Some people say that "White Deer Plain" is a history of men's ambitions and a woman's tragedy.
"White Deer Plain", known as the "strange book of a generation", can be said to have written through life and human nature.
In that plain, in the torrent of history for half a century, the grievances of the Bai and Lu families were entangled, and the men and women struggled bitterly.
For women, the pain is especially deep. Almost without exception, they appear in the form of tragedy: some are abandoned by their husbands, some are forced to "borrow seeds to have children", and some are reviled because of their honor......
When literature shines into reality, we are shocked to realize that the road to women's awakening is far from over.
From the many tragedies of "White Deer Plain", I had an epiphany:
The best way for women to live is to place inward, stretch outward, and pursue upward.
01
- Place inward, not attached to others
Tian Xiao'e is a rare beautiful woman in Bailu Plain.
She was promised by her father to be a little wife of an old man, and she was actually a plaything.
Xiao'e is unwilling, and she loves Changgong Heiwa like glue.
After the East Window incident, the two were driven away and came to Heiwa's hometown Bailu Village after several twists and turns.
Because she is not "innocent", Xiao'e can only live in a broken kiln outside the village as a "bitch".
She was happy and wept: as long as there is a black baby, she is willing to eat bran vegetables.
And Heiwa's world is not only her. After the failure of the "revolution", he left Xiao'e, who was crying in despair, and fled in a hurry.
The woman who can't enter the ancestral hall is destined to be a picnic for the "jackal".
The cold kiln is lonely, and the wind howls and wolves howl. Lu Zilin knocked on Xiao'e's door late at night.
Lu Zilin is the head of the Lu family, the second largest family in the village, and he likes to steal incense and jade. He coerced and lured in the name of saving Heiwa, and Xiao'e had no choice but to commit herself.
Lu Zilin had to inch in, coaxing Xiao'e to seduce Bai Xiaowen, the eldest son of the Bai family, the largest family in the village.
Twenty years of family rule education is no match for the beauty Fengyue. After Xiaowen "fell", he was expelled from his home.
After learning about all the scams, Xiao'e angrily scolded Lu Zilin, but what she got was a slap and abuse.
Xiaowen, who was ruined, had no burden, sold land and houses and Xiao'e smoked big cigarettes and lived a "happy" life.
Finally, after the family's wealth was dispersed, Hyowen also left.
Xiao'e's heart was cold.
Fate was in hot pursuit, and Heiwa's father was humiliated and got rid of this "scourge" daughter-in-law with his own hands.
There was no news of Xiao'e in Bailu Plain, and it was not until the stench permeated the village that people found that the "rotten goods" in their mouths were really rotten in the broken kiln.
Xiao'e has pinned her hopes on four men in her life, and she has tried everything to rely on, but none of them are reliable.
Zhang Ailing, a writer who knows women best, said: "All women eventually have a place to live, not others, only themselves." ”
The foundation of women's happiness is only in themselves, not elsewhere. After all, the only thing one can grasp is oneself.
To dwell on oneself is to root one's heart in one's own chest, and to choose between love and hate is all according to one's own will;
And hoping for others is like building a house on someone else's land, which is limited in every way and will eventually be returned.
Only by placing it inward can we reap stable happiness.
02
- Stretch outward, don't torture yourself
Just when Xiao'e was staying in Bailu Village as a "bitch", a "serious" woman was quietly "falling".
Miss Leng married Lu Zhaopeng, Lu Zilin's eldest son, in red makeup, but she didn't know that the other end of the sedan chair was cold to the bone.
Zhaopeng was a new-school person studying in the city, and flatly rejected this feudal marriage arranged by his parents.
Under Lu Zilin's three slaps, Zhaopeng reluctantly left his wife a cave night, and then fled back to the city and did not return for many years.
The Lu family was extremely busy, and repeatedly threatened that Zhaopeng was busy with major events and had no time to go home.
Miss Leng didn't know all this, and she kept a widow for many years without knowing why.
She buried her doubts and anxieties deep in her heart, her face was still docile, but her heart was becoming more and more difficult to calm down.
She took the urinals in the morning, saw her in-laws lying together, pulled firewood during the day, and met Xiao'e, who was doted on by Heiwa.
The long-term longing for her husband has accumulated into a heart disease.
She dreamed first of her husband and later of other men. She was so ashamed that she didn't dare look into any man's eyes.
finally stayed up until Zhaopeng came back, but he didn't enter the house. Miss Leng became a joke in the village, and she was completely hopeless.
To make matters worse, she was also slighted by the drunken Lu Zilin.
Under pressure, she hallucinated. No matter how complicated the operation on the spinning wheel was, it couldn't stop Lu Zilin's face from breaking into her mind.
From then on, shame suppressed longing, and longing to break through shame......
She finally couldn't bear such a two-sided torment and died of madness.
Miss Leng's tragedy is certainly caused by chance, but it is not unrelated to her self-torture.
Her husband's family treated her husband so poorly, and she never expressed her dissatisfaction. She thought about death, tried to survive, and endured it until she drove herself crazy.
Miss Leng is the epitome of women who live in forbearance.
We are often taught to be gentle and patient, as if that is the only way to be educated, and we are not encouraged to express our opinions, because "sharp" women are not lovable.
However, grievances will not disappear for no reason, either to be released outwardly or to kill themselves inward.
Maugham said: "Soft-hearted and embarrassed will only kill yourself, and rational affection and ruthlessness are the weapons of survival." ”
The softer and more docile the woman, the easier it is to "swing the blade inward" and spin in the whirlpool of self-torture;
Learning to be rational and "ruthless", cherishing oneself and having the courage to express oneself can win true respect.
Stretch outward, and there will be a broader world.
03
- Upward pursuit, not mediocrity
There is a beautiful legend popular in the White Deer Plain.
In ancient times, there was a snow-white deer on the plain, and the poison stopped everywhere it went, and the disease was cured, and everything flourished.
Bai Ling has such a white deer spirit, and she loves this land and the people of the plain with her life.
As the daughter of the Bai family, the largest family in the village, her life is full of legends.
When he was born, a lark flew in, and when he died, his three closest relatives dreamed of a white deer.
Mr. Zhu, who is known as a saint, once looked into her eyes and sighed: "Under the spinning wheel, on the loom, in front of the pot and behind the stove, no matter what, I can't hold such a pair of eyes." ”
Indeed, she can always make choices that surpass ordinary people.
When she was still a child, she cried and rebelled against foot binding;
When the girls followed their mother to the spinning wheel, she boldly asked to read;
When the situation is chaotic and everyone is in danger, she sneaks into the city to study in a new school.
In Xi'an, her ignorant spirit of rebellion was sublimated into a higher pursuit.
Not long after Bai Ling entered the city, Xi'an was besieged by warlords, and she saw a living person turn into a mountain of corpses for the first time.
The confrontation between the rain of bullets and the flesh and blood sowed the fire of revolution in Bai Ling's heart.
She became a member of the revolution, braving artillery fire to sing for the soldiers and civilians, and nibbling on steamed buns to carry corpses.
But how could the old era behind her let her go so easily. Her father had already set a marriage for her and locked her in the house.
Bai Ling sang revolutionary songs, dug into the wall and fled. Subsequently, he easily returned the marriage contract with a letter and devoted himself to the revolutionary struggle.
When she found that her group was not firmly determined by the revolutionary will, she once again made a choice ahead of her time:
Change your political stance, even at the expense of breaking up with lovers who have different positions.
She organized the student movement, propagated the anti-Japanese struggle to save the country, risked her life to deliver letters to the organization, and put down the rebellion.
However, the troubled times did not end well, and Bai Ling finally dedicated himself to the revolutionary ideal.
Although she was not immune to death, she lived a positive life, lived a passionate life, died without regrets, and undoubtedly chose the best part in the world.
We all want to live our best selves.
However, life is full of fireworks, the pressure is surrounded and blocked, and the youthful spirit dissipates as he walks, thinking that life is nothing more than this.
From then on, I had a heart to endure, and I only had the strength to parry life, and I lived a mediocre and boring life.
Remembering Sanmao's words:
Do not give up the love and persistence of life, and live an infinite life in a limited time and space.
Staying and moving up are two completely different lives.
The former makes us willing to be wood, rice, oil and salt, and gradually lose our freshness in every inch of land, as if the lantern is extinguished and the candle flame is extinguished;
The latter is constantly pursuing true knowledge, expanding the realm of life and becoming more enlightened, just like a living spring irrigating the first flowers.
Only by pursuing upwards can we always maintain the vitality of life.
04
The first sentence of the opening sentence of "White Deer Plain" said: "Bai Jiaxuan was later proud of marrying seven women in his life."
One sentence clearly understands the tragic life of women in Luyuan.
They are like the yellow earth on the plain, even if they bear green leaves, red flowers, and golden fruits, they are still only the background color of the White Deer Plain.
However, as Chaplin said, "At the bottom of tragedy, there is always something beautiful." ”
In the form of tragedy, Mr. Chen Zhongzhong tore apart the pain of women's existence, and also left us with precious life insights:
Don't cling to others, don't torture yourself, don't be mediocre, and live the best version of yourself.
May all women have the best possible life.