Reflections on the English reading ofLa Traviata
-Book Review: “Camille”
响水县双语实验学校于树娣
I read the Chinese version of “Camille” a few years ago. At that time I was deeply moved by the maincharacter Marguerite Gautier. “Camille” or “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas， fils， is the story of Marguerite Gautier， a youngcourtesan， or kept woman， inParis in the mid 1800's， and how she falls in love witha young man， Armand Duval， andthen tries to escape from her questionable past. Unfortunately， it es back to haunt her and she ends up returning to that life anddies painfully and alone， but with the knowledge thatshe was a noble woman at heart. When I first began to read the book， I did not care for Marguerite or her attitude or lifestyle， but as I got further into the narrative， Irealized that her saucy attitude was a front to cover the lonely woman that shereally was. She felt used， abused and unloved， until the gentle Armand Duval came into her life and showed herthat he loved her as a person and not for what she could do for him. It must havetaken great co
urage for Marguerite to leave the life she had lived for so long， knowing all along that it was probably too good to be true andwould not last indefinitely. And it also showed that Marguerite really lovedArmand Duval for she could even change herself for him.
However， happiness didn’t last for long. When M. Duval， Armand'sfather， came to her， pleadingfor her to leave Armand to save both Armand's reputation and that of hisyounger innocent sister， Marguerite saw a way to beepure of heart， if not in body. She felt that it was herduty， because she loved Armand so much， to do this even though it meant giving up her own happiness andhurting Armand temporarily. She reluctantly returned to her former life， knowing that some day Armand would forgive her. Sadly， she died in debt and basically alone，except for her one female friend， Julie Duprat， who helped her during her illness. She had her journal sent toArmand after her death， explaining why she had made thechoices she had. I think Dumas's last few lines about Marguerite being theexception， not the rule were quite true， and I also agreed with his view that while her lifestyle could notbe condoned， we as a society assume that all of thesetype of women are cold and heartless， while this may
not always be the case. A person can make the wrong choices in lifewhen they are young， and try to redeem themselves， but sometimes past situations prevent them from changing theirlives， even though they desperately wish to do so. Thisapplies to both men and women in many different types of circumstances:involvement in crime; drug or alcohol abuse; gambling; prostitution; financialproblems; poor marriage choices; etc. And this is the fact， which exists in the whole society.
As far as the other characters in the book，I think Marguerite was right in saying that no one truly cared about her， but only wanted something from her， theonly exceptions being Armand and Julie Duprat. Of course， the Comte de G. and Comte de N. wanted her body and appearance. TheDuke needed to “wake up and smell the coffee” and realize that she could never replace his dead daughter. If hetruly cared， he could have helped her leave herlifestyle without “keeping” herhimself. And lastly， Prudence was a blood-sucking leechwho used Marguerite almost worse than the men. I also think she was jealous ofthe fact that Marguerite had so much more courage than herself and someonetruly loved her.
Last morning， when tiding my bookshelf， I took this book out of the shelf， and adried flower flew away from the book. It was pale blue，very transparent， with thin fine veins. a dried flowerflew away from the book. It was pale blue， verytransparent， with thin fine veins. I held it againstthe morning light and blew on it. The soft breeze carried it away.Camille isjust like the camellia， she could never escape from thedestiny of withering. But it wasn’t her fault; it’s because of the evil of Capitalism and the hideousness of thatsociety.
Suddenly， I remembered a saying: “Women are like the flowers”. Those prettywomen are like those beautiful flowers; their delicate beauty makes people feelthey are the miracle of life.
郑重声明：本文版权归原作者所有，本站旨在为中小学生提供更多优秀素材和范文，转载文章仅为传播更多信息之目的，如作者信息标记有误，请第一时间联系我们修改或删除，多谢。
