"Scarlet and Black" "Red and Black": I didn't understand it, but I still want to say it

Let me be honest at the beginning, I did not understand this book.

But whether you understand it or not, record your feelings and thoughts so that you will not be completely forgotten as time goes by.

In a crowded subway and during a hurried lunch time, I irresponsibly finished "listening" to "Red and Black". I would describe it as irresponsible because I chose to read in fragmented time, and the character's stream of consciousness is too long, often cut off by fragments, making it difficult to continue to remember the plot, especially when a large section of the stream of consciousness is cut away. When listening. If you have an opportunity to read soon or in the future, it is recommended not to listen to the book.

If you love someone, it has nothing to do with their identity, you can give up your reputation, and even admire them like you admire God... If you love someone, you hurt them out of selfishness...

Summary of the story: The protagonist Julien is the son of a small business owner. With his extraordinary intelligence, he hooked up with the mayor's wife when he was working as a tutor in the local mayor's house. After the incident was exposed, he fled the mayor's house and entered the seminary. Recommended by the dean of the seminary, he went to Paris to work as a personal secretary for the Marquis de Larmore, a backbone of the extreme royalist party. He was quickly appreciated and reused by the Marquis. At the same time, Julien had an affair with the Marquis' daughter. Finally, under the church's planning, the mayor's wife was forced to write an informant letter to expose him, ruining his rapid rise. In anger, he shot and wounded the mayor's wife and was sentenced to death and put on the guillotine. (Excerpted from Baidu Encyclopedia)

This novel has strong political and historical relevance. If I don’t know the background, I won’t go into it in depth to avoid making people laugh. What I can better understand are Julien's two love stories and his ambition.

Love Story: Madame de Rênal and Mathilde

Julien’s first love was Madame de Rênal. The book gives the impression that she is a gentle and elegant woman. A kind and innocent woman. The more innocent you are, the easier it is to give all your love without any reservation.

From the perspective of love itself, I agree that the love between Madame de Rênal and Julien is very poignant, more true than Mathilde’s. Even if Julien shot her, she still I am willing to love him; but the latter is more about using each other, and the interests are related. It seems that they are just realizing each other's desire for possession.

But is Madame de Rênal a betrayal of her family? Although Mr. de Renal does not really love Mrs. de Renal, is despicable, vulgar, and greedy for power, he does not have any violent or cold-blooded behavior towards his wife, so he just "married but carried out extramarital affairs behind her back" "From a moral perspective, I personally feel that it is an incorrect approach, betraying one's husband and children.

But if we were to change to the era we live in now, an era that values ??freedom and individuality, if Madame de Renard was a woman with a strong sense of independence, she would probably divorce her husband. , together with Julien again? Or if a person dares to bear too many burdens and complicated discussions, he will probably choose to love the one in front of him more. But is this approach correct?

Maybe right and wrong are meaningless. Right now, what you think is your happiness is what you need to care about.

So in the end when Julien was in jail, the lady made the relationship public and tried to save Julien. How deeply do you have to love someone before you will regard them as God and change from love to respect. I have never been able to understand this kind of love. Julien shot his wife because a letter from her ruined his future! But the lady has no hatred, as if as long as Julien loves her, he can let the whole world give way, let the roses wither, the green leaves wither, the sea wither and the rocks rot, everything will not matter.

If it were Miss Mathilde who had a strong vanity and clear interests, Julien's shot would probably bring about a blood feud. However, this is not to denigrate the complicated and ups and downs of the love between her and Julien. Mathilde also had a place to sacrifice for Julien, but this love is too obscure, impure, unflattering and not beautiful to read.

She is a bit like a lady, with a stronger sense of independence, so for men, this temperament may be more attractive, the desire for domination is stronger, and it will be more interesting. However, she grew up in a noble family and was favored by her father, the Marquis. She also had a clear sense of interests. Her love for Lian was more like proving herself, and there was an element of transaction in it.

When she met Julien for the first time, she seemed to think "Ah, this man is different from other men, so simple and unpretentious". She was attracted by this uniqueness and wanted to get him. This kind of love is selfish and only considers herself, because she does not consider Julien's safety like the lady. The lady actually let Julien climb the ladder to her room under the bright moonlight. You can say that this is very interesting. It was a provocation, "I like bad women", but I didn't expect that in the class society at that time, the Marquis and his family would only know how to have sex, "A working man would be so rash and bold to steal my precious daughter? You're a bastard."

After tasting the forbidden fruit for the first time, he began to be pretentious again, thinking that Julien was "just any man". He felt sorry for this delicate and considerate man, and immediately wanted to kill her upon hearing this. But Julien feels that he is a person who does big things and doesn't care about anything. "I just ignore you and treat me as blind." At this time, the eldest lady began to feel anxious again, "You actually think I am a transparent person? Ignore me? You are so angry but you also want to know why he doesn't flirt with me?"

Miss Mathilde Although her love for Lian was not as innocent as Madam's, and it might have been for the purpose of use or conquest at first, but in the end after Lian was imprisoned and beheaded, she still never left him and followed the politically correct direction of most people. Look, this is commendable. At least, I loved it.

Circle: Julien’s ambition and reality

Speaking of which, in fact, Julien’s two love relationships did not go well. The first one was the happiest emotionally, and the second one was the happiest one emotionally. In terms of realistic ambitions, it was the most satisfactory (it was only a big turning point caused by Mrs. de Renal's letter of report, which was the climax before the ending). What was satisfactory was that Julien's ambitious ambition was achieved. Satisfied, I got a certain level of status upgrade, and almost entered the aristocratic class.

Personally, I think it is Julien's youth, beauty and talent, coupled with his desire for power and delicate thoughts that add an evil charm to him, that captures the hearts of many women. Imagine that there is a young talent standing in front of you, with a melancholy expression on his face. Don't you want to pounce on him at this time?

Speaking of his experience, although he was talented and was reused by the church and the nobility, he was just an "employee". No matter how outstanding or talented he was, people in that circle were always I think he is an inferior person, but I still despise him from the bottom of my heart. Some comments say that this is like modern young people who want to pursue their dreams, but are defeated by reality, not recognized, have no background, and face many difficulties, and ultimately end up seriously injured.

I think in the Internet information age, this society is relatively fair, with more resources and diversified opportunities. In addition, the awareness of class circles is not so strong. Young people with no background can pass through If you work hard, you can still get rich, enter the rich hierarchy, and gain recognition.

It’s like my parents’ generation or earlier (my parents were born in the 1950s). At that time, they didn’t graduate from elementary school. They started from scratch and worked hard. There must be quite a few people who became nouveau riche. They looked proud. You can still make a lot of money even if you say you have no education. But money and literacy are not linearly related. No matter how rich you were at that time, it might not be the same for the upper class, or for families who inherited wealth from your original family, or for intellectuals. Your vision, cultural accomplishment, and quality of life are all different. At this time, Still not very recognized by this circle. Therefore, having money only makes things the same in material terms, but emotional things and long-term collective consciousness are difficult to truly integrate or be accepted.

The opinions expressed are purely based on my own understanding. If your opinions are stupid or you don’t like them, please don’t criticize them. Corrections are welcome! Thanks!