Lamb fat balls
Novella by the French writer Maupassant
Balls of Mutton Fat is a novella by the French writer Maupassant. "Lamb Fat Ball" is his famous work and one of his masterpieces.
When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, the Prussian army captured the city of Rouen, and ten people fled in a carriage. The identities of these ten men were very special, namely the notorious merchant Mr. Bird and his wife; the big bourgeois, the husband and wife of Carré Ramadon, a member of the provincial council; the count of Belle de Breville, a member of the provincial council; two nuns; a Democrat Kornidai and a prostitute nicknamed "Lamb Fat Ball". The first three couples left Rouen for different reasons, but the plan and purpose were the same – none of the three couples would return to Rouen. The least status of the ten people is the "lamb fat ball".
"Mutton Fat Ball" is a plump, good-looking woman.
On the carriage, several mrs. Kuo, who had an identity, learned of the identity of the lamb fat ball, and their attitude towards the lamb fat ball was very bad, and they quietly insulted the lamb fat ball as a prostitute, a bitch, and a shame in society. And the husbands of these wives talk about money, food and drink in a tone that looks down on the poor.
The carriage was slow on the road, bumpy all day, and all the people on the carriage were hungry, and only the mutton fat balls brought food for them for three days. The lamb fat ball generously invited everyone in the car to share her food, completely disregarding the previous contempt of these rich people for themselves. Soon the food in the basket was divided up, people were freed from hunger, and people's attitudes towards lamb fat balls changed like stomachs. Previous contempt turned into intimacy, and insults turned into praise.
The carriage continued to the town of Tot, which was also occupied by the Prussian army, and the Prussian officers withdrew the carriage and checked the identities of everyone.
The Prussian officer asked the balls of mutton fat to accompany him for the night. The ball of mutton fat flatly refused in the face of the aggressor's shameless request, so the car of fellow travelers detained it. At first, after learning of the Prussian officer's request, everyone was very angry and cursed the Prussians.
But after a night, people became anxious and began to find ways to persuade others to justify their shameless persecution of the mutton fat ball for various high-sounding reasons. Except for the lamb fat ball, in order to achieve their own goals and protect their own interests, they have tried their best and carried out all kinds of conspiracies to force the fat ball to obey.
Finally, the old nun's religious teaching that "as long as the intentions are good, nothing can be done will anger God" has produced quite good results, and the mutton fat ball has sacrificed itself for the benefit of everyone. The Lust of the Prussian officer was satisfied and was released the next day.
But instead of appreciating the poor girl, everyone avoided it, and the previous praise and closeness became the initial contempt and scorn. Everyone in the carriage treated the balls of mutton fat as air, and she sneered. This time, everyone prepared a wealth of food, but the lamb fat balls did not have time to prepare. The carriage went on, and the people in the carriage took out their food and chewed it in large mouths, only the balls of mutton fat curled up in the corner of the carriage, frozen and starved, whimpering in Cornidad's "Marseillaise".
Jinling Thirteen
Yan Geling composed a novella
"Jinling Thirteen Chao" is a novella written by writer Yan Geling.
It took place on December 12, 1937, in Nanjing, when the Chinese army defending the city collapsed and retreated, and the next day, December 13, 1937, the beast-like Japanese army occupied Nanjing, and thus began the massacre, adultery, and plunder of the Chinese people day and night. The author uses the eyes of "my" aunt Shujuan to feel the fact that this massacre and this catastrophe are bloody and brutal, and tells the story of the heroic dedication of a group of "special women".
In 2011, the work was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Zhang Yimou.
At the beginning of the story, "blood" is seen, although this "blood" comes from the body of "my aunt" Shujuan, who was only fourteen years old and "menarche", but it also implies that the blood brought about by the cruel war and massacre has spread to every corner of this ancient city.
Shujuan was a student in an American Catholic church called St. Mary's in Jinling City, when the United States was in a neutral position, so the American church naturally became a refuge.
On the morning of December 12, several well-dressed women emerged from the walls of the backyard of the holy and solemn St. Mary's Church, who pleaded with Father Ingman to take them in, and on the basis of a humanitarian stance, the priest finally took them in through a difficult decision. They are women from the Qinglou Hall on the banks of the Qinhuai River, that is, "special women" in the eyes of pure Shujuan.
Among the group was another Yumo who made Shujuan cut his teeth and later became the protagonist of the "Jinling Thirteen Chao". Yumo is a good friend of Shujuan's father, and it is precisely because of her intervention that Shujuan's parents decided to travel far and wide to the United States and leave Shujuan in China; it is precisely because of Yumo that Shujuan is far away from her parents and has to experience this cruel and bloody catastrophe alone.
The group of "special women" who were taken in were really "businesswomen who did not know the hatred of the country and sang backyard flowers across the river", they did not know the bloody scene that happened outside the church, but from the occasional verbal expression of the priests, they knew that a bloody massacre was taking place outside, although thousands of Chinese were killed and buried alive, and the women were raped and dissected... But they only felt the evil of this thing slightly, and did not feel the pain of the skin. It was only when the fifteen-year-old cardamom in her companions left the church one day to get a pipa to play for Wang Pusheng, a soldier who had crawled out of the pile of the dead, and became insane after being brutally gang-raped and tortured by the inhuman Japanese army, that they realized that the cruelty of this war was no longer unrelated to them, but could happen at any time.
From this moment on, they restored the kindest and holiest side of human nature, they devoted themselves to caring for the disabled Chinese soldiers who had laid down their arms and taken refuge in the church, and reached a certain degree of reconciliation with the more than forty female students in the hospital.
But the neutral American St. Mary's Church is not a paradise for refuge after all, in the eyes of the Inhumane, non-observant of any rules of the Japanese army, as long as they want, there is no place that can not go, St. Mary's Church was finally invaded by the Japanese army on the night of December 20, they searched for the Chinese soldiers who took refuge in the church, and finally shot all the disabled Chinese soldiers with bayonets, hiding in the shadows of the girl Shujuan, Yao Sister Yumo and so on. Early the next morning, they sang a requiem for the five Chinese soldiers who had been heroically sacrificed.
The childish and holy voice of the choir schoolgirl reverberated through the night sky of Nanjing, and it was full of temptation, so that the evil and lascivious claws of the Japanese army once again reached into the church. On the afternoon of December 24, a group of Japanese soldiers led by a group of Japanese troops, despite the strong resistance of Father Ingeman, forcibly broke into the shelter, and in the name of celebrating Christmas, they asked the choir girls to sing for them in the barracks. This is a trap, an evil and bloody trap, at this unavoidable moment, a group of "special women" led by Yumo stepped forward, a total of thirteen of them, which is the title of "Jinling Thirteen Chao", through the cover of night, everyone with the heart of death, carrying a dark weapon, successfully for the girls who are still in their infancy, and follow the Japanese army.
The story ends abruptly here, it leaves us with a space for imagination, how does this group of "special women" end?
The author tells us a story that took place in Nanjing from December 12 to 24, 1937, in fine language. Although the story is not long, nor is it a scene of the Nanjing Massacre written positively, from the side, the fierce and cruel beast-like nature of the Japanese army is portrayed exhaustively, and at the same time, the cowardly and heroic side of the Chinese soldiers is also portrayed to the fullest, and what is more worth mentioning is the description and narration of the "special woman", which is true, vivid and successful, and it is the baptism of blood that makes this group of "special women" complete the transformation from ugly shame to holy and kind human nature.
The protagonists of "Ball of Mutton Fat" and "Jinling Thirteen Chao" are both dusty women, but the themes of the two novels are very different, and I am not trying to compare the two books here. Just wanted to express a little bit of my personal opinion through these two stories.
In fact, in both novels, there is a bystander's point of view: since they are all in that industry, and everyone is the same, they should consciously dedicate themselves.
But they are also human beings, and they will also have patriotism and compassion. I always feel that the phrase "the whole picture is unknown, no comment" should be placed on the way people are treated.
The web is developed like a spider's web all over the world, where our personal privacy is barely guaranteed. All kinds of self-proclaimed "justice" keyboard players blindly use swords to open up a "bright road", leading the public to comment on someone or something, and using online violence as a means to solve problems and achieve justice. We can't stop this kind of thing from happening, but we should have a rational thinking about the events.
I like this passage that Teacher Luo Xiang said very much: "The poorer a person with knowledge, the more he has an inexplicable courage and an inexplicable sense of pride, because the poorer the knowledge, the more absolute what you believe, because you have never heard the opposing views." ”
We are not willing to be vulgar, and we are not vulgar. I suddenly remembered that there was a passage in Ma Boyong's "Fifteen Days of the Two Capitals" that I had read before: The battlefield has an extremely unique aura. When you are in it, you will involuntarily lose your "self" consciousness, forget everything, and you will become a drop of water in a big wave, a grain of sand in a strong wind, a puppet controlled by a plutonium, only to know how to fight until you are exhausted or exhausted.
Everywhere in life is a "battlefield without smoke", but I still hope that each of us can live like ourselves.
In this way, we will encourage you with the King
2021-11-03