With a Douban score of 9.1, the novel became a bestseller as soon as it was published, and was adapted into a stage play and movie of the same name. A hundred years later, the book is still highly regarded, and the original book is more realistic and realistic than the happy ending of the movie.
The "veil" can be seen but not clearly, confusing but looming.
01
About the growth of women, unveiling the veil of life
Women's growth is probably the most direct feeling after reading this book.
The heroine Katie was originally vulgar and vain, although beautiful but brainless, so that she was first manipulated by vanity and married someone she did not like; after marriage, she was blinded by her own love and led to infidelity. A series of life teases forced her to follow her husband to the land of cholera, but it was in the land of cholera, where death did not know when to come, that she witnessed the unclothed corpses, met the humble and kind nuns, and met the dean who did not seek vanity and was perfect. Experiencing everything here has quietly changed Katie's state of mind, and gradually penetrated the veil of life.
In the world of two people, she can only choose to love him or lose him to fill the emptiness of the heart; but when she is in a wider world and witnesses the cruelty of life and the brilliance of humanity, she truly gains the peace of mind and the redemption of herself.
At the end of the story, Katie returns to her country, reconciles with her father, and moves to the Bahamas.
Even if she didn't know what kind of future awaited her, she felt a force in her heart, and no matter what was going to happen, she could accept it with ease and pleasure. Perhaps her transgressions, the stupid things she had done, and the misfortunes she had suffered were not all in vain, as long as she could now follow the faintly discernible path in front of her--- which was a path to inner peace. ”
02
The truth about love, unveiling the veil of love.
Love is sometimes like wearing a beautiful veil, and behind the veil is a cruel truth. First of all, Let's talk about Katie and her lover Townsend, Townsend seems to love Katie so much that she loves her, but under the mask of this cleverness is a cowardly and selfish heart, and when Katie proposes that she will be forced to go to the land of cholera unless she is with him, Townsend resolutely rejects the divorce for the sake of her future.
"When a man loves you, what he says is not credible"
Only at this point, after tearing off the veil, Katie saw through Townsend's true face and saw the truth of love.
Then there is Katie and her husband Walter, when unveiled, it is even more naked reality.
"I know you're stupid, frivolous, and brainless, but I love you; I know your goals and ideals are vulgar and ordinary, but I love you; I know you're second-rate, but I love you." I know you marry me only for a momentary gain, but I love you like that, I don't care. ”
Katie is forced to accompany her husband to the land of cholera, but in the eyes of outsiders, it is Katie's love for her husband, they sing the praises of Katie", "your lovely face", and even Mrs. Townsend apologized for "you are so good and so brave, I can't express how much admiration I have for you".
03
About the complexity of human nature, unveiling human nature.
Maugham's work is mean and realistic, and he is good at exploring the complexity of human nature. He once said in The Moon and Sixpence:
"Despicable and great, vicious and good. Hatred and love can coexist in the same heart without mutual exclusion. ”
Therefore, human nature cannot stand up to judgment, and its flexibility makes everyone both an angel and Satan.
In The Veil, Maugham also spares no effort to express the complexity of human nature. Katie's husband, Walter Mune, is bored, but in fact loves Katie wholeheartedly.
"Most people, as far as I know, feel aggrieved, even more angry and bitter when they love someone and don't get it in return, but I'm not like that, and I'm grateful to be allowed to love you." 」
It has to be said that Walter's love is selfless. However, in the face of his wife's infidelity and inner anger, the selfless love eventually became selfish and indifferent, and the choice with the threat of death did indeed seem to be to die together.
Walter, on the other hand, seemed to be bored, with a morbid shyness that had made Katie despise him. But such a person has a delicate and delicate heart of benevolence, which is admired by the nuns. "She couldn't help but admit that he had extraordinary qualities, and sometimes she thought he even had a peculiar, unattractive greatness."
"The veil that is depicted is called life by all sentient beings."
You and I in all sentient beings wear a veil, and you use the veil to cover the prying eyes of others, and it is difficult for you to see the reality of the world yourself. There's so much in the book, and I'm saying too little. May we always walk in the world with a sincere heart, fearless, sincere and straightforward, independent of others, and keep ourselves introspecting and growing, and live peacefully in the present moment with a free body.