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Chekhov was a prominent Russian writer, along with the French writer Maupassant and the American writer O. Henry, and was called "the world's three great short story writers". His works, full of criticism of the ugliness of the world, are known as the last masters of critical realism in Russia at the end of the 19th century.
When Chekhov was young, in order to support his family, he once wrote some comical works for some popular newspapers and periodicals to earn money. Although the birth of these comical works has a utilitarian purpose, it also shows a satirical talent for some social phenomena, which is a masterpiece of short stories, and "The Uneven Mirror" is one of them.
"Uneven Mirror" is short, less than 2,000 words in length, and tells a slightly magical story:
My wife and I found a mirror left by my great-grandmother, which was thought to be a devil,because my great-grandmother never left it for a moment until she died. After the wife inadvertently looked at this mirror, she was also like her great-grandmother, as if possessed by the devil, and could no longer leave this mirror, staring at herself in the mirror every day.
It turns out that this mirror is an uneven mirror that distorts a person's image in the mirror. The wife looks ugly, and the mirror just twists her ugliness into a gorgeous face. The wife thus indulged in illusions, believing that everyone was deceiving her and that only the mirror was real.
Created in 1883, Uneven Mirror is more than a century old. Although it is old, because of the work itself, the irony is the weakness of human nature, and the weakness of human nature, not changed by time, is not bound by the times, therefore, the story in the novel, even if it is long, is still new, after a hundred years, it can still arouse the reader's resonance, or bring some enlightenment to the reader.
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In "Uneven Mirror", the wife indulges in her own face in the mirror, and this mentality is easy to understand.
The heart of stinky beauty is shared by everyone, and it has been the same since ancient times. At the beginning of the "Book of Verses", it is "a lady, a gentleman is a good lady", if the lady is not a lady, but a tiger's back, the gentleman may have fled long ago.
China's five-thousand-year civilization actually contains five thousand years of makeup history. It is said that as early as the time of the Shang Dynasty, Rouge was born in the world, and by the Han Dynasty, it was loved by the Xiongnu, so that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu people were the most hurt, "losing my Yanzhi Mountain, making my women colorless." ”
Later, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, women's makeup not only popularized "yellow makeup", but also began to paste "flower yellow", using yellow paper pieces, making stars, moons, flowers and birds, etc., and pasting them on the face. In "Mulan Ci", Mulan once "when the window is clear of the clouds, the mirror is yellow". Therefore, in that era, calling a woman a "yellow-faced woman" was likely to be a compliment.
Five generations and ten kingdoms, the makeup of court ladies is even more cumbersome and subtle, Fu powder, thrush, red drawing, dotted lipstick, face mask, appliqué tin, any one of the procedures, can not be or lacking. Li Yu once chanted, "The carved fence jade masonry should still be there, but Zhu Yan has changed it." In fact, Zhu Yan changed, it is likely that she is not old, but there is no makeup.
Even the empress dowager Cixi, who is as expensive as Lafayette, can not get rid of the vulgarity, took the lead in opening the precedent of beauty, when the painter painted for himself, he asked to remove wrinkles, remove eye bags, and paint the eyes larger, which basically belongs to the same principle as the current beauty camera's skin whitening, bright eyes, and dark circles.
Since the ancients were still like this, it is natural that the wife in "Uneven Mirror" is fascinated by her own face in the mirror.
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Women's love of beauty, a big root, comes from men's attitude towards looks.
In ancient times, being able to marry a golden turtle was often the happiness of a woman's life. Appearance for women, is naturally an important capital for marriage, directly determines the future social status. Therefore, in Pride and Prejudice, the five Bennet sisters will be like marriage maniacs, obsessed with how to marry a wishful man.
The wife in "The Uneven Mirror", after seeing her beautiful illusion, also has a sense of happiness, that is, the most beautiful and noble knight, who will also crawl at her feet. Although this sense of well-being, like her appearance in the mirror, is illusory.
A woman's appearance not only determines to find a good husband, but also to improve her own income. In the famous communication textbook "The Art of Communication", nonverbal communication is considered to be an important way of communication, which includes body posture, gestures, expressions, eyes, voice and other types, and appearance is one of the important ones.
Studies have shown that in the field of occupation, a person's appearance will affect interview recruitment, job promotion, and performance evaluation. People who are outstanding in appearance often gain more social benefits as a result. Therefore, although it is unfair to "judge people by their appearance", in reality, people usually choose this way.
In the current online live broadcasting industry, appearance has become an important condition for female anchors to attract fans' attention and get more tips, so that Internet celebrity anchors show a ten-level beauty posture to meet flowers and applause from fans. However, once the prototype is revealed, it may be at risk of a full-blown collapse.
In 2019, His Highness Qiao Biluo changed from Lolita to Big Mom, causing an uproar on the Internet, and His Highness Qiao Biluo was banned by a number of live broadcasting platforms.
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In 1971, the American social psychologist Philip Zimbardo presided over the "Stanford Prison Experiment," in which he selected a number of college students, randomly divided them into jailers and inmates, and placed them in a simulated prison environment.
Although it was only an experiment, each person gradually entered the role, becoming a cruel and inhuman jailer and a prisoner with a psychological breakdown, for which the experiment had to be terminated early.
Later, Philip Zimbardo referred to this phenomenon in the "Stanford Prison Experiment" as the "Lucifer effect", which refers to the incredible side of people's personalities, ways of thinking, and behaviors that are affected by specific situations or atmospheres.
In this "Stanford Prison Experiment", there is no doubt that the jailers are playing a leading role. And in front of them, there is also an uneven mirror, that is, power. It is also the illusion of power that makes them discover their differences.
The wife in "The Uneven Mirror" also feels the existence of power, that is, the power of beauty, and thus believes that the husband is not worthy of himself, and he should marry the most beautiful and noble knight.
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In Chinese mythology, there are often mirrors that reflect the appearance of demons and ghosts.
Chekhov's uneven mirror turns the real thing into an illusion in the mirror.
The functions of the two mirrors seem to be completely opposite, but if you think about it, they are actually the same.
Because what the uneven mirror restores is also the real thing, that is, the desire in the heart.
(Picture from the Internet, invasion and deletion)