Chapter 12 Postscript (2)

If the first part of the work is about Jean-Luc being unwilling to succumb to fate, fighting against fate, shaping fate according to his own wishes, and achieving success, then the second part begins to describe how fate plays cruelly. Jean-Luc, the story that led him step by step into the abyss.After Jean-Luc entered the political world, he lived in a luxurious room and lived a life of glamor and debauchery unique to the upper class in Paris.Although he disliked high society, he considered it essential.High society parties, dinner dances with champagne flowing, everything is so easy after eating delicious food.Small transactions for their own interests are so logical and logical between the two doors.Money, so readily available, disgusted him.What the coveted position represented magical opportunity to mortals was within reach for him.Get 3,000 francs here and 4,000 francs there every month, and you'll have all the money you need to receive guests, dress up, expand your social circle, increase the opportunities created by these relationships, and so on.However, the success he longed for, rich in dreamy beauty when it was out of reach, seemed dirty and small once it appeared on the real level.He was also extremely disappointed with Aidi, the woman he longed for in the past, but now he has no love or affection for this woman in his heart.When the two of them were alone, they didn't feel relaxed, but reserved, and both hoped that an unexpected visitor would show up and free them both.Jean-Luc felt as comfortable walking out into the street as someone else does when he comes home from a trip.

In the past, he only longed for fighting, longing for success.Now, with money and status, he needs happiness and tranquility.At this time, Dourdan's mistress Marie Bélanger walked into his life.Dourdan was sentenced to five years in prison on suspicion of forgery.When he saw Marie for the first time, Jean-Luc was very disappointed. She was thin and small, frail, pale, thin cheeks, without any color, no joy in her eyes when she smiled, and very poorly dressed. Shabby, not at all beautiful.She had no family, no friends, and certainly not even a lover.She works hard all day long.In order to relieve the loneliness in her heart, Marie was often with him and devoted herself to him. She was always willing to accept Jean-Luc's plan and always obeyed him silently. He liked her obedience.He felt a sense of sympathy with her, and she awakened the love in him.When he saw her in the crowd, his body trembled with joy and love, and there was already a sense of tranquility when his feet stepped into the dark corridor with the gas fire flickering at the end. spread throughout his body.He couldn't help looking for Mary's body temperature, catching her body fragrance and the slender waist he was leaning against, and stroking her breasts.He waited to make love to her, and the moment after it and the peace that only in her arms could have.He rocked Marie's lithe and slender body, and conveyed to her a deep affection that neither his sick wife nor his child had ever felt.This strange mistress he didn't know at all, this woman finally made him feel this way... He gradually got used to this kind of happiness.

However, his dream of love disappeared immediately after Dourdan was released from prison.Mary still loves Dourdin deeply, no matter how much wealth, love and happiness Jean-Luc promises her, Mary insists on returning to Dourdin, even if she lives that kind of impoverished life.After Mary left, he thought of her day and night, thinking of her body, thinking of her slow and melancholy smile, thinking of the feeling of peace she gave him, the sweet and sweet rest of the heart, and he was terrified. He deeply felt that this time he had been hopelessly reduced to her prey.Before losing Mary, his wife, Eddie, had left with Lan Kun, and his positions were lost one by one, and his chances of running for parliament were also lost.In youth he had a strong soul, and though he was horrified to find it so strong when he first suffered, he soon found it equal to himself, and soon he could bear it with pride , instead of becoming weak, and not dying because of it... But now, with so much pain coming at the same time, he felt so vulnerable.There is only love in his blood, and such a humble love is like a poison, which has already made him powerless.The second part of the novel, "9", writes about Jean-Luc's frenzied and desperate waiting for the last time in the hotel: "The sun is setting now, and the sun is shining on the square, on the thick stone pillars, and on the steps of the theater. "He waited...he waited for night to fall. He waited for Mary's footsteps at the door, to see her face, her voice. She would come, and then...he was no longer pregnant. There is hope to keep her, he knows she will go. He will wait... until the night passes, the sun comes out, and the place where she slept on the pillow becomes cold." After reading such words, who can Do not shed tears?

Like all traditional novels, it is good at psychological description and characterization. The book uses a lot of space to describe the psychological activities of the protagonist.Character description is more skillful, and the author can often portray a character vividly with just a few strokes, giving people a feeling of brilliant strokes.Let's take a look at how the author portrays her characters: When describing the old and sick Laurent Dagerner, she wrote: "This is a small, thin man with a pale complexion and tired eyes. , with deep-set eyes that seem to turn inward, with an indifference to the real world, which reveals that he is a dying man." Describing Laurent Dagerna's wife, a hard-working stepmother : "She has a big, thin, straight nose, and a pair of melancholy eyes set deep in the sockets. Her naturally dry skin has never been exposed to makeup, as if she was malnourished due to lack of food. Her His face is not lacking in beauty, but it has worn out prematurely." Describing the wily banker Abel Sarah who was ruined by women: He "appears young and thin, with black hair, only the beard is gray, and very Sparse. His forehead was high and slanted back, his nose was very large and thick, and his nostrils were very large. The light of the flashing glasses obscured his gaze."And Calicut Lancun, the Minister of Finance, who is very talented in acting, is "very young, relatively short, muscular, with black hair combed in Napoleon's locks on his forehead, and his eyes are piercing, as if They will only reflect the outside world, but will never reveal any secrets in the inner world."Look at the changes of Liz Sarah before and after the bank collapse. Before she was "very gentle, she was very delicate and kind, the kindness that only women who have experienced a happy atmosphere have. Her hands are folded on her chest, and her movements Relaxed, natural, charming,” and after the bank collapsed and Sarah’s suicide, “like milk turns sour after a storm, the storm has made her sour. Once generous and free-spending, now A piece of candy, a piece of old cloth. Jean-Luc argued with her for a long time before finally getting her to agree to buy a tombstone for her dead husband."The description of the protagonist Jean-Luc runs through the whole work, allowing us to see a very vivid, flesh-and-blood character.

It is a novel in Stendhal style. It vividly describes the Great Depression period in the 1930s with gentle stories, keen observations, vivid details, humorous language, pure and stern style of writing, and compassionate feelings. People's living conditions faithfully recorded the suffering, pain and confusion brought by the Great Depression, and created an image of a character running madly towards the abyss in a crumbling world.The author makes an incisive analysis of the viciousness and insidiousness of human nature, the complexity and changeability of human emotions, and the ruthlessness of human destiny.The success of the work lies in its description of that crazy age, the frenzied passion and disillusioned hopes that were born in the crazy age.A great work transcends the age, and the reality of this work makes it last forever, and it is also of practical significance to the era we live in.