It was a clear morning, I sat on the bus from Haidian to Chaoyang, open WeChat, your reply letter leaped out, there is an indescribable joy! In the hedge garden bookstore when I happened to hear you mention that you like to go to the western part of the Yuanmingyuan, so that I already feel that it is not easy, and a few weeks later we were in the Yuanmingyuan under the wisteria arbor and miraculously found another *** with the same love, it is this longitudinal span of 80 years of history of the "Century Trilogy", how can I thank God for the love of it?
On the eve of the 11th holiday, you told me that you had just finished reading the next book of the second book, The Winter of the World, and I was planning to take a break after reading the middle book of the third book, The Edge of Eternity, during the National Day holiday, because there were already too many thoughts about the book accumulating in my mind, which needed to be sorted out urgently, and so in the back-and-forth exchanges of WeChat, we hit it off with this promise of an interactive epistolary agreement. In addition to the content of your reply to the letter to bring me the joy of collision of ideas, itself is also a commitment to the promise of a kind of faith, which is a precious quality, so that I respect and cherish.
I was actually a bit surprised to see your opening selection of Fitz. In the only two brief exchanges we've had before, we've talked about Walter, Carla, and Daisy, the main characters who appeared in the first and second installments, and we've also mentioned supporting characters such as Boyd and Eric, and even representative characters such as Schleicher, Father Peter, and Voltron, who only appeared in one segment of the plot. As for Fitz - one of the heroes in the first book - I was not impressed with him, arrogant and aloof, corrupt and stubborn, selfish and cold-blooded, and the only handsome one, who still has a limp from the war, and so somewhat unconsciously ignored his existence. I was sweating a bit at first that you preferred to write about him, but after reading your perfect analysis, I sincerely praise you for your courage and ingenuity! I solemnly admit to having accidentally overlooked this character, one of the most typical and iconic characters the author portrayed in the first Fall of Giants, bar none!
In 1914, at the age of twenty-eight, this aristocratic young man, having inherited an earldom and a seat in the House of Lords from his late father, harbors a dream of reviving traditions and the old order of things, of returning to the Victorian era, of surpassing his father in his own endeavors, and of recreating the glory of his empire. It was a value he was born with and a duty he considered incumbent upon him, and in his own words, " he would give up his large income in exchange for the return of England to a time of that simple tradition - no tradition known to mankind - which prevailed over the settled and comfortable order of monarchs, noblemen, merchants, and peasants. order ." But the wheels of history gradually took him and his beliefs off the stage, and even the beautiful century-old manor house was not spared. Fitz's tears were not only for the estate, but also for his own helplessness. When the Labor Party started the excavator in the name of national needs and the development of the times, my heart was like a knife in my throat, and the same feeling of helplessness and hopelessness spread all over my body. The so-called progress of the times, economic development, material life has greatly improved, these high-sounding words, but as the other side of the coin has secretly dug down the cedar in our hearts, and under the cedar stood in the heart of the happy and comfortable. At this point, Fitz does deserve sympathy, in a trance, I even feel that each of us is also Fitz or Fitz's side of the character is too real, you chose too well!
Since you're writing about Fitz, in this reply I'll talk about Ethel, who was in love with Fitz all her life and never managed to get together. If Fitz's love for Ethel was repressed, what was Ethel's love for Fitz like? Has Lloyd's stepfather Bernie really replaced Fitz in Ethel's heart? Why does Ethel want Fitz to shake Lloyd's hand so badly?
Regarding the emotional entanglements of this pair of lovers, the author does not have a great deal of character's mood activities as he depicts Walter and Maldie, instead, it is more about letting us see their few encounters and even arguments, as well as some small details that can be easily overlooked without notice, and inviting readers to speculate for themselves as to whether or not their love is there or not. First, when the Angel of Death with the letter carrier's hat is knocking on doors in the Apollo Wynne mining district to hand out death notices in the first movie, Ethel sneaks up on little Lloyd in her arms and says, "I hope your Uncle Billy's all right. And your father"; and secondly, just after the war, Ethel accidentally encountered Fitz, who had returned wounded, in the editorial office of The Soldier's Wife, the newspaper she had founded with Maldie, " She stepped back as if a little nervous, and bumped into a chair, and the woman sitting in the chair glared at her in annoyance. Ethel grunted a 'sorry' but didn't bother to look at her". From these clues we get the sense that Ethel never stopped loving Fitz because she was abandoned by him, but on the contrary, maintains a kind of spiritual undying love. Remember the funny "irony" between mother and son in the middle of Part II? --Lloyd questions his mother, "How could you have fallen in love with him?" Ethel returns the favor by saying, "You were in love with a rich American girl who was married to a fascist." Lloyd "wanted to retort, but soon realized that there was really no difference in the nature of the two". Yes, at the age of 21, she fell in love with a proud, conservative and handsome aristocratic man, and could not help herself; the same at the age of 21, his heart was occupied by a vain, proud and innocent American girl, and no one else. Their love is the kind of pure servant instinctive love, without any utilitarian purpose. Because of true love, so dare to love. Whether Fitz was the dashing young man of the year, or later that cowardly old codger, she has not changed. How could she, with her icy intelligence, not know know what Fitz's dream was? She accepted Fitz's choice to abandon her and never held a grudge against him. This is the first thing Ethel told me about another form of love - accepting the choice of the one you love. Acceptance of the beloved's choice sounds passive, but here it is not, it is an active choice of the self. It stems from a respect for the beloved, which in my eyes I fear is one of the most selfless and deepest forms of love. It was only when Fitz went very far in bad-mouthing their already accomplished son Lloyd that Ethel was ever hit and traumatized hard, and there was not the slightest hint that the finger-pointing of her fellow Aberowenites made her give in or regret it at all. She was so smart, and so brave, and yet she had never complained or demanded anything from Fitz. Anything asked for was probably worthless and meaningless, only truly selfless love and tolerance would be uncomplaining and long lasting. Acceptance of Jedi does not mean passivity, but it requires an immensely powerful and strong heart. If Ethel had the slightest bit of heartfelt resentment towards Fitz, she wouldn't have tried to get her son Lloyd to shake hands with his real father over and over again, let alone saying things like " There is nothing more precious than our children" to Fitz. So Ethel has continued to love Fitz in such a way that the only thing that matters is that Fitz " can shake hands with the boy".
Of course, acceptance is not without a bottom line, and that bottom line is dignity. When Fitz returned from the war, eager to "rekindle the old friendship" with Ethel, out of the spacious and luxurious country house want to let her and the child to live, Ethel's answer is no.
This is the first time I've ever seen the world's most beautiful woman in the world. This is another form of love Ethel told me the second point - independent personality, so as to make themselves better. This independence comes from being raised with the legacy of her father's campaigning for the livelihood of workers and the influence of working side by side with Maudette for women's liberation during the war. She rejects Fitz, represses her instinctive love, and chooses Bernie, who shares her political aspirations, to devote herself to people's livelihoods and to dedicating her life to breaking down the boundaries and injustices that characterize those societies. From the opening of Part 1, where she comes from a Welsh miner's family and works as a manor maid, to growing up in World War I as the editor-in-chief of a women's liberation newspaper and becoming a member of the House of Commons, to the end of Part 2, where she jumps up to become a minister of education with the Labour Party's post-World War II election victory, to the third part, when she becomes a baroness of the Peerage for life and a member of the House of Lords after the abolition of hereditary succession in the U.K., at the ripe age of 68 years old. The growth of this thin, courageous Welshwoman is a dark thread throughout the book, contrasting with the fallen giants and the old order. Her love for Fitz is preserved by her independence of character, and she is the "former maid" who dares Fitz to make way for her. Imagine if Ethel had chosen to be Fitz's "mistress", she might have been abandoned by Fitz to the clouds.
Ethel turned her own experiences - including the failure of love - into a force for progress, sympathizing with all the underprivileged groups in society, and striving to break down all the injustices and constraints in the world in the name of so-called morality. From women's suffrage and workers' benefits, to free health insurance, girls' right to education, and support for the legalization of homosexuality at the end of his life. It's no wonder that when the 80-year-old Fitz met Ethel, who was already suffering from lung cancer (let's not forget her miner's family origins) and soon to be dead, she finally dropped her mask and asked her affectionately, "Do you think there's going to be an afterlife." She says she " I don't know", but she replies to Fitz frankly that she, like him, " hasn't loved anyone the way she loves you". As I read this, hot tears suddenly rolled down my face, and despite being on the bus, I couldn't control them, so I just kept wiping them away with my head down in the crowd. There are many forms of love in the trilogy, such as Walter and Maldie's undying love, Daisy and Lloyd's turning back, Woody and Joanna's yin and yang, and Chuck and Eddie's listening to their hearts, . Ethel's love for Fitz, by contrast, is the most stoic and grueling, and consequently the thickest. Perhaps every Fitz longs to meet an Ethel, but I'd rather every Ethel not meet a Fitz!
Though I have had the misfortune of catching a cold recently, and wiping my nose while crawling the grid on the keyboard, my heart is full of joy! Thank you for your caring greetings, they make me feel very warm. If there is anything else I would like to ask for, it is that if you are willing, you can match another piece of background music, because on the train back to the city from Huairou, you recommended me so many various styles of music but rich in connotation, so that I am very happy with my ears. So next time you write back, please let me know a piece of background music you would like to have, and I'll turn on my bluetooth speaker or put on my headphones and listen to your feedback and heartfelt thoughts in the melody.
Regards,
Peng