The novel "Where Are You Going" is set in the era of the Roman tyrant Nero, telling the love story of the Roman aristocratic young Vinycius and the young girl Lygia, and this moving love story is interspersed with the story of Nero's murder of Christians, love and the killing of Christians are the two threads framed by this story, but these two clues ultimately come down to the discussion of faith, but I am afraid that this is also one of the reasons why this book can become a Nobel Prize winner.
Let's start with a love story. The male protagonist of the love story, Venetius, is a young man born in the Roman nobility, because of family reasons and his own efforts, he became a conservator and a member of the Roman aristocratic circle. He was as extravagant and extravagant as the other Roman nobles, and lived a drunken and dreamy life, until one day he saw the hostage of the defeated country, the young girl Rigia. Vinijos was conquered by the beauty of Rigia, and he fell in love with the beautiful girl.
However, the identity of the hostage of the defeated country of Rigia made Rigia equivalent to a slave in the eyes of the Romans, and it was precisely because of the disparity in the social status of the two that Vinijos instinctively treated Rigia the way he treated slaves. Coupled with the "help" of his uncle Petronias, it put Rigia in an even more dangerous situation. At the same time, Viggios's behavior also turned Reggia's original good feelings for Vinyjos into fear, so Reggia chose to escape.
In fact, when you see the behavior of Vincius and his uncle Petrhonius towards Rigia in the story, it really makes people ask: Are you sure you are doing this to love this girl? Are you sure this uncle is really here to help and not to tear down the stage? The behavior of these two uncles and nephews will really make modern people a little incomprehensible, but when you understand the slave system and understand the background of the era in which this story takes place, it is not difficult to understand the practices of these two slave owners, who are doing what they think is right as slave owners.
Rigia's escape annoys Vinijos, who hates Riggia's evasion, but he can't help but love the girl, and love and hate fight in Vinijos's heart. In the process of finding Rikgia, he learned that Rikia believed in Christ, and thus, this reckless teenager who was reckless because of love came into contact with a new, strange and even somewhat incomprehensible religion, and he began to slowly understand Rigia, and slowly walked into the religion that Rigia believed in, such a process of approaching and understanding also made Vinijos unconsciously change.
From the point of view of love, Vinyjos's initial love for Reggia is absolutely innocent, this is the pure love of a teenager for a young girl, this love does not mix with any purpose, but Vinyjos himself was born to determine his class concept, he unconsciously treated Reggia in a way that treated slaves, which was a natural thing for Vinyjos, so at this time he could not understand Reggia's abandonment of a luxurious life and the escape from the slums.
Rigia's escape annoyed Vinijos, but also made Vincius begin to reflect on herself, of course, the earliest reflection is still unable to escape the framework of the relationship between master and slave, but the inner love of the instinct can make Vincius unconsciously go close to Rigia's heart, thus lowering her body. So, this former aristocratic soldier raised the white flag of love, and this teenager who was once reckless because of love slowly changed and grew up in the world of love.
During this period, Vinicius also began to slowly approach Christianity, and the love proclaimed by Christianity was initially incomprehensible to Vinicus, which was inconsistent with the conquest and hegemony of the Roman Empire for many years, and with the battlefield battles of Vinicus for many years. But just for his own love, Vinicius still resolutely chose to believe in Christ. And in the process of approaching Christ, Winniejos unconsciously began to slowly become more and more religious like those Christians.
Because of love, Vinicius changed his faith, and eventually he got Rigia's love. Later, the development of the story makes Rigia's situation more and more thrilling, Vinijos exhausted all the resources to save Rigia, this thrilling process, let Vinicius put it all down to the divine gift of Christ, and thus, he believes in Christ even more, which is a character who believes in Christ because of love, and a character who is saved by faith in the novel.
Let's talk about religion. Ancient Rome itself was a polytheistic state, a god who could believe in many gods at the same time. At that time, Christianity was still only a new religion, and Christianity itself was a monotheistic religion, that is to say, it could only believe in Christ as a god, which was in conflict with the polytheism of Rome, and at the same time, the doctrine of "love all people" preached by Christianity itself was also a conflict with the slavery system in Rome at that time, so at that time Christianity was not accepted by the mainstream class in Rome.
Another main line of the novel is Nikan's persecution and abuse of Christians. Nero was the most famous tyrant in ancient Rome, he was not only a tyrant, but also an anti-human and neurotic emperor, under the rule of Nero, the entire Roman aristocratic class was extremely extravagant and extravagant. In the novel, although Nero was an emperor, he himself was extremely fond of literature and art, and writing poetry and singing became his highest pursuit, and in order to inspire himself to write poetry, this madman even set fire to Rome.
The Roman fire depicted in the novel is a real event that occurred during Niko's reign, and according to historical research, many traces also show that this fire was indeed carrying out Niko's orders. Rome suffered a lot of losses in that fire, and the huge losses made the people indignant. After the fire, in order to shirk responsibility and divert public sentiment, Nero framed Christians for causing the fire, and then there was an incident of torture and killing of Christians.
Therefore, the portrayal of nikan and the description of the roman fire event in the novel can be said to truly reflect the neon in history and the famous fire, and at this point, the novel leads to another theme about religion. In the novel, Christianity was first introduced by Rigia, and later, through the depiction of Christians in persecution and abuse, the Christians' firm belief in Christ is vividly expressed.
The origin and development of religion can be traced back to the early stages of human history, from a certain point of view, the emergence of religion is an early human imagination of the unknown world, and this imaginary process is also a process of mystifying the unknown world, this mysterious process for people in this world, is both an imagination and a sustenance, imagination is the need of emotion, sustenance is the need of the spirit, so religion also uses people's emotional and spiritual needs, to create a doctrine, and then to persuade and regulate people's behavior.
Persuasion is the original intention of most religions, mystification is the expression of religion, and religion is also accepted by the masses for these two reasons, so a large congregation has developed, and these congregations will show extreme piety because they follow religion, and this extreme piety is also called religious belief. Like the Christians depicted in this novel, even when they are persecuted and tortured, they still express their devotion to their faith in the form of receiving abuse.
The character of Winniejos portrayed in the novel, who went from the earliest unbelief to the final absolute belief, cannot deny that there is an element of love in this process of change, but it is also this factor that he approached another religion and finally accepted this religion, because, in this process, he saw the firmness and piety of Christians in their faith, and this firmness and piety shocked him, and the novel expressed the power of religion and belief through the transformation of Vinicius.
But the novel questions religion through the character of his uncle Petrhonius, who came into contact with Christianity because of his nephew's emotional events, especially after seeing the piety and firmness of Christians, and realized that this was a powerful religion, and this religion would be a fierce enemy of Rome. But he had a different view of Christ's preaching of renouncing this life for the sake of the afterlife, so he said, "Life does not exist for death, but for himself."
This sentence is Petrolnius's understanding of life and faith, and another reflection on the christians described in the book who have given up this world for a void and unknown afterlife. Religion regulates this life because it values the afterlife, and the secular world enjoys the present life because it does not believe in the afterlife, which is the difference between religion and secularity, but religion and secularity also have one thing in common, that is, they can never be separated from this world.
So, the question is, is it a choice of religion or this world? If, like the Christians depicted in the novel, they express their faith in the form of being tortured, can the cruelty of the moment be exchanged for the unknown beauty? Can the nothingness of the afterlife replace the suffering of this life? So, this is also where religion is questioned, and if religion has made people questionable, then the beliefs that arise from religion are also questioned.
In the novel, at the end of the story, a large number of Christians were tortured and killed because of Nijin's orders, and seeing such a cruel process of torture, anyone will be moved, but I think anyone will think what kind of faith will make these people so firm and religious? When Christians still hold their faith in the face of abuse, one cannot help but question whether the faith they hold is correct or worthy.
In fact, faith is that people believe in something, and let themselves have strength because they believe in it, and this power is often strong and firm. Of course, faith is diverse, faith is not only reflected in religion, but also in other things, so for the faith itself, we should also think about whether this thing that makes us believe in itself is correct and worthy of our faith.
Therefore, the novel uses petrhonius such a bright character to express the author's thinking on religion and faith, for life, Petrlonius for the christian preaching of the afterlife, he pays more attention to the present, the present, he regards the process of life as the essence of life, he believes that the relative nothingness of life, real every day may be the embodiment of the essence of life, for faith, Petrlonius will examine and question the right and wrong of faith itself, so, The character of Petrhonius gives us a glimpse of an alternative understanding and attitude towards life and faith.
The phrase "Where are you going?" is quoted from peter, the believer, who saw Christ on his way out of Rome and asked, "Lord, where are you going?" Christ answered him: "You will leave this city and no longer keep my flock, then I will have to go back and have them crucify me again." After that, Peter returned to Rome again, and finally on the hill in the Vatican, Peter was crucified.
In this legend of Christ, the believer Peter asked this sentence, Christ gave his own answer, Peter made his own choice, and now, the author Xianke Weizhi named this sentence for the novel, I think, this is both a sentence that the believer asks Of Christ and a sentence that asks everyone in the world.