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繼續測試:Jane Eyre Chapter 5&6

(2009-04-01 17:02:46) 下一個
(繼續測試文學城博客的友好程度和穩定性)

昨天晚上依然失眠,把簡愛第五第六章看了。她在Gateshead最後的時候,和Mrs. Reed的那次正麵交鋒,很過癮,很好看。可以這麽說,之前幾章在鋪陳和介紹人物,所以興趣不高,但是隨著這一次爆發和她離開Gateshead,去Lowood,麵對完全陌生的環境,我作為讀者也是對簡的未來一無所知,再加上她開始fight back了,有了衝突,故事就好看了,我也開始被吸引了。

在Lowood,作者突出了另一個人物,Helen Burns出場,非常吸引我,Helen出場太帥了,拿了一本名為Rasselas的書,Jane翻了翻沒看懂,我也沒看懂到底是什麽書,wiki了一下還真有這麽本書:

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.

光看這幾段內容介紹,這是一本很帥的書,看這本書的人一定差不了,何況Helen隻13-15歲的樣子。還有Helen被罰站的那段描寫,也很好看,這麽一個小姑娘可以做到神遊物外,榮辱不驚,很cool,很attractive,所以我和Jane一起就淪陷了。

然後就有了第六章後半段,Jane和Helen的討論,對於憎惡你的人,你該有什麽樣的態度,原文寫的真的好看,我忍不住引一引。

Jane的觀點:

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得出這樣的看法很自然,她剛剛打贏了和Mrs. Reed的最後一戰,以勝利者的姿態離開了曾經的傷心地,那一次爭吵對於Jane性格的形成很重要,至少就目前來看

1 之前她隻是10歲的孩子,一直在默默忍受苛責和不公
2 第一次爆發,可以看作是性格裏被壓抑過分的部分一次不自覺的反抗
3 之後她還是10歲的孩子,不同的是,她不再畏懼任何人,因為她成功的當麵斥責了她的監護人,而且Mrs. Reed的態度一下子軟下來了
4 可能的問題:人得有所畏懼,人不能隻看到仇恨和抗爭,10歲的孩子很容易走上歧途,這點原文已有描述,“勝利”之後的Jane自己都有點不知所措所以她和Helen談到這個問題時,她很強硬。

再看Helen的觀點:

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.

後麵還有很精彩的,我不引了。對比於Jane的愛憎分明,情感強烈,深受宗教影響的Helen卻認為對於憎惡你的人,以憎惡回敬並不明智,那樣隻能使你自己憂愁煩惱,而生命如此短暫,應該忘記敵人對你的不好,且把眼光放到高於俗世凡人的事情上去。這是典型的基督教關於現世中敵人的看法。Helen還引用了新約裏耶穌的言行為例子:Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you.

我且不評論兩人各自的觀點,卻來看看Jane。實話實說,她對Mrs. Reed那種近乎詛咒般的反擊言辭,讓人擊節之餘,頗替她擔心,一個10歲孩童似乎獲得一種她自己都無法控製的巨大力量,仇恨的力量,連Tough如Mrs Reed都為之詞窮服軟。所以Helen的出現和上述的話語,希望能在Jane心裏至少種下個種子,雖然這觀點源於宗教,但至少讓Jane明白過度的仇恨對自己並沒有好處。書中在Helen說完這些話以後,Jane及作者本人都沒有評論,所以無法立刻看出這番話對Jane是否有影響,也讓人比較期待,Jane後麵性格的發展。

對於Helen我倒隱隱有點擔心,總覺得這個姑娘下場不會太好(看過的人不要劇透!),很可能不是瘋了就是死了。因為她和她所處的環境是如此的不協調,如此的矛盾。我不知道一個十三五歲就喜歡看Rasselas還常“物我兩忘”的姑娘將來會承受命運夥同世俗給她怎樣的傷害和算計。所以說人呐,得往糙裏長,經得起生活的搓揉,不能太多愁善感,太脆弱,太林妹妹,太delicate,易碎品。不過Helen有宗教的力量,性格裏有寬恕的一麵,不知道作者會對她下什麽狠手。

再就是書中對Lowood裏女童們生活的描寫,怎一個慘字了得。Jane Eyre這書帶有作者Charlotte Bronte濃重的影子,Charlotte本人就是在這種寄宿學校長大的,而且因為惡劣的生活嚴重的傷害到她的健康,生命的後期飽受病痛折磨。可見書中的描寫很大程度上是真實的,那就太慘了。貧窮,特別是兒時的貧窮,饑餓,寒冷,勞累,病患等等,在很大程度上不僅會損害一個人的生理條件,還會消磨一個人的心理,思維。Mr. Brocklehurst在向Mrs. Reed描述Lowood時,說學生們見到他的太太和女兒時,就象這輩子從來都沒見過絲綢一樣,而且他在說這話的時候還很得意。我當時看的就有點毛骨悚然,一個人變態不可怕,可怕的是他不知道自己變態,還以此為樂。

最後再提一句作者的文采,牛啊牛。這樣的文字,很有質感,就象雕刻一樣的有力度,相比較現代的所謂的小說,後者大部分根本不知道還有“描述”這個東西存在,大多都在講故事,浮浮著,能把故事情節說利索就不錯了。而Charlotte可能真的和她自己的經曆性格有關,感覺書中很多地方都是用錘子一句一句砸出來的,非常有力量,不管是情感,態度,還是遣詞用句。Jane剛到Lowood三個星期,後麵還會有怎樣的故事在等著她,等著我,比較期待。

PS 這篇博客是在文學城博客寫的,不好用,發出來沒有分行分段,成了一大片亂糟糟,不知道是我電腦的問題,還是文學城的問題,這裏的博客依然有待考驗。在北美找一個穩定、易用的中文博客就這麽難麽?我等著再試試6park。
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