Martin Eden: The Death of Idealism

Martin Eden was born in poverty. When he was only a teenager, he dropped out of school because of life. He became a sailor who drifted all day. He can't afford the rent and lives in his married sister's house. By chance, Martin met Irina, a rich boy, in Darling's Daughter, and was deeply attracted by her beauty and temperament. In order to become a knowledgeable and elegant person like Irina, Martin eagerly studied literature and writing, and quit his job to write full-time, despite Irina's repeated discouragement-suggesting that he do a decent job first and then go to school. In the end, due to the huge differences in ideas, the two parted ways.

After a long period of repeated rejection and hunger, one of Martin's works was suddenly adopted by the publishing house, and he became a great writer as soon as his hand became hot. Other works that had been rejected before were also very popular. Wealth and fame followed, and Irina, who was determined to leave, came back to get back together. However, it was too late for Martin. The death of his best friend, the change of heart of his lover, the social turmoil and the respect of the literary world all shattered his dream of fighting for it. Born without love, he faces the sunset and walks towards the boundless sea. ...

Martin Eden was originally an autobiographical novel published by American writer Jack London in 1909, and was adapted into a film set in Naples, Italy in 20 19. The first half of the work is full of positive energy. A typical low-level nobody worked hard for pure love, overcame many difficulties with sincere friendship, and finally realized his dream. However, in the second half, the painting style changed suddenly, and the man became a cynical and pessimistic writer, and everything was disillusioned and dying.

In a word, this is a profound work, which vividly depicts the strong and fragile sides of human nature.

Jack London, the original author, died of an overdose of narcotic drugs (usually considered suicide) seven years after the novel was published, at the age of 40. Therefore, this work can also be said to be a true portrayal of the author's life experience, which makes people sigh.

In fact, Martin Eden (Jack London) is not an exception. There are many writers/artists who died of suicide in real life, such as Dutch painter Van Gogh, French novelist Mo Bosang, Russian poet Ye Saining/Macovschi, Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, Japanese writer Osamu Dazai/Yukio Mishima/Kawabata Yasunari, China writer Haizi/Gu Cheng/San Mao, and so on.

A good writer is a keen observer of life. Most of them are very emotional, good at capturing beautiful things, but also easy to feel the evil in the world. I often rejoice in things and I often grieve for myself. Sensitivity is what distinguishes them from ordinary people, but it is also their fatal weakness. Once their beliefs collapse, they may be pessimistic and world-weary, such as Osamu Dazai's famous "I'm sorry to be born a human being" in "Disqualification on Earth".

Of course, there are more great writers, such as Shakespeare, romain rolland, Tolstoy, Marquez, Tagore and so on, who show sympathy for others while maintaining a strong inner world.

Go back to the protagonist of this article. In my opinion, the tragic fate of Martin Eden (or Jack London) is that he is an excessive idealist. He has too idealistic expectations for the world, the environment, people and love. In the process of fighting for his ideal, he is hard and happy. After the ideal was realized, he suddenly found that the ideal was not perfect as he imagined, so everything was disillusioned.

Martin Eden expects a perfect lover and a perfect ideal world. Obviously, this is not realistic, especially in the turbulent era in his heart. Historical data show that such idealists are most likely to degenerate into decadence or even cynicism.

Usually, a person's happiness =? Grades/? Meet (expectations). Most idealists are unhappy because their denominator is too high, that is, their expectations are too high, not their achievements are too small-in fact, many idealists have achieved far more than ordinary people. Although the numerator (achievement) is already large, the denominator (expectation) is also high, so the final happiness is still not enough, even far lower than that of ordinary people.

After Martin became famous, Irina went to get back together with him. In the original, he made an impassioned condemnation:

At the media meeting, Martin also showed considerable disdain and anger towards the literary world.

At first glance, this passage is impassioned and righteous. But if we analyze it with calm and rational logic, we will feel that it is too melodramatic. In the real world, Qian Qian is full of dreams of writers, composers, stars and scientists. How many people will succeed in the end? Only a few lucky people. Most people are destined to remain anonymous for life, which has been the case for thousands of years. Art and science are an extreme world, and Matthew effect is everywhere. People are either extremely successful or extremely unsuccessful, and there is almost no middle ground. What's more, the success of many people depends not entirely on their strength, but on their luck similar to the Black Swan incident, such as Jing M.Guo, a singer, basketball star and writer. A wise and mature person will either embark on this rugged road without hesitation and have no regrets; Either stop thinking before it is too late, turn to the "average world" and devote yourself to other occupations where the polarization between the rich and the poor is not so serious, such as doing some business, being a chef, and so on.

Idealists want a perfect world in their hearts. However, the fact is that the world is made up of countless people, and the balance of various forces is a dynamic situation. The world is cold and natural, and it has no obligation to take care of anyone's emotions or give anyone positive feedback.

The world does not owe Martin a perfect environment, nor does Irina owe Martin a perfect partner.

Martin's correct approach is to create an ideal environment by his own efforts-don't forget that he is already a writer with a lot of wealth and reputation. In the worst case, he can leave the environment and live in a more satisfactory environment. The same is true of Irina: she has never changed, except that Martin loves the perfect Irina instead of the real Irina. The problem now is that either he accepts Irina now and has the determination and endurance to shape her into what he expects (provided she is willing to accept it), or he abandons her to find/meet another partner who is more elegant and tacit than her.

Instead of accusing her of being too poor and loving the rich and vulgar, it is better to regret that she is as blind as a bat and be glad that she "escaped." It's better to say goodbye and forget each other than to swear.

At this point, I can't help but complain about the adaptation of the movie version: Martin shouted "get out" at Elena at the top of his lungs. This scene is too different from the description of the original novel, which seems a bit too stiff and deformed. Maybe the director wants to highlight the plot tension in the limited performance time, so he has to.

In contrast, "vulgar" investors are much calmer. They have also experienced secular long-term indifference and ridicule, and their perspectives and ways of perceiving the world are relatively calm.

Bernard baruch, known as "Wall Street Speculator", left a similar sentence when he was old: When I was young, people called me a speculator; Now people call me a banker and a philanthropist. In fact, from beginning to end, I have done this.

All beings are suffering, and only self-crossing. Everyone's life is bitter, but it's different, and everyone treats it differently.

A large number of psychological studies show that most pain is an illusion: it is only a temporary feeling, not an eternal truth. Statistics show that countless people commit suicide every year, and the most representative reason is that "this world has nothing to do with me" (the so-called life without love). However, a very small number of people who were lucky enough to be rescued recalled that their brains entered a state of high-speed operation during the process of jumping off a building/jumping into the sea/cutting the pulse, and they would recall all the important fragments of their lives at high speed. Many of them will suddenly find that the "world has nothing to do with me" just now is a false illusion ... those who have experienced this process and are lucky enough to be rescued rarely commit suicide again. And more people who have not been rescued have no chance to regret it.

Victor Frank, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, lost his parents, wife and brother at the hands of the Nazis, and he himself was brutally abused in Nazi concentration camps for several years. After countless pains and reflections, he understood a truth: everything a person has can be deprived, but the last freedom of human nature-that is, the freedom to choose one's attitude and lifestyle under any circumstances-cannot be deprived. In the most difficult years, he chose a positive attitude, "let the mind cross the cage and fly freely in the free world."

The tragic experience of the concentration camp made him develop a positive and optimistic philosophy of life, just as he often quoted Nietzsche's sentence: "What can't kill me will definitely make me stronger." He lived a healthy and happy life for the rest of his life and gave speeches all over the world to promote meaningful therapy. He received honorary doctorates from 29 universities around the world, taught in 209 universities, published 32 books and translated them into 32 languages. His book The Meaning of Living has sold 9 million copies. His existential analysis is called the third psychotherapy school in Vienna after Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology.

More widely known than Victor Frank is the following sentence, which is usually called chicken soup for the soul:

Finally, let's talk about Lu Daosen, an online celebrity photographer who recently jumped into the sea. It's a pity that a 25-year-old young man, with his parents and relatives, hundreds of photography students and hundreds of thousands of Weibo fans, passed away so pessimistically. He repeatedly revised his neat and clean suicide note, reflecting his sensitive and fragile inner world-he is probably an excessive idealist. Undeniably, it is an uncomfortable situation that left-behind children are treated rudely by their parents, bullied on campus, in financial distress and without warmth in their families.

But then again, how many people grew up with smooth sailing, singing and laughing all the way? It may be true that his parents have low academic qualifications and poor feelings. They often transmit negative energy to him and never care about his inner world. But no matter how bad they are, they try their best to help him graduate from college and even lend him money to support him in setting up a photography studio. Isn't this kind of parental love love love? Think about how many peers need to rely on student loans or even part-time jobs to complete their studies. Before graduation, they have to support their families and their younger brothers and sisters. He's much happier already. Although Rudolph's parents are far from the perfect standard he expected, what about him? Is he a perfect son? If he has great love, he must be strong and live, turn himself into a qualified father, and let his children have a happy and beautiful childhood in the future, and don't repeat his own mistakes.

Now the people of Sri Lanka have gone far away from home, leaving grieving and self-blaming parents, as well as a pile of debts and abuse from netizens to bear for their families. Is this what a responsible adult should do?

Marx said that man is not an abstract thing, but the sum of all social relations. Life may be meaningless, and everyone's own meaning is probably to live.

It is good to be a simple and idealistic person and strive for the meaning of life.