6、The Red and the Black ...
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The Red and the Black is a novel written by Stendhal, a French writer. The plot of the book Red and Black can be succinctly summarized as Julien\'s self-struggle and self-destruction. This book report will be divided into three parts: 1) the main plot; 2) the analysis of Julien\'s character image combined with the background of his creation; 3) Some of my reflections after reading this book.
The main plot
Born into a carpenter\'s family, Julien was disliked by his father and brothers. Julien\'s handsome face and thin body make it difficult for him to do as much physical work as his father and brothers. He was also ashamed of his humble origins. Julien is intelligent and has an excellent memory. his knowledge of the Latin Bible, he became a tutor in the house of Mrs. de Renard, the mayor of Villilliers, and secretly fell in love with Madame de Renard. After their secret love affair is known by the mayor, Julien has to go far away from the Besancon Seminary, hoping to be able to get ahead here with his intelligence.
Because of the conflicts between the dean bishop, Julien left the seminary to go to Paris Marquis house, his extraordinary talent and pride conquered the marquis home miss Mattel, then and Miss Mattel love, Julien\'s dream of joining the upper class seems to be coming true. Julien\'s dream was shattered when the Marquis received a letter of disclosure which Madame de Renard had been forced to copy out. He went to the church in Villilliers and shot Madame de Renard twice. Julien was arrested and sent to prison. Mrs. de Renard bribed the warder to save Julien from ill-treatment. Knowing the reason, Julien fell madly in love with Madame de Renard. Julien was sentenced to death, and he refused to allow Martell and Mrs. de Renard to appeal on his behalf. After Julien\'s execution, Martell buried his head with her own hands. Mrs. de Renard died three days later.
The analysis of Julien\'s character image
By the time Stendhal wrote The Red and the Black, the French bourgeois Revolution led by Napoleon had failed. The story in the novel also takes place in this period. Red and black are two contrasting colors. Stendhal takes The Red and the Black as the title of this book, which also deeply implies the contradiction of the protagonist in this book. When we read through this book, we can deeply appreciate the rich symbolism of the two colors red and black. Red is the color of Napoleon\'s military uniform, which symbolizes Julien\'s desire to break through class and pursue equality in his soul. It is the purest and kindest part of him. And black is the color of the missionary\'s robe, symbolizing solidified class and the hypocritical, selfish and cowardly part of his soul.
Julien\'s class status and education determined his heroic enthusiasm and vanity. Born in a low status, Julien early formed a kind of resistance and hatred of the aristocratic bourgeoisie psychology. The love of reading was influenced by the Enlightenment thought, which cultivated his common people to worship Napoleon and hope that they could make achievements. However, the feudal hierarchy destroyed his hope. Then he saw the prosperity of the church, he took refuge in the church, with hypocrisy as a weapon, with the means of resistance and cooperation, began the road of personal struggle. Julien is contradictory. When he was oppressed, he resisted, and when his personal fame and fortune were satisfied, he gave in and surrendered.
Some of my reflections
After reading this book, I was touched by Julien\'s tragic fate. His selfish hypocrisy, by all means to improve his social status, seems to be doomed to his destruction. When I first read this book， I hated Julien. I don\'t like his hypocrisy, don\'t like his casual play with love. But by the end, my feelings for him had turned to pity. It can be said that Julien\'s end was foreordained from the beginning. In such a social background, it is almost impossible for Julien to realize his ideal by his own efforts. He had to do anything. However, his consciousness of equality of the common class was not completely extinguished. So he was torn in the late stages. He tried to climb higher while he hated what he had done. I think Julien was just born in the wrong era. If he had been born in a free and equal country, he could have realized his dream through his own hard work and ingenuity. This is a great pity.
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第6章 The Red and the Black
