I forgot the original intention of reading this book, I remember that there was a time when I was idle, I suddenly turned to the bookshelf at home, suddenly saw this book, remembered that someone had mentioned this book to me, and thought that I should pass the time to read it blindly.
When I first started watching, it was not so sunken, and all aspects of the character relationship were not particularly clear, and in the early stage, I was talking about the situation of the people who lived in the apartment, and the relationship with a character, but when I looked at it later, it became more and more attractive, and when I finished watching, I had infinite emotions and loneliness in my heart.
The book mainly revolves around the tall old man and another male protagonist, Eugena, a child born in an ordinary family, and two younger sisters, and it can even be said that the conditions in the family are still quite difficult, and now he is still a college student who has not graduated.
He and the old man and other people to live in this apartment, from an ordinary birth but not willing to be flat, he looked up to the life of the parisian upper class from his heart, he was eager to change his current situation, hoped that he could join the upper class, he hated his origin, disgusted with the status quo he was in, eager to change the situation he was in.
Want to enter the upper class of society, first of all, you must have a head, under his repeated entanglements, or write to the family to ask for money, overwhelmed in the family, or do all their best to prepare money for him, the moment he receives the money, his heart is still a little remorseful and embarrassed, when he really put on the costume, all the emotions are transformed into joy, I don't know if this is a kind of sadness.
He found his relatives in the upper class who were very far away from him through his own channels, and then through his long-term relatives, he slowly got to know more people in the upper class, he performed as hard as he could, and the joy brought to him by the upper circle could not hide the embarrassment of reality, or he needed money to better break into the upper class, and he was more of a chicken feather, gambling, and debt in the bright and beautiful place.
Later, he met the two daughters of the tall old man in the upper class through some channels, tried his best to please, and wanted to be lovers. Why would two daughters in high society, the tall old man, still live in such a shabby place with Eugena? Of course, he was driven out by his two sons-in-law and daughter.
The first half of the old man's life was very brilliant, a noodle merchant, very rich, the two daughters are the ultimate pampering, responsive, two daughters are all he lives, when the two daughters are married, everyone is 800,000 francs dowry, this number was a huge fortune at the time, he divided all his family property into two people's daughters, he did not have any savings, he thought he could follow his daughter to enjoy his old age, who knew that he was driven out by two daughters.
He was thrown out, but the old man did not have any complaints about his daughter, still watching from a distance, silently caring, when his daughters had difficulties and needed money, he sold all his things to support them, he was poor, and he also wanted his daughter to appear in the dance party.
When the old man was sick and about to die, let people tell her two daughters, but no one paid attention to her, they were only thinking about how to attract everyone's attention if they could shine at the ball, the two daughters did not care about the death or death of the old man, the deep affection of the old man and the desperate love of the two daughters formed a sharp contrast, how ironic.
Even more ironically, when the old man knew that his two daughters could not come, he still found various excuses to comfort himself, still believing that his daughter would still come to see him, until death, her daughter still did not come to see him, accompanied by the old man, accompanied him through the last journey of his life is indeed Eugena, and finally the aftermath of the old man is also in charge of Eugena.
Eugena is also a contradictory existence, seeing that the tall old man is about to die, her two daughters are looking at him under various pretexts, Eugena's heart is resentful, and he is very contemptuous of the ruthlessness of the upper class, and at the same time, he is very admired and admired for the noble fatherly love of the old man. On the one hand, the degeneration of morality, on the other hand, the brilliance of human nature, in the end Eugenia is still on the side of conscience.
From beginning to end, Eugena's heart has always been in a process of struggle, in the face of all kinds of temptations, he is not completely indifferent, some temptations he accepted, some temptations he refused, in the face of temptation can not choose, he is more still standing on the bottom line of morality, including the later when the old man is about to die, the care of the old man is completely out of a humanitarian spirit.
Eugener seems to me to be a neutral figure, from his body can see some of the greed, vanity, selfishness and other drawbacks of human nature, but at the same time in his body can also see the glorious side of human nature, he did not lose his conscience in the end, many times or good triumphed over the evil in his heart, I have an appreciative side, but also a contemptuous side.
Next, I want to talk about my deepest feelings in combination with myself and reality.
First of all, starting from the character of Eugena, a college student looks up to the luxurious life of the upper class, through the way of a lover, mixed in various occasions of the upper class, learns how to behave in the upper class, dresses himself to the best of his ability, and hopes that he can become one of them, do you say that he is vain?
Maybe he is vain, more than that, he is also unwilling, and he longs to be able to jump out of his own class, to be able to enter a higher class, to enjoy a better life, to have everything that the upper class can have. But looking back at reality, he is just a poor student, no matter how hard he tries to study in school, he may end up getting an ordinary job, and then with a general income, such a life seems to be able to see the end at a glance, no matter how hard he tries, he can never escape his class, such a life is a sad thing in his eyes.
Therefore, he hopes to realize his ideals through other ways, to have shortcuts, to quickly get rid of his current situation, and to stand at the height he wants as soon as possible.
Sometimes I also think, many people on social media are talking about how to get rid of their current class, and then go to a class, this idea is similar to Eugenia's idea, we go to school step by step, and then smoothly enter the university, and then go to society, who does not have a desire to climb up, who does not want to break away from their class, get a better life, diligent work will have a good return? Can we break free from the class we are in now?
Can't it, the most I heard in the society is that slowly I found that the end of your own struggle was actually the starting point of others, and what you chased all your life was actually born in people, will your heart be balanced? Definitely unbalanced, definitely unwilling.
Now the class is basically solidified, if you want to break free is really difficult and difficult, some people can not break free from the shackles brought by the class all their lives. We have no way to change our origins, many times there is no choice, for example, some people have a Beijing hukou as soon as they are born, enjoy the best education and medical care, they live here without pressure, and you are a foreigner, you want your hukou in Beijing, you want your descendants to have the best education and medical resources here, you struggle desperately, desperately struggle, just for the starting point that others have at birth.
When every young person's heart first walks out of society, presumably his heart is full of ambition, full of passion and expectations for the future of this world, has a heart to save the world, wants to let the world change because of me, wants to live a different self, and proves his existence to the world, but slowly the reality destroys his own heart.
I don't agree with Eugenie's approach, but would I choose the same way as him in that environment? I am not sure that Eugenia may have done what I dare to think of but dare not do, and I also want to change my class, and it is through a rapid way, but I have no way, and the vast majority of young people will have such thoughts, but the ultimate problem is not a matter of conscience, but there is no way.
We are all ordinary people, not so noble, do not have to advertise how good they are, and if you are excellent, will you be able to change your class? Change your status quo?
Now in the society of men who do not want to be able to find a rich woman, thus ushering in a brilliant life, women who do not want to find a rich second generation, from then on the Road of Kangzhuang in front of them, shortcuts who want to go, temptation so much, no one can say that they must be able to endure.
For the sake of money for the sake of profit, there is nothing that cannot be abandoned, not for anything else, just because money may be the only way for you to cross the class, you want a good life, you want a successful life, all of this is to pave the way for money, without money you take what to get fame and profit, so many people have an extreme pursuit of money, just because it is a stepping stone across classes.
I can't guarantee that I will be able to refuse all temptations, I am also a layman, not so high, but I think my conscience, my bottom line will always be there, through some ways to achieve what I want, it seems that there is nothing wrong, did not hurt others, did not touch the law, so why not do that?
For the tall old man he is a sad existence, the child for his own life, for his own interests abandoned him, before dying did not come to see him for the last time, and finally when his eldest daughter came to him, it was actually for money, when the tall old man had money, his daughter and son-in-law competed to be good to him, trying their best to please, but when he gave the money to the two daughters when there was no money, he immediately swept out the door, the relationship still needs money to maintain, when you have a certain value, others are extremely happy with you. What about when there is no value?
Suddenly, I saw the ugliness of human nature, people are all profit-seeking, there is a saying: the world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all are for profit. In the face of interests, how much can family affection be worth? The hearts of the two daughters of the old man are only the vanity of the upper class, and there is no sense of affection and morality, otherwise when the old man is about to die, the two people will not still sink in the dance.
Many times there may be no way to change the thinking of others, we can not change the general environment of society, what can be done may be to carry the moral conscience forward, any time to make a decision, the master of their own can be their own goodness.
I just wrote out my opinion, may not be so objective, so comprehensive, everyone may have their own different views, welcome to comment and point out.
Everyone is interested in buying a paper version of the book to take a look, the e-book may not keep up with the plot, and the paragraphs in the book are relatively long, and the effect of the paper version will look better.