The veil: "I love you even if you are a second-rate person."

I always think that Mao Mu is an exquisite egoist. He earned a lot of money in his life, lived in a villa, traveled all over the world, and was rich enough to set up the Maugham Prize for Literature. All the celebrities invited to the party were brothers with Prime Minister Churchill ...

He was indeed the most popular British writer in the 2th century, and he was called "Charles Dickens of contemporary Britain". His works were characterized by exquisite narrative skills and profundity.

While everyone is applauding his Moon and Sixpence, I prefer his Veil.

The Veil is set in China at the beginning of the 2th century, and it embodies emotional and moral conflicts and sharp irony to human nature, which makes it known as a classic of female spiritual awakening.

This novel was written in 1925, and it was inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy and Mao Mu's trip to China.

Of course, this work has also been made into a film, but the film is too warm and seems a bit cliche. Relatively speaking, the novel will be more exciting.

The novel depicts the ups and downs of feelings between Walter and Katie under the background of China. Katie's husband Walter thought of a way to retaliate against his wife after learning that his wife was cheating, and took Katie to the southern part of China where the plague was rampant and the environment was harsh, as a punishment for his wife's cheating. The harsh environment made Katie constantly reflect and grow rapidly, and gradually became aware of self-awakening and redemption.

Katie, the heroine of The Veil, has been in a dilemma for a long time, unable to pursue freedom and passively obey the arrangements of her mother and husband. It can be said that Katie is not independent mentally and economically, so she has been in a very painful situation.

Katie's mother is a very strong person. She hopes to improve the family situation through her daughter's marriage, but in fact, Katie didn't like Mr. Walter before marriage.

Because this man can't meet his psychological expectations in terms of appearance, temperament and manners.

But Katie is 25 years old. She has become an older woman in the social circle at that time. Her mental independence makes her afraid of the public opinion and ridicule that unmarried people may bring. In this psychological state, she married Dr. Walter impulsively.

Katie and Walter's marriage was one-sided from the beginning.

Walter knows that Katie married herself because she was afraid of being laughed at by others, and there are huge differences between them. Walter is a doctor in bacterial research, and his personality is dull and introverted, while Katie is a rich girl, and she is lively and unrestrained.

It is doomed that there will be many problems in their marriage. For example, when it rains, Katie will say, "Wow, it's raining". In fact, she hoped that Walter would respond a little, and Walter usually kept his head down and smiled silently.

Of course, Walter loves Katie very much, and he has made many changes for Katie.

For example, go to some social parties he doesn't want to attend, play cards with Katie, and listen to her tell some funny jokes. However, since the marriage was not simple from the beginning, tragedy was inevitable.

In fact, Mao Mu criticized marriage directly or indirectly in many of his novels. In most of his novels, the feelings of the hero and heroine in marriage are all ended in tragedy without exception. Mao Mu thinks that both men and women have no freedom when they get married, so his works have never shown mercy to marriage. (Of course, it may also be related to the loss of his mother in his early years and the unsatisfactory emotional road in his later years. )

So the story is also very conventional, and Katie cheated.

She had a very happy time with her lover Charles, but after their affair was exposed, Katie asked her lover to marry her, but she was ruthlessly rejected by the other party. She finally saw each other's true colors, so she accepted Walter's request and went to the epidemic area in southern China together.

This experience promoted Katie's awakening, especially when she was a volunteer in a monastery. Katie witnessed selfless nuns taking great risks to take care of patients, which made her realize that life should have a deep pursuit, and she began to feel ashamed of herself who was ignorant, selfish, shallow and short-sighted in the past.

The full life of volunteering has made Katie gain a sense of accomplishment, filled her inner emptiness, and given her a spiritual rebirth, finding a new meaning in life. Katie constantly reflects on herself, examines herself and reflects on herself in the past.

For example, why do you always cling to your mother, why do you agree to marry someone you don't like at all, and why are you afraid of being laughed at? Why are you attached to Walter? Why do you want to be with Charles? Why have you never had the courage to pursue the life you want and so on?

With constant self-pursuit, Katie gradually developed a sense of independence. She realized that only by living spiritually without attachment to anyone, any feelings or any moral customs can she achieve real peace and enrichment in her mind.

At the end of the story, Mr. Walter died of virus infection, and Katie chose to raise her daughter by herself.

She finally realized that she had missed a lot of opportunities to pursue spiritual pleasure freely and independently in previous years, so she could not let her daughter follow in her footsteps and decided to stand up bravely and set an example for her daughter.

but do you think this is the end of the story? That's all wet. Mao Mu never gives a clear answer.

When we all thought that Katie had finally repented and could start a new life, she accepted the invitation of her former lover's wife, moved into her house, and then lost control of herself and threw herself into the arms of the person she had seen through, hated and despised.

So Mao Mu tells us in a bloody and romantic way: