The Indulgence of Desire and the Loneliness of Death - Emile Zola in Nana

Reading Nana has always felt horror, because knowing that Nana will die, and that the death is ugly, her increasingly crazy profligacy and carnal desires, like the final madness towards death, is cruel. At the same time I felt disgusted that these drunken fans, men and women, reveled like beasts, meaningless, harmful to others and harm to themselves.

Nana is a shameless prostitute, she has no life skills, she relies on her fleshy body, captures one man after another, swallows these men one by one, eats the meat, and spits out only the bones. Her unbridled profligacy makes normal people feel sick, and she plays with men and women, which is a distorted expression of sexual desire under the extreme boredom. To say that she is a giant genitalia with magical powers is not an exaggeration at all.

Such a woman is shameful, but her self-defense is not without reason:

"Fuck! It's not fair! Society is irrational. Obviously, it is a man's request, but the responsibility is pushed onto the woman... They did this at a cost of money and lost their lives, and it was all their fault! It has nothing to do with me! ”

Oh yes! It is the man who finds the door himself, knowing that Nana is a slut, still attached to her flesh, even if the scene finds her in bed with other men, it does not change these men continue to consume Nana. Men can also refuse to pay when they pay, but if they don't pay, they won't get this enjoyment.

At that time in France, prostitutes and adultery were very prevalent, it was almost a catch, and almost none of them were clean and innocent. Why is this happening?

The prevalence of prostitutes and adultery almost reflects the extent of social hypocrisy. For example, in France at that time, society was very divided, and the upper class looked down on ordinary people and considered themselves to be superior. These nobles cherished the title of Earl and Marquis very much, and because their ancestors had property, they did not have to work, so they had nothing to do all day except salons, flirting, and gossip.

People are bored, empty, rich, but they love face, so they secretly do dirty things. Aristocratic families generally married in relation to property and status, and there was little affection between the husband and wife, and they slept in the same bed and dreamed of each other' pleasures, just like the Counts of Mifa and his wife.

But these couples will never divorce, because divorce will cause public opinion, and these people are most afraid that the mask will be torn. So, adultery, mistresses, and co-wives are really strange.

Zola wrote about the pathology and distortion of society at that time. On the surface, it uses a realistic approach to depict the degeneration of French society, but in fact it points to the arrival of the Great Collapse of France.

A society sustained by hypocrisy is moribund. Except for one title, most of the nobles have been unable to make ends meet. Gradually, the family property was sold, the property sold fell to the shrewd bourgeoisie or the ordinary class, and the wealth was unconsciously redistributed.

The nobility is constantly declining, first without the morality and character of being a human being, then losing property, and finally without a title, that is, a rotten person, the nobles fell from the upper class to the poor class, but because the nobles had no livelihood skills, they were quickly eliminated. This kind of shuffle is especially evident in Zola's Money.

At the end of the book, war is mentioned with the intention of dealing a complete blow to this hypocritical society. After many wars and revolutions, the power and wealth of society have been continuously transformed, until the relatively peaceful society in which we are now living.

In our time, if we still mention any titles of nobility, we can't help but feel ridiculous. Most people earn their own living, through skills and labor, to earn living capital, rather than sitting on the ancestral estate.

Labor also makes people less empty and bored, and will not be like the men in "Nana", so bored that they can only spend money to buy sex and seek excitement. In "Mother and Son", the value of labor is affirmed, and it is a good thing to be expelled from high society and to be born again.

Women, if they are not willing to be a consumer product for men, must have a skill and be able to rely on themselves. Although there are many aspects of inequality in society, if you use this excuse to justify your failures, it is better to be a housewife or a prostitute.

A lot of women, they rely on men, a lot of times it's not that they don't have options, they don't have life skills, it's laziness. Laziness can easily drive people to choose a seemingly easy path. However, relying on others to live is ultimately lacking in confidence, and money comes and goes easily.

Most importantly, without labor, laziness, people are easily crazy or perverted, just like Nana. The most tragic thing is that no matter how beautiful and beautiful you are, death will make you unrecognizable, and the people who once said they loved you will not even shed tears.

In the book, Nana died of smallpox, her face full of pustules, and one eye rotted. Smallpox is extremely contagious, and none of the men dare to go upstairs to mourn, for fear of contracting smallpox. Only Nana's former female lover or friend was willing to go up and see her for the last time. What a withering ending. If people know that after they die, in fact, there are very few people who care, will they still be so proud before they die?