Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
I have seen the movies Becoming Jane Austen starring Anne Hathaway and Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley, and I like the plot very much. With further curiosity, I learned about other works of Jane Austen. There happened to be a book called Sense and Sensibility, eager to read this book only by name, and want to know how to integrate reason and sensibility into love from a woman’s perspective. Compared with men, women are naturally emotional animals, especially in love, the innate spirit of self-dedication carried out to the end, the rational bit by bit disappeared. No wonder that a woman in love, intelligence is zero, this is not unfounded.
The biggest reason why I’m not obsessed with foreign works is that I find most of them very verbose, especially when it comes to describing one’s inner workings and emotional colors, and the burden of analysis and repetition. Probably because they have not soaked in that kind of cultural deposits, did not grow up in their cultural background, with their cultural differences, differences in thinking, lifestyle and so on; On the other hand, foreign works are translated by Chinese people after all, so they can only read the translation without the ability to read the original work. In this way, the words and feelings after processing and modification are not as close to the main theme as the original ecology. So just like eating hamburgers, fried chicken, drinking coke and coffee, or reading our own books is delicious spiritual food.
The book focuses on the relationship of two sisters, Marian and Eleanor. Eleanor is the elder sister, gentle and thoughtful, dignified and elegant, reserved and calm, what I admire most is her at any time never forget the restraint and self-discipline, introspection. Marianne is the younger sister, and the elder sister can be said to be both fire and ice character, lively and passionate, dare to love and hate, angular, romantic. They also had a youngest sister, but Jane Austen did not seem to think much of her, and read the whole book without any sense of Margaret’s presence. The characters of the two sisters seem to be a metaphor for the book’s reason and emotion, one too rational, the other too emotional.
Eleanor’s feelings for Edward are secret and great. She trusts her lover 100%, even though she never mentions the fact that he is engaged. She also tries to restrain herself when he approaches his big wedding, and convinces herself with Edward’s character and demeanor, which is in sharp contrast to her sister Marianne’s anxiety, irritability and nervous disorder after suffering from his departure and betrayal. After that, because her sister buried the great sadness in her heart, Marianne acted like nothing, so that she misunderstood her sister and felt very guilty. It turned out that in her experience the dark day of the lovelorn blow of that period of depression and grief, her sister is also experiencing no less than her pain, but also to take care of her, to help her away the haze. I think if I had such a sister, then what is lovelorn.
I remember being as foolish and mad as Marianne when I was not rational; but love has no freshness. Not met a two love person, you can be close to each other, stable feelings. There have been so many changes, and people are the biggest factor. Human heart is fickle, human nature is complex, sometimes, feelings in front of them seem so humble. Fortunately, many, many Maryanns in the world were finally reborn from the fire, flayed and gorgeously transformed into a million different Eleanor. Once such as “silk cotton dipping rouge, swimming in a complete mess” of the heart will be “chest thunder and surface as flat lake”.
Women sometimes wake up not because of a man, but definitely need a man to be a catalyst for understanding life. Love in, I am happy; Love is gone. I’m happy with the pain. Love is out of control, at any time do not take it as a lifeline, high expectations are easy to gain and lose, only the ordinary things can make people feel safe but essential. Maybe we can take love as air, sunshine and water, this piece of air has haze, this ray of sunshine UV is too strong, this glass of water is too hot, it doesn’t matter ah, change places to breathe, stand at another Angle, such as the hot temperature cool down, look, we still did not suffocate, no tan, no thirst. Always remember a word “love is not long lived, strong is humiliating.”
As Jane Austen wrote of Mrs. Dashwood: “Her mother’s imagination, as she chose, made everything fit to her mind.” This trait is as ubiquitous as a woman’s instinct to blame herself. In fact, most of the time we just lie to ourselves. Obviously he does not love you, you refuse to accept and imagine all kinds of strange events, trace the past; Clearly know because the morning spread a big bubble of urine weight lost a catty countless decimal points, but secretly proud never exercise eating and drinking you can naturally thin; It is clear that their own knowledge is not enough, but also silently comfort themselves that others have taken a side route. Oh, these human frailties are pervasive, deplorable, and kind of lovely at the same time.
At last Marianne, in a sensible transformation, chose the gentleman whom she had had no interest in, even when she knew that Willoughby was still in love with her, and had explained her previous reasons for leaving her, it was a great comfort and satisfaction to her. But Marianne became a more self-loving woman, so she resolutely insisted on rational transformation, and no longer thought of a selfish man. In Eleanor’s words: “First, self-interest drives him to play with your affections; Later, when his true feelings arose, it was self-interest that made him keep them secret; In the end self-interest drove him away from Barton. His own pleasure, or his own comfort, is everywhere his guiding principle.”
Marianne chose the man who had always loved her, and of those she loved and those who loved her, she chose the latter. Both are as much a global problem as deciding what to eat for lunch, if you can afford them anyway.
“Reason is like chastity. If you lose it, you won’t have it. Optimism, on the other hand, comes back when something happy happens.”
简 ·奥斯汀《理智与情感》
之前看过安妮海瑟薇主演的电影《成为简奥斯汀》和凯拉奈特莉主演的《傲慢与偏见》，非常喜欢剧情内容，怀着进一步的好奇心去了解了简奥斯汀的其他作品。刚好有一部《理智与情感》，急于想拜读这本只闻其名的作品，想知道以一个女性的视角是怎么把理性与感性融入到爱情中的。相对于男性，女性天生就是感性动物，尤其在爱情中头脑发热，与生俱来的自我奉献精神贯彻到底，理性一点一点消失殆尽。难怪说女人一恋爱，智商为零，这不是没有根据的。
我不迷恋外国作品的最大原因是我觉得大多数作品罗里吧嗦，尤其对于描写一个人的内心活动和感情色彩，分析和重复的累赘一大箩筐。大概是因为没有在那种文化底蕴里浸泡过，没有成长于他们的文化背景，与他们有着文化差异，思维差异，生活方式差异等等；另外一方面就是毕竟外国作品是中国人翻译过来的，没有能力读原著只能读译文，如此一来，加工修饰还是换身后的文字和感情必定不如原生态接近主旨。所以就像吃不惯汉堡炸鸡喝不惯可乐咖啡，还是读咱们自家的书是美味的精神食粮。
书中着重介绍了玛丽安和埃莉诺两姐妹的感情经历。埃莉诺是姐姐，温柔体贴，端庄优雅，内敛沉稳，最让我佩服的是她那份任何时候都不遗忘的克制和自律，自省。玛丽安是妹妹，与姐姐可谓是冰火两重天的性格，活泼热烈，敢爱敢恨，棱角分明，浪漫多情。她们还有一个最小的妹妹，但是简奥斯汀似乎不太器重她，读完整本书，丝毫没有玛格丽特的存在感。两姐妹的性格好像暗喻了书名理智与情感，一个过于理性，一个过于感性。
埃莉诺对爱德华的感情隐秘而伟大，她百分之百信任爱人，即使爱人已有婚约的事实只字未提，在爱人临近大婚之际也努力克制自己，并且用爱德华的品性和风度安慰说服自己，恰好与妹妹玛丽安在遭受爱人离去与背叛后的焦躁易怒，神经兮兮形成了鲜明对比。此后，玛丽安因为姐姐一个人把莫大的悲伤埋在心里表现得如无其事，以至于误会姐姐责怪姐姐而感到万分愧疚自责。原来在她经历了暗无天日的失恋打击的那段消沉悲痛的日子里，姐姐也正在经历着不亚于她的苦痛，而且还要照顾她，帮她驱走阴霾。我想我要是有这么一个姐，那么失恋算得了什么。
记得以前不够理性的时候也跟玛丽安一样犯傻抓狂，可是爱情这东西是没有保鲜期的。不是遇到了一个两情相悦的人，就一定可以耳鬓厮磨，感情稳定。其间变故太多，人心是最大的一个因素。人心善变，人性复杂，有时候，感情在它们面前显得那么卑微渺小。幸亏天下许许多多个玛丽安最后浴火重生，抽经剥皮华丽变身成了千千万万个性格迥异的埃莉诺。曾经如“丝绵蘸胭脂，泅得一塌糊涂”的心也会“胸有惊雷而面如平湖”。
女人有时候幡然觉醒并不是因为哪个男人，但是绝对需要男人做领悟生活的催化剂。爱在，我甘之如饴；爱不在了，我苦中作乐。爱是无法掌控的，任何时候都不要把它当成一根救命稻草，寄予厚望才容易患得患失，只有稀松平常的东西才会让人有安全感但又必不可少。也许可以把爱当作空气，阳光和水，这片空气有雾霾了，这缕阳光紫外线太强了，这杯水太烫了，没关系啊，换个地方呼吸，换个角度伫立，等滚烫的温度冷却下来，看，我们还是没有窒息，没有晒黑，没有渴死。永远要记住一句话“情深不寿，强极则辱。”
如同简奥斯汀描述达希伍德太太一样：“她母亲的这种想象力，依她的选择，使每件事物适合她的心意。”这种特质就像女人爱自责的天性一样无处不在，无野不撒。其实很多时候我们只是在自欺欺人而已。明明就是他不爱你了，你不肯接受还脑补出各种各样的离奇事件，追踪过去；明明知道是因为晨起撒了一大泡尿体重减轻了一斤多无数个小数点，但是却暗暗得意从不运动大吃大喝的你也能自然瘦；明明就是自己看的知识点不够多，还默默安慰自己别人走了旁门左道。呵，这些人性的弱点无孔不入，可憎可悲，同时又有点可爱。
最后玛丽安理智大变身，选择了那个自己曾经毫无兴趣的绅士，即使在知道威洛比还爱着她以及解释之前的不告而别的理由后，她很高兴，对于她来说是很大的慰藉，也心满意足了。可是玛丽安成为了一个更加爱惜自己的女人，所以她毅然决然地坚持理性改造，不再考虑一个自私自利的男人。用埃莉诺的话来说就是：“首先，是利己之心驱使他玩弄你的感情；后来，当他真情萌发，又是利己之心使他将其秘而不宣；最后，利己之心使他离开了巴顿。他自己的快乐，或者他自己的安适，在任何地方都是他的指导原则。”
玛丽安选择了一直深爱着她的那个男人，在自己爱的人和爱自己的人当中，她选择了后者。这两者就像决定中午吃什么一样也是个世界难题，不管怎样，自己有能力承受就好。
“理性就像贞操，失去了就不会有了。而乐观呢，只要遇到开心的事，又会回来了。”
