his whole body that Tao Jiang began to face his emotional problems. Thankfully, Tao Jiang, who opened her heart, finally met the person who could make her heart soft.
Life is airtight, and they break through in the opposite direction, only to find that the only thing they can save is each other.
In this war about "Sisters", Tao Jiang and Tao Ran lived a completely different life, each with its own scenery and its own price, but they all tried their best to fight a beautiful turnaround battle.
The inevitable growing pains and healings, the broken and reunited families, and the difficulties and choices of women are vividly expressed in "Sisters", and also let us see the firm support and protection between women, as well as more importantly, mutual understanding.
This is the problem faced by the Tao sisters, and it is also the real life of the majority of ordinary women.