An awakened soul, a stark sign of its awakening, is a sudden acute awareness and a strong rejection of the life of falsehood. - Philosophy of Life
The book "The Veil" was written by Maugham when he was 50 years old, just like Maugham's usual treatment of love, and it is also a book with a tragic ending. It tells us that under the veil of love is the gulf of vanity, pride, profit and desire that cannot be filled, and when the experience of life has dried all these things, they are only a veil, and then removed, is the authentic, self-loving, rational and free self.
First, the origin
Because of her beautiful appearance, Katie is placed high hopes on her selfish mother, who hopes that her daughter will enter high society through beauty and improve her social status. Like a beautiful flower butterfly, Katie lingered at various banquets, enjoying the pleasure of men's compliments and praises. Katie's mediocre-looking sister unexpectedly engaged in a prominent affair, and her mother has since shown dissatisfaction and impatience with Katie, and speaks sarcastically. In order to get rid of the oppressive living environment and prove her charm, Katie accepted walter, a returned medical doctor and bacteriologist. Finn proposed marriage and came to Hong Kong with Walter after marriage.
Katie's view of love is distorted from the beginning, she believes that beauty should be the weight of her so-called happiness, and hastily married Walter only for the sake of profit, which laid the foundation for their future married life.
Second, love, but not; abandon, and not give up
After Katie and Walter got married, Katie found that she and Walter had a big personality gap, she was lively and cheerful and romantic, and Walter was a serious person with a serious heart and a straight face, which made Katie feel that marriage was boring. But Walter loved her from the bottom of her heart, always easily satisfied her, and she thought she held the initiative in the marriage, ignoring Walter's efforts, but greedily enjoying Walter's love.
At a banquet, Katie meets Charlie, a veteran of pleasing women. Katie was mesmerized by a bunch of sugar-coated attacks and did not hesitate to throw herself into Charlie's arms. How uncaring Katie was to Walter, blatantly taking Charlie home for fun, and eventually Walter found out, shattering Walter's bottom line.
Rationally Walter asks Katie to make a choice, either to go with her to Mae Tam province to fight the plague, or to divorce Charlie and marry her. The brainless Katie happily goes to Charlie, but Charlie chooses a wife who can give him a solid position, and she is absolutely disassociated from Katie. Desperate, Katie realizes that she is only a despicable person who plays tricks on the scene, and she chooses to go to Mae Tam Province with Walter.
Katie is so vain and superficial that she has not understood in several years of marriage that marriage is a contract, and that both parties need to give and respect, not just enjoy taking.
Third, the journey of self-search and awakening
After a few bumps in the road, they finally arrived at Mae Tam Province. Walter was constantly engaged in work, trying to avoid meeting Katie. In this lonely and depressed town, Katie had been angry, hysterical, and after everything had failed, she found a monastic volunteer for herself to do.
In the process of volunteering, she met the dean who was born famous, but did not hesitate to devote herself to the faith, Katie was infected by her human brilliance, the nuns' selfless care for the patients and children also touched her, Katie gradually realized her former shallow ignorance, she devoted herself to taking care of orphans, only in this way can alleviate the shame and pain in the heart, in order to get inner peace.
In the monastery, she also heard about Walter, who was on the front lines of the plague, curing the sick and improving the drinking water for the inhabitants, and she changed her opinion of this seemingly wooden husband, who actually had a noble soul, and became admired. Walter also saw Katie's change, and his hatred for Katie was slowly dissolving. Unfortunately, Katie still couldn't fall in love with Walter. Soon, Katie discovers that she is pregnant, she does not know who the child is, Walter can not let go, and finally he chooses to experiment with himself, infected with the plague and dies.
The ending of the novel is cruel, but they are all liberated, and Katie becomes transparent after going through everything, she realizes that she can have faith and pursuit, and does not need to be attached to anyone to live well, she is herself. Eventually, Katie returns to England to live with her father, and the novel eventually extends the theme:
"I want a daughter because I want to raise her — so she won't go my old way. When I recall what kind of girl I used to be, I feel disgusted with myself. But I don't have a chance to do it all over again. I want to raise my daughter well and make her a free and independent girl. I brought her into this world, to raise her, to love her, to bring her up, not for the sake of a man who in the future would especially want to sleep with her, or even be willing to raise her for the rest of her life" — excerpt from The Veil.
IV. Afterword
Katie was originally a vain and proud person who wanted to rely on beauty to strive for a happy marriage, how fortunate she met Walter, and after thousands of sails, she understood that all beauty is not only obtained by heavy beauty and sweet words, but also by inner independence and self-love. We mourn Walter's death, but he is not liberated from attachment.
Walter, who died of the plague, managed to get Kate's body and mind, just as the film finally expressed: Katie pulls the child down the streets of London, and when they meet Charlie, the child asks who Katie is, and Katie says, neither.
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