继续测试:Jane Eyre Chapter 5&6

君问别后无限事,半入书卷半入风
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(继续测试文学城博客的友好程度和稳定性)

昨天晚上依然失眠,把简爱第五第六章看了。她在Gateshead最后的时候,和Mrs. Reed的那次正面交锋,很过瘾,很好看。可以这么说,之前几章在铺陈和介绍人物,所以兴趣不高,但是随着这一次爆发和她离开Gateshead,去Lowood,面对完全陌生的环境,我作为读者也是对简的未来一无所知,再加上她开始fight back了,有了冲突,故事就好看了,我也开始被吸引了。

在Lowood,作者突出了另一个人物,Helen Burns出场,非常吸引我,Helen出场太帅了,拿了一本名为Rasselas的书,Jane翻了翻没看懂,我也没看懂到底是什么书,wiki了一下还真有这么本书:

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, often abbreviated to Rasselas, is a novella about happiness by Samuel Johnson. The books original working title was “The Choice of Life". [1] He wrote the piece to help support his seriously ill mother with an intended completion date of January 22 1759 (the eve of his mothers death).

It was considered by early readers as a work of philosophical and practical importance and critics often remark on the difficulty of classifying Rasselas as a novel.

The plot concerns Rasselas, son of the King of Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia), who leaves his home in company with his sister, Nekayah, and a philosopher, Imlac, to discover the secret of a happy life. His observation of other kinds of people eventually leads to the conclusion that there is no easy path to happiness, and he returns to Abyssinia along with his companions.

光看这几段内容介绍,这是一本很帅的书,看这本书的人一定差不了,何况Helen只13-15岁的样子。还有Helen被罚站的那段描写,也很好看,这么一个小姑娘可以做到神游物外,荣辱不惊,很cool,很attractive,所以我和Jane一起就沦陷了。

然后就有了第六章后半段,Jane和Helen的讨论,对于憎恶你的人,你该有什么样的态度,原文写的真的好看,我忍不住引一引。

Jane的观点:

If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should — so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.

But I feel this, Helen: I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved.

Jane得出这样的看法很自然,她刚刚打赢了和Mrs. Reed的最后一战,以胜利者的姿态离开了曾经的伤心地,那一次争吵对于Jane性格的形成很重要,至少就目前来看

1 之前她只是10岁的孩子,一直在默默忍受苛责和不公
2 第一次爆发,可以看作是性格里被压抑过分的部分一次不自觉的反抗
3 之后她还是10岁的孩子,不同的是,她不再畏惧任何人,因为她成功的当面斥责了她的监护人,而且Mrs. Reed的态度一下子软下来了
4 可能的问题:人得有所畏惧,人不能只看到仇恨和抗争,10岁的孩子很容易走上歧途,这点原文已有描述,“胜利”之后的Jane自己都有点不知所措所以她和Helen谈到这个问题时,她很强硬。

再看Helen的观点:

You will change your mind, I hope, when you grow older; as yet you are but a little untaught girl.

It is not violence that best overcomes hate — nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury

She has been unkind to you, no doubt, because, you see, she dislikes your cast of character, as Miss Scatcherd does mine; but how minutely you remember all she has done and said to you! What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.

后面还有很精彩的,我不引了。对比于Jane的爱憎分明,情感强烈,深受宗教影响的Helen却认为对于憎恶你的人,以憎恶回敬并不明智,那样只能使你自己忧愁烦恼,而生命如此短暂,应该忘记敌人对你的不好,且把眼光放到高于俗世凡人的事情上去。这是典型的基督教关于现世中敌人的看法。Helen还引用了新约里耶稣的言行为例子:Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you.

我且不评论两人各自的观点,却来看看Jane。实话实说,她对Mrs. Reed那种近乎诅咒般的反击言辞,让人击节之余,颇替她担心,一个10岁孩童似乎获得一种她自己都无法控制的巨大力量,仇恨的力量,连Tough如Mrs Reed都为之词穷服软。所以Helen的出现和上述的话语,希望能在Jane心里至少种下个种子,虽然这观点源于宗教,但至少让Jane明白过度的仇恨对自己并没有好处。书中在Helen说完这些话以后,Jane及作者本人都没有评论,所以无法立刻看出这番话对Jane是否有影响,也让人比较期待,Jane后面性格的发展。

对于Helen我倒隐隐有点担心,总觉得这个姑娘下场不会太好(看过的人不要剧透!),很可能不是疯了就是死了。因为她和她所处的环境是如此的不协调,如此的矛盾。我不知道一个十三五岁就喜欢看Rasselas还常“物我两忘”的姑娘将来会承受命运伙同世俗给她怎样的伤害和算计。所以说人呐,得往糙里长,经得起生活的搓揉,不能太多愁善感,太脆弱,太林妹妹,太delicate,易碎品。不过Helen有宗教的力量,性格里有宽恕的一面,不知道作者会对她下什么狠手。

再就是书中对Lowood里女童们生活的描写,怎一个惨字了得。Jane Eyre这书带有作者Charlotte Bronte浓重的影子,Charlotte本人就是在这种寄宿学校长大的,而且因为恶劣的生活严重的伤害到她的健康,生命的后期饱受病痛折磨。可见书中的描写很大程度上是真实的,那就太惨了。贫穷,特别是儿时的贫穷,饥饿,寒冷,劳累,病患等等,在很大程度上不仅会损害一个人的生理条件,还会消磨一个人的心理,思维。Mr. Brocklehurst在向Mrs. Reed描述Lowood时,说学生们见到他的太太和女儿时,就象这辈子从来都没见过丝绸一样,而且他在说这话的时候还很得意。我当时看的就有点毛骨悚然,一个人变态不可怕,可怕的是他不知道自己变态,还以此为乐。

最后再提一句作者的文采,牛啊牛。这样的文字,很有质感,就象雕刻一样的有力度,相比较现代的所谓的小说,后者大部分根本不知道还有“描述”这个东西存在,大多都在讲故事,浮浮着,能把故事情节说利索就不错了。而Charlotte可能真的和她自己的经历性格有关,感觉书中很多地方都是用锤子一句一句砸出来的,非常有力量,不管是情感,态度,还是遣词用句。Jane刚到Lowood三个星期,后面还会有怎样的故事在等着她,等着我,比较期待。

PS 这篇博客是在文学城博客写的,不好用,发出来没有分行分段,成了一大片乱糟糟,不知道是我电脑的问题,还是文学城的问题,这里的博客依然有待考验。在北美找一个稳定、易用的中文博客就这么难么?我等着再试试6park。

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