Chapter 18 Nana's Revenge

A friend of our Writers Association strongly suggested that I read more of Zola's novels.She thinks my writing style can approach Zola's realism (naturalism). "Nana", as the name suggests, is a story about a woman.This is a thrilling story of a woman and a society.This woman came from humble beginnings but was beautiful and remarkable.Coquettish and affectionate, this society is vain and vain but corrupt.Dirty as hell.However, contradictory things such as "humble" and "beautiful", "flashy" and "decay" are complementary and unified into a woman and a society.It is conceivable that the entanglement between this woman and this society must be a beautiful story, and it must have a tragic ending.Although in many fairy tales we see that beautiful girls from poor families have the fate of "what goes around, what goes around", almost all of their stories end with being betrothed to a rich prince charming.Of course, this is the most fascinating ending.But the meaning of fairy tales lies in "fascinating", because it is impossible and does not exist in real life.However, Zola's brushstrokes run counter to the fairy tales completely. What his characters and stories tell us is the reality and cruelty of "impossibility" and "non-existence".Nana is an "illegitimate daughter" who is discriminated against from birth, but Nana is also born beautiful and kind-hearted. These innate things seem to have determined her fate.In such a corrupt and dirty society, the only "weapon" she can use to survive and gain a foothold is her beauty.This "weapon" is indeed capable of fighting, which made her from a flower girl living on the street to a sensational star on the stage, and then gradually mixed into the upper class to live a brilliant life. The most fashionable and glamorous woman in Paris becomes a fascinating character "who can dominate all the stupidity and obscenity of men".When she had a gorgeous palace-style living room and bedroom, she deeply felt that "her gender has great power".She dominates almost everything, from counts, marquises to princes.She ransacked them all in order to enjoy everything.Possessing everything until destroying everything, including herself.This is Nana's revenge.This is how Nana avenges her poverty with her beauty.But what did Nana's revenge destroy?In fact, her "destruction" did not touch a hair of the society that made her born into poverty, and it was herself who was really "destroyed".Because the greatness of the "power of sex" she thinks is really temporary and short-lived; because, with her beauty, she "dominates" all the stupid and indecent qualities of "men" at the same time. It fuels their stupidity and bawdyness, and it is their "stupid bawdyness" that destroys her; for none of them really loves a woman of low birth, they just want to possess a beautiful woman to satisfy their lust.Therefore, Nana's extreme poverty and extreme beauty lead her to extreme destruction, and the ending of this destruction is irreversible and irreversible.

However, Nana really wants to change her life and reverse her fate. She really wants to love a man well and be a decent housewife.She thought so and did so.She fell in love with an actor and a rascal, and settled a home, getting rid of everything in the past.During those days, Nana was the cutest and also the stupidest.The combination of cuteness and stupidity is so touching and real, and it is so sad and pitiful.In my opinion, in the novel "Nana", the most wonderful thing to write is that Nana's most normal psychology, normal performance, and normal requirements during these days, even if every day is a rough day, even if They quarreled and were beaten every day, but Nana still clung to these days and didn't let go.She wanted to be a normal woman, and she repeatedly convinced herself to persuade others: "Because I love him!" But that scoundrel trampled on her love, and she had to start an abnormal business again, and had no choice.Zola's portrayal of Nana penetratingly portrays the social environment of such a poor and beautiful woman.The living situation is absolutely perfect, and her destroyed ending cannot be escaped no matter what.Even so, when I was reading this novel, I kept trying to find another way of life for Nana, but Zola's writing was so rigorous, and his setting of Nana's fate was seamless.This kind of "seamless" description really makes people feel breathless at the last moment of reading.This is the profound shocking power of reality and cruelty in Zola's novels.

Although Nana's fate is a story of a woman a century ago, there are still some men and women repeating Nana's story over and over again in the past century...