What kind of story does Zhang Ailing’s work "White Rose and Red Rose" describe?

In the Chinese literary world of the 20th century, Zhang Ailing was called a bright star. Her works mainly describe the life fate of women, most of which are full of tragedy and reveal reflections on human nature and society, and have become classics of the times. "Red Roses and White Roses" is one of her works that is very representative in explaining her ideological attitude. It describes Shanghai, China, in the 1930s and 1940s: ancient families, mysterious mansions, and strong Wu music, filled with nostalgia that can never be erased; at the same time, it is mixed with the lights of the foreign market, the changing winds, and various countries. visitors, and people’s hearts are restless all the time. Under the influence of these two environments, in Shanghai, the love between men and women is always filled with helplessness. Therefore, the characters in her novels always live in the gap between tradition and modernity, constructing an eternal desolate landscape. See details below: "Red Roses and White Roses". There are two women in Zhenbao's life. He said that one is his white rose and the other is his red rose. One is a holy wife, the other is a passionate mistress... Zhenbao, who returned from studying abroad, found a high position in a foreign company. For convenient transportation, he rented the house of his old classmate Wang Shihong. While Zhen was still a student, he had a first love named Rose. He once gained the reputation of "Liu Xiahui" because he rejected Rose's advances. Wang Shihong has a charming wife who always makes Zhenbao have wild dreams. Once, Shihong went to Singapore to do business. After several battles between his soul and his body, on a rainy day that suddenly turned from warm to cold, Zhenbao was "imprisoned" by this lady named Jiaorui. What Zhenbao didn't expect was that Jiaorui gave her true love this time. When she proposed to tell Wang Shihong the truth, Zhenbao fell ill. In the ward, Zhenbao told Jiaorui the truth - he didn't want to bear too much blame for this. Jiaorui collected her messy tears, surprisingly calmed down, and walked out of his life.

With the help of his mother, Zhenbao married Meng Yanli, who was thin and as still as water, with a sad sense of sacrifice. The bride only gives people a general impression of fairness, and she cannot arouse Zhenbao's sexual desire. Zhenbao started visiting prostitutes outside. But one day, he discovered that the white rose Yanli, who had no luster in his shadow, was actually having an ambiguous relationship with a tailor who looked like a hedgehog. From then on, Zhenbao openly played with women outside and continued to be wild. One day, he happened to meet the "red rose" Jiaorui in his life on the bus. She was already a kind of middle-aged beauty. Time is ruthless, flowers bloom and fall, and in the light of tears, the red and white roses in Zhenbao have become a phantom in reality. The kindness of the past is approaching Zhenbao little by little. After returning home, after a hysterical attack, Zhenbao became a good person again. Content Analysis of "Red Roses and White Roses" The novel's protagonists are cleverly chosen: the male protagonist Tong Zhenbao, an ambitious man who has returned from studying abroad, can represent the vast majority of men; the female protagonist Wang Jiaorui is naturally beautiful and is one of the most popular among women. Women are best at the game of love. When two people like this come together, the man should be caught, but unexpectedly it is the woman who falls for it. The reason is that in the face of true love, women are willing to throw themselves into the trap at all costs, while men retreat for the sake of reputation and future. But everyone knows the final gain and loss - Zhenbao seemingly has a perfect life, "he has everything he should have", except love; the author did not write about Jiaorui's subsequent situation, only "On the Tram" When we met Zhenbao, we knew from Dubao’s words that she was fat and old. From her few words, we knew that she had matured: “Yes, when she was young and good-looking, she was about No matter what I do in society, I always meet men. But in the end, there are always others besides men..." She felt at ease in her heart, at least without Zhenbao's emptiness. What a man wants is the world, not just a woman. Of course, there must be a woman in his world. That woman is there and must be coordinated with other things that belong to him. Otherwise, if she destroys this coordination, it may even affect the world. Without the structure of this small world, no matter how good she is, he will give up without any heartache; what a woman wants is a man, and when she meets a desirable man, he will be her world, and she can give up everything in this world. , just be with him. Let’s take a look at how Zhang Ailing describes the psychology of the hero and heroine exquisitely and clearly in this novel.

She wrote that Zhenbao first explained his past. He had the experience of visiting prostitutes and his first love that he was still in love with. He always restrained himself because he wanted to create a "right" world for himself. When he met Jiaorui, the man's nature was aroused, and Zhenbao's heart became confused: the soap suds Jiaorui splashed on the back of his hand looked like a small mouth sucking his hand; he looked at her body covered in loose clothes, Every inch is alive; her hair in the bathroom was tangled, he picked it up and threw it away... "She was in that room, as if the room was filled with vermilion murals, with half-naked figures painted on the left and right. she". This kind of description vividly describes the desire of men for women. But Zhenbao didn't dare to make a mistake. He tried hard to restrain himself, but Jiaorui saw the truth about him at a glance: "You are always shortchanging yourself. In fact, you are a fun-loving and delicious person like me." What follows is Through the temptation of back and forth, Zhenbao understood Jiaorui's heart, and he also fell in love with Jiaorui, but he didn't know it. But he didn't want to give in. He struggled to escape. "He must not be serious! He is asking for trouble." Before the relationship between the two is clear, the male protagonist is passive, peeping greedily in the dark. On the contrary, Jiaorui's performance is always proactive. Before she fell in love with Zhenbao, she was a willful, charming, and even a bit slutty woman. The author arranged for her to be an overseas Chinese, so her character and behavior were Without the foundation, if she were an authentic Chinese lady, this story would not be easy to interpret. She went out with other men behind her husband's back, and broke up with others because of Zhenbao, all in front of Zhenbao. Such frankness made people unable to blame her for her fickleness, nor could they bear to criticize her from a moral perspective. . She did not hide her history from Zhenbao: "After playing for a few years, my reputation gradually declined, so I hurriedly arrested Shihong." She explained her behavior like this: "A person has learned how to I can't bear to let the same skill go unused." On her side, it was decided to make Zhenbao. Zhenbao's hesitation strengthened her determination to get him. At this time, Jiaorui still had a childlike willfulness in her feelings for Zhenbao. In the game of going forward and retreating, the author arranged such a detail: Zhenbao came back to get his coat, but unexpectedly found Jiaorui hanging his coat on the wall. She faced it and quietly nodded and breathed on Zhenbao. The remaining smoke. This is really a classic scene. What other language can express a woman's infatuation like this? Such a scene is enough to shake any man, so "Zhenbao was completely conquered." In the initial love between two people, they are evenly matched, and the two people are the same in their hearts - they are both greedy people, desperate to get what they want. But later on, Jiaorui fell in love so much that she couldn't help herself and forgot her way out. At the beginning, she said to Zhenbao: "My heart is an apartment house." Zhenbao said that he wanted to live in a single building, and she wanted him to "have the ability to tear it down and rebuild it again!" Later, she took the initiative and said to him, " The house you want has been built." This time Jiaorui fell in love sincerely. She thought about the future of the two of them, while Zhenbao thought about his career, his family’s expectations and his responsibilities: “A world full of his old mother, with tears in her eyes. "I opened my eyes and only looked at him." When Jiaorui told him that she had written to her husband and told her feelings about them, Zhenbao suddenly collapsed and "screamed 'evil' and immediately ran out to the street. Go up, look back at Cui Wei's apartment, the gray ocher streamlined house, like an unimaginably big train, is roaring towards him, blocking out the sun and moon." The love that once made him extremely happy seemed to have turned into a savage beast that was about to engulf him. He was really scared. Jiaorui's actions were beyond his expectation. He had never imagined the outcome. So, he wanted to find reasons, he wanted to shirk responsibility, "He suspected that he had been a fool and had fallen into a trap. She loved Timmison, but she deliberately put a wet shirt over his head." So he became ill. . The outcome is obvious, but Jiaorui still has to work hard. Zhang Ailing wrote the plot of the two's breakup in a very restrained manner, but it is powerful enough to tell the story behind the page. The mentality and emotions of the two people are undoubtedly revealed. She wrote about what the two said, and Jiaorui's words were intermittent, "hanging in the air like many pendulums, ticking at different speeds, each with its own reasons." Zhenbao's words were complete but weak, expressing a man's helplessness and humiliation for his own sake. The author writes about Jiaorui crying twice, the first time she cried loudly, "like a child with an injustice, crying, unable to get off the stage, not knowing how to stop..." This crying was mostly out of fear, not knowing what to do next. After hearing what Zhenbao said, Jiaorui understood and immediately stopped crying, "I just left without even looking at him."

The next day, Jiaorui came again and cried on the sleeping Zhenbao. This was her sacrifice of her love. Zhenbao's feeling was that "the warmth of this woman's body and mind was like a soft satin-covered eiderdown quilt on top of him. He sweated leisurely and felt emotionally luxurious." The story of him and her ends, followed by the story of him and the woman who became his wife. In many of Zhang Ailing's novels, men are pale and weak, while Zhenbao is a man who desperately wants to make a difference. He wants to build his own world in accordance with the requirements of society, an ideal world that is praised by everyone. Jiaorui's love was incompatible with this world, so he gave it up without hesitation. When he chose a woman who was suitable to be his wife according to his ideal standards, he found that everything was wrong. A man who insisted on saving face would marry an unsatisfactory woman. He also tried to manage it patiently, but to no avail. He "always felt that everyone in the outside world, starting from his mother, should pat him on the shoulder and give him rewards." When he accidentally discovered that his abandoned wife was hooking up with a tailor, all his patience reached the limit, and he began to pity himself, "He looked at his own flesh, not as if he was looking at it, but as if he was I am deeply saddened by a lover outside my home, feeling that he has wasted me in vain." So he began to indulge, "If you can't smash the home you built, his wife, and his daughter, at least he can smash himself." However, in the end, he still couldn't bear to give up the world he had worked so hard to build. When he saw his wife's slippers lying on the ground, "it was like a ghost who didn't dare to act timidly came towards him and begged." His heart softened. "The good air of the old days sneaked closer and surrounded him. Countless worries and responsibilities buzzed around with mosquitoes, biting him and sucking him." So, "The second When I got up in the morning, Zhenbao changed his ways and became a good person again." He compromised, bid farewell to himself completely, and once again slipped into the established life track according to the inertia of life. Conclusion of the content analysis - helplessly, from the analysis of the article, we can draw the following conclusion: In fact, no matter whether it was White Rose, Red Rose or Zhenbao, their choices at the time were undoubtedly reasonable, but the ending always had a kind of regret. and sadness. (1) The helplessness of women. The women in "White Rose and Red Rose" are two typical incarnations of tradition and modernity. The article begins: "There are two women in Zhenbao's life. He said that one is his white rose. , one is his red rose. The other is the holy wife, and the other is the passionate mistress - this is how ordinary people always talk about the two words "Jie Li". However, whether it is a white rose or a red rose. Rui, even though they represent two different extremes, what awaits them is tragedy. If the tragedy of the white rose is due to the overweight of traditional consciousness, then the tragedy of the red rose is due to the overweight of modern consciousness. The so-called traditional consciousness here refers to the Confucian ideological system founded by Confucius and later gradually developed into the Confucian ideological system with the benevolence of respecting hierarchies as the core. Confucianism basically adheres to the legislative principles of intimacy and respect for relatives, maintains the rule of etiquette, advocates the rule of virtue, and attaches great importance to the rule of man. . The fundamental meaning of Confucianism's "ritual rule" is "difference", that is, nobility, inferiority, seniority and youth each have their own special behavioral norms. Only when there are proper etiquette for nobility, inferiority, elder and younger, relatives and strangers, can we achieve the ideal society of monarch, minister, father, son, elder brother, younger brother, husband and wife in the eyes of Confucianism. The so-called modern consciousness refers to the reflection of people's minds on modern social phenomena, specifically including the consciousness of autonomy, openness, reflection, and different thinking. Yanli is the ideal image of a wife in the eyes of men: quiet, docile, restrained, and a "holy wife." Since her marriage, these beautiful moral qualities in her tradition have become insufficient in the eyes of men who have been influenced by Western civilization. Traditional women in modern times are boring. Zhenbao's reward for Yanli's tradition was to openly play with women outside and smash things in front of her. Faced with the debauchery and ruthlessness of men, Yanli finally broke through the traditional image of a lady and committed deviant behavior. She had an affair with a tailor who was far inferior to Zhenbao. Zhang Ailing portrayed the image of a woman who wanted to abide by tradition but could not. Incisively and vividly. Unlike Yanli, Jiaorui is a woman influenced by the new civilization. She wanted to be her own master and had a persistent pursuit of love. In order to be with Zhenbao, she gave up everything and resolutely filed for divorce from her husband. However, the result waiting for her was the man's ruthlessness, and in the end she could not get the one she loved. people. The new women of the era are not tolerated by the remaining traditions. Women who pursue modern consciousness without success experience pain and then begin to long for a return to tradition.

When Jiaorui met Zhenbao again on the tram, she no longer had any nostalgia. She got married and became a mother, and settled for such gaudy mediocrity, even though her words were full of sadness and mourning for the past. Traditional consciousness requires women to always be good wives and mothers, in a position of being controlled and enslaved, without a trace of vitality and vitality. Such traditional women have fallen behind the times. Their mediocrity, self-repression, self-pity, and concubine-like resentment were far from meeting the requirements of the patriarchal society at that time. They were just used as vases purchased by men, or as old-time screens and decorations. All this made the White Roses doubt tradition and have a desire to get rid of it. For red roses, their enthusiastic, free, unrestrained, Westernized lifestyle and desperate and bold pursuit can satisfy the patriarchal society indulged in material desires and lust. However, they have not completely got rid of traditional patriarchy. Most of the world maintains traditional moral and ethical norms on the surface, and usually treats such westernized women as life-savers and playthings in leisure time. It is impossible to build a lasting love. Faced with this reality, such women either fall, are destroyed, or return to tradition. (2) Men’s helplessness Women are powerless in the face of the conflict between traditional consciousness and modern consciousness, and the same is true for men. It's just that unlike women, men have more freedoms. On the surface, the male protagonist Zhenbao in "Red Roses and White Roses" seems to be able to move between traditional and modern women with ease. The text describes it this way: "Perhaps every man has had two such women, at least two. Marry a red rose, and over time, the red one will become a smear of mosquito blood on the wall, while the white one will still be "moonlight in front of the bed"; marry a white rose, and the white one will become a speck of rice sticky on your clothes, but the red one will become It's like a cinnabar mole on the heart. This is not the case in Zhenbao. He has a beginning and an end, and he is the most ideal modern Chinese character, even if the things he encounters are not entirely ideal. , let him talk to his heart, talk to his heart, and adjust it a few times, and it will become as if it is idealized, and everything will be in its place." However, no matter how cool and unrestrained, the men in Zhang Ailing's legend still enjoy modern civilization but cannot get rid of tradition. People: On the one hand, the intrusion of modern life makes them feel the freedom of marriage and love; on the other hand, traditional ethics and morals still tighten around them like a giant python, and they also have to face the irreconcilable contradiction between modernity and tradition. situation. Zhenbao was born in a humble family. If he didn't fight for himself, he would "die in a small ignorant circle all his life." Later, he went abroad to get a degree and conquered the world with his bare hands. As a result, he had a decent job, a classic wife, and many relatives and friends. On the surface, he was busy between modernity and tradition, but in fact, there was always a deep secret hidden deep in his heart. of poverty and helplessness. Later, he cried bitterly in front of Jiaorui, completely exposing his inner paleness. When dealing with women, Zhenbao also maintains the middle ground between modernity and tradition: one is his white rose, the other is his red rose. One is a holy wife, the other is a passionate mistress. Although he was very nostalgic for Jiaorui, he was unwilling to fight against tradition. This can be seen from his words to Jiaorui: "If you love me, you have to think about me. I can't make my mother sad. Her views are different from ours, but we cannot ignore her, and the society will never forgive me for relying on me alone - Shihong is my friend after all." She has concerns about ethics and social traditions. , had to force him to leave Jiaorui, and he chose Yanli, but he couldn't stand the rigidity and triviality of tradition, so he became more dissolute than before, and he eventually became his own slave.