Text/Xiaoting Half Clear
"Crescent Moon" is a novella by Lao She, he rarely writes about women, he thinks that writing women is a very troublesome thing, but in "Crescent Moon" he wrote a mother and daughter at once. A family that is already poor, because of the death of the male master, immediately fell into endless sadness, what should a pair of orphans and widows rely on to survive?
The novel is narrated in the first person, it is easy to bring emotions, "I" from the age of seven or eight ignorant to eighteen or nineteen years old youth, the thinking has been changing, the perspective is becoming more and more mature, from looking down on the mother, resenting the mother, to understanding the mother and taking the mother's old path, "I" finally have to become a mother-like prostitute. This is the tragedy of poverty and the suffering created by the times.
In 1986, "Crescent Moon" was put on the big screen, and "I" was named Yue Rong, a girl with a beautiful logo.
Although the story is not long, every plot is a pity. When Yue Rong was 7 years old, her father died of illness, leaving only her mother to live with her. But the mother had no way to make money, and only earned some bits and pieces of silver by washing clothes and smelly socks for others, which was far from enough food and clothing for the two of them.
At that time, the moon often looked up to see the crescent moon in the sky, partial, crooked, with cold and cold.
In order to eat, my mother had to go to the pawnshop to make things, but there were few valuable items in the house, a mirror, a piece of clothing, but she still had to starve often.
Just eight years old, I've learned to be something. I knew that if we didn't get the money, we wouldn't want to have dinner, because my mother wouldn't tell me to go because she had some ideas. I knew that whenever she handed me a small bag, she would not even see a little porridge in the pot. Our pot is sometimes as clean as a decent widow.
This is the current situation of mother and daughter, and life is very hard. In Yuerong's memory, one of the happiest memories she and her mother had was going to the suburbs to see her father's grave. That day, her mother was very kind to her, carrying Yue Rong, who could not walk, and even bought her a handful of fried chestnuts, but Yue Rong was not willing to eat it and held it tightly in her hand.
When people can't even meet the most basic food and clothing, some actions will be taken. Yue Rong knew that her mother was thinking about ideas every day, but she didn't know what her mother was thinking. Until one day, a big red palanquin took her mother away, and Yue Rong had a new father.
The new father was very good to their mother and daughter, they ate and drank, thick new clothes to wear, thick quilt covers, mother's appearance has become better, eat a little fat. The new father also sent Yue Rong to school, everything is developing in a good direction, although Yue Rong can't shout "Daddy", but she understands that she and her mother now have a peaceful life because of the new father. During this time, she forgot to look at the crescent, and the warm and calm days diluted the cold of the crescent in her memory.
But things in this world are often like this, bad things are often as long as the night, but good things are always short-lived, and disappear before they can adapt.
Without warning, the new dad disappeared.
This year, Yuerong primary school is about to graduate, their mother and daughter have become helpless again, Yuerong thought that her mother should go to wash clothes and socks again, but this time her mother did not, but smeared grease and powder, with a fake smile on her face.
The ignorant Yue Rong may not understand, may understand, from the eyes of others looking at her, she detected something strange, she began to hate her mother, hated her mother for bringing different men back every day, hated those men's eyes maliciously swept over her. "I can't hate her anymore, I have to hate her." My heart is like that crescent moon, it can only light up for a while, and the darkness is infinite. ”
As her mother grew old and her livelihood withered away, her mother had no choice but to give Yue Rong two ways:
1. Help your mother to sell her hue to maintain her daily life.
2. When the mother marries, she no longer carries the moon, and from then on the mother and daughter are separated and each survives.
At this time, Yue Rong had a proud bone, looked down on her mother's secret prostitution industry, and was determined not to help her mother, so she asked the principal for help and obtained two meals a day and a place to stay.
At night, she lived in the school, wandering in the empty yard, she wanted to look up at the crescent, but she did not dare to look, her life was as hopeless as the night. I don't know where tomorrow is or what the future holds.
The school had a new principal, and the new principal could not continue to look after her. After some weighing, she became the lover of the nephew of the new headmaster, a warm and lovely young man who loved her and gave her new clothes for her to eat and wear. At that moment, Yue Rong knew that she had lost herself, just like her mother's situation.
He provided me with food and drink and made me some new clothes. Put on new clothes and see my beauty for myself. But I also hate these clothes, and I am reluctant to take them off. I didn't dare to think, I didn't bother to think, I was confused, and there were always two red patches on my cheeks. I'm too lazy to dress up, and I can't help but dress up, I'm too idle, I always have to find something to do. When I dressed up, I pitied myself; when I was done dressing, I hated myself.
I knew that I had no hope; a little cloud would cover the crescent, and my future would be dark. Sure enough, it didn't take long for spring to turn into summer, and my spring dreams came to an end.
When the young man's original wife came to the door, Yue Rong's "love deal" was completely shattered. She promised the woman to abandon him and chose to leave. But where can we go? Yue Rong went to a small restaurant to apply, and became the "number two" waitress of the restaurant with her excellent appearance, but she could not learn the charm and courtesy of the "number one" waitress in any way, and was quickly driven out by the boss.
For more than a month, Yue Rong had no income, wandering around, she knew that she was about to be pulled away by the black shadow step by step, she remembered the idea of marrying, thinking about whether a man would make her less afraid.
One day, I met the young man's wife on the street, and Yue Rong knew from her conversation that they were originally in love and free love, but love could not restrain men's behavior at all, he looked for flowers and willows everywhere, leaving his wife to look for him everywhere, but also to take into account her in-laws and family rules, she said that she was still quite envious of Yue Rong, how free.
A few words, the mind of Marrying Yue Rong was snuffed out. The reality is really cruel, step by step to force Yue Rong to the corner, forced into the shadows, finally, she took the old path of her mother and became a young and beautiful prostitute. She receives civilized people, small traders, young people, and the elderly, and as long as she gives money, the transaction can be completed. But the depraved trade all day made her sick, and she was ready to die in pain.
At this juncture, the mother appeared. She was so old that the treasurer eventually left her, and now her daughter was her last hope. What is chilling is that after the mother came, she did not care about the state of her daughter at all, and came up to ask how much money she made and how to spend it.
I laughed like crazy: she found her daughter, who was a prostitute! She had to be like that when she raised me; now it's my turn to raise her, I have to be like that! A woman's profession is hereditary and specialized!
Poor Yue Rong did not get the slightest comfort from her mother, but was stared at by her mother to "dedicate herself", she wanted to hear her mother say don't do this, but they both understood that they could only do this.
In the end, Yue Rong was arrested by the police and imprisoned in a correctional hospital, which gave her lessons every day, telling her that she could rely on herself and marry people to live, but Yue Rong knew that these were just deceptive lies, so she reversed a bit, spit on the face of a certain Daguan, and then was imprisoned.
Instead, Yue Rong in prison was calm and frank, and even she felt that it was a good place, because she could look up at the crescent moon again, hanging crookedly in the sky.
Yue Rong and her mother were both spurned trades in that era, selling meat and selling themselves, only to get food and clothing, and still struggling at the bottom of society. In a patriarchal society, it is too difficult for women to survive on their own ability.
The original Yue Rong had a proud bone, looked down on her mother, and also wanted to rely on herself to survive, but the reality was really cruel, under one blow after another, she finally compromised with this society and became a person like her mother.
Throughout the story, the mother's life in the text is full of "poverty", but is poverty the original sin? In the final analysis, it is the darkness and oppression created by the "cannibalistic" society, and women have no status and cannot show their faces, creating the end of women having to be attached to men.
And "crescent moon" is full of full text, in fact, symbolizes the spiritual world of the moon, the poverty of life is like the crescent moon on the edge of the sky, the surrounding is dark, a little light can not illuminate this night sky at all.