If you had to choose again, would you choose to wander around with your own heart and be yourself, or would you choose to follow the rules of others and live your life?
The two most important protagonists in the book should be Mia and Elena. In the rented room, Mia has a picture of a spider-shaped woman hanging on the wall. This spider is like a portrayal of the two of them: Mia shows her publicity and Elena shows her inner tenacity.
Mia has been a freak in the family since she was a child. Her parents can't understand her pursuit of art except her younger brother. But even with the support of their younger brother, they also have their own hobbies, so Mia has been walking alone on the road of photography that she yearns for, very lonely, very determined and very stubborn. Because if she hadn't been so determined, she might have given up her dream of photography long ago.
Less than a year in college, everyone knows that Mia is very talented. But Mia doesn't want talent. What she wants is to constantly turn what she sees into different photos. She studied photography not to become famous, but because she loved and wanted it.
Mia has been through a lot, so Pearl will say that Mia is more mature and reliable than her peers. She had to face the incomprehension and disapproval of her parents since she was a child, and then the first mentor, Mr. Wilkinson, left without saying goodbye. Pauline, the only mentor who supported her brother Warren's death in an accident and led her to the road of professional photography, died of brain cancer, and she had to face the complicated emotions and escape of the Ryan couple. ...
Mia has always been on her own. She has experienced too many difficult things, and these embarrassments have in turn honed her strong stubbornness into a carefree indifference-she can always find a way to face these difficulties and go further and further on her own. I don't care about other people's eyes and secular rules. As long as I can devote myself to art and take better care of my daughter, Mia has never been afraid. She just faced the challenges and solved them one by one.
Mia knows that the world is changeable, anything can happen, and even many things can't tell right from wrong in specific scenes. So every time she goes through it, she is more tolerant of the world. She just doesn't want to put too much emotion on others, because it will make it difficult for her to leave and affect her creation, but it doesn't mean that she won't understand the pain of others.
On the contrary, Elena grew up in a rich and loving family, and she has always been supported and praised except for her parents' constant emphasis on obeying the rules that she deeply agrees with.
Elena's life is going well. Studying, taking exams, working, getting married and having children are all step by step, almost completely in her plan. She has never suffered or been tired. Even because of the family tradition, Elena has always regarded herself as a talented leader and a savior who needs to save others.
Her world is only black and white, with no middle ground. In Tripp's words, "They are very confident, sure of everything, and very utilitarian and ambitious. I believe that there is absolute right and wrong in the world, and I have unparalleled ability to judge right and wrong. "
Rules have become an absolutely insurmountable standard in Elena's life. She set up countless lines of defense for the rules early, and anything beyond the rules-no matter what-she won't finish it.
The most important thing in Elena's dictionary is "should". Everything should be planned to avoid inappropriate, unpleasant and even disastrous consequences. She just did the right thing and built a good life on it. All adventures should be rejected. So whenever Elena comes across the right or wrong question in a bad choice, she will not put herself in the position of thinking. She will tell herself: I will never let myself get into this situation, and all this should be prevented in advance.
When these two women with completely different personalities meet, Mia gives Elena a great sense of crisis: people who follow the rules are most afraid of those who follow their hearts, because it will make them think about whether they have missed anything or even the whole life. Because often following the rules means boring and sameness, all the correct choices confirmed by predecessors are always less personal than insurance.
When Elena saw the picture of the spider dancer, she realized that she was very different from Mia. Then when she made a request, Mia refused her, which made her feel very uncomfortable-out of control, no one had ever refused her request before-so she strongly urged Mia to change her part-time job to her nanny, and there was no room for refusal.
Mia said that people often think that what they do is good and don't allow others to question it. I found that I couldn't think of any reason to refuse the landlord. Objection would only lead to misunderstanding and make the situation worse. Mia will soon see Elena's character, but Mia is not going to take this harmless "provocation" to heart. Because she has seen too many other things, she has long understood what is true malice and what is the temptation of fear.
As a matter of fact, Elena and Mia just live two opposite lives. If Elena can accept Mia's casualness and think about what she wants besides her present life, their meeting may be a very happy and complementary life. But Elena is determined to change Mia. She began to invade Mia's life and even pry into the privacy that Mia didn't want to talk about. This encounter has been defined.
Elena wants to prove that Mia is a bad person, because Mia doesn't follow the rules and lives casually, which is completely different from her: Mia will destroy all the photos she thinks are bad-even these failed products can fetch a good price-and then start over. But what Elena wants to do is the first experienced job, but because she is no longer willing to take risks in interviews and writing, it has become her only job. Elena didn't dare to start over, because it seemed against the rules. If it fails, wouldn't it be a waste of effort? Why do you want to do something you are not sure about? It is unacceptable for Elena to ruin everything for this.
So Elena went to investigate Mia's past, and her abandoned interview talent for many years gave Elena absolutely useful information. However, this is not news that journalists should interview, but Mia's privacy. However, it also indirectly shows that Elena really has the ability to be a news interviewer. The difference lies in whether she is willing to listen to different stories.
If you have a preconceived conclusion before investigating something, then whatever the evidence is, it will be the material to enrich your conclusion. Elena should have considered why Mia had sex with the Ryan family, but fear made her lose her objectivity, and she immediately decided that it was Mia's meanness. It seems that if Mia is identified as a despicable person, she can revive the charm of Elena's rules and make her more confident and live a better life.
Elena doesn't want to break away from the rules, but also wants to circle everyone into the rules. Ikey, the youngest daughter, is often criticized and reprimanded by Elena, not because Elena doesn't love her, but because her once-in-a-lifetime fear-first of all, Ikey's disability, and then Ikey's otherness-has turned into resentment: Elena doesn't understand why this child is different from others, why this child is different from what she wants, and why Ikey always thinks differently from others. Ikey is the fire of rebellion that disappeared from Elena. Elena, only by stopping Ikey can the fire of rebellion disappear.
Elena's rules are so unfriendly that Lekszi asked her in an argument what she would do if she had an abortion. Elena just said flatly, you won't turn yourself into that, you shouldn't. Elena just thinks that the school attaches great importance to sex education. Lexie, as her proud daughter, can certainly understand these truths and act according to the rules, but she forgets that Lexie is only eighteen years old and she doesn't understand the subtle relationship between love and sex.
Elena has a beautiful life envied by others, a neat and gorgeous big house, a good car and a stable and sufficient salary. However, her children yearn for Mia, a tenant who has only a small broken car, several part-time jobs but low salary, and most of the furniture is modified and patted with a camera. After Lekszi's abortion, Mia will tell her these burdens that you think you can't bear, and one day you will understand that you can bear them. After Ikey is rejected by school and family, Mia will ask her. Have you figured out what to do next? Do what you want.
Mia is like someone who looks at Elena's family from God's perspective. She clearly saw the weaknesses and defects of each of them-but Elena couldn't, because the rules in her heart "took it for granted" that her family was perfect and noble. Even though Elena terminated the rental contract for inappropriate reasons, Mia was full of blessings for them. Because Mia knows that the Ryan family mentioned by Elena is actually something she needs to tell Pearl and face together. There's always no point in running away, is there?
Motherly love is great, but sometimes it makes mistakes. Elena once said that Babe should not continue to raise Zhou Meiling, but let Linda raise her, because she once failed to fulfill her responsibilities as a mother. However, mothers are also ordinary women who are learning to be mothers. In the process of raising children, they are also learning and growing, and even changing their own shortcomings.
Beibei finally overcame her cowardice and fear, secretly returned to Zhou Meiling and took her back to China. She will love his daughter more, because she knows what maternal love is. Ikey of Elena set fire to the life that Elena had managed for many years. Ikey's departure made Elena understand that rules are just rules, and Ikey is her little daughter. In the future, Elena may live a less disciplined life, but she will definitely go to Ikey, because she understands what maternal love can do. As for Mia, there is no secret between her and Pearl at last. They will be closer and have more courage to face everything together.
Life goes on, and always stands up after it is broken. The fire made it easy to start all over again. When the bondage disappears, although your efforts have been burned, it is more important that you see what you want.
Lekezi
Lexie is very much like her mother Elena-confident and cold. She likes to judge others from the perspective of a master, and she is confident that her argument is absolutely correct.
It's like laughing at other people's clothes, criticizing Beibei's dereliction of duty, dismissing some homework, smiling and stroking a beautiful blonde hair to express her attitude.
But it is such a person that when she found out that she was pregnant unexpectedly and her boyfriend didn't want to be responsible, she chose Pearl instead of her original friend to accompany her to have an abortion. The reason is that pearls never judge others. You see, people who like to judge others don't like others to judge themselves.
Then she chose to sign Pearl's name on the operation list to avoid the possible damage to her reputation. Even after the abortion, she was taken good care of by Mia and Pearl, but after Ikey told her that Pearl had taken the blame from her mother Elena, Lekszi remained indifferent-nothing could hurt her good reputation, even if the responsibility belonged to her, she would not bear it.
Tripp
There are not many descriptions of Tripp in the book. Apart from the general impression that he is a playboy, we know little about his inner feelings.
Moody said Tripp was a shallow man. But Tripp told Pearl that I really wanted to talk to my brother, but we didn't know each other. So, is Moody's evaluation of Tripp true, or is it mixed with some other emotions? After all, we can find that Elena prefers Lacey and Tripp, can't she?
At the end of the book, Tripp and Moody finally got into a fight. The reason is that Moody says you are just a superficial person. Tripp was afraid Pearl would look for him so much and left him. Moody hit the nail on the head.
Maybe Tripp is a fragile person. He didn't dare to show his vulnerability, so he used the identity of a playboy to cover up his nature. After all, Playboy means being charming and getting along well with others. But in fact, he was afraid of being abandoned by Pearl. He doesn't have enough confidence in himself. So he rejects local girls who are as confident and ambitious as his mother and sister-they put too much pressure on him, so he can't establish a long-term relationship with them at all. Playboy came into being.
moody
This is a role with a big reversal. I remember at the beginning of the book, everyone said Ikey set fire to their house. Lexie and Tripp both acquiesced in this fact and expressed their dissatisfaction with Ikey. But Moody said at the time, why do you think Archie set the fire? Maybe it was an accident, wasn't it?
But when we read the whole book, we will find that Moody is the most certain person who set the fire by Ikey. Because Ikey asked him a lot of questions before and accused him of being a traitor to Pearl: Moody should know very well that Elena wouldn't let Mia rent their house when she said Pearl was dating Tripp. But Moody did it anyway, because he wanted Pearl to leave, so that he wouldn't have to face the scene that the girl he liked liked liked his brother and he was just a foil.
Moody is a hypocrite. He knew that Ikey was responsible for the fire, but he also knew that he was a factor that angered Ikey. So he set fire to Tripp and Lekszi. He said that if you didn't exclude her like this, maybe she wouldn't be so different. It seems that I am speaking for Ikey, but actually I just want to express that we are all involved in this ending. You are all wrong, not all my fault.
Elena's rules make her unable to see clearly what kind of personality her children are. In fact, they are just like her: not unwilling to be themselves, but unwilling to be responsible for their own reputation. However, this reputation was instilled in them by Elena who obeyed the rules.
So in the end, the wizard will say, you all betrayed Mia and Pearl. Mia and Pearl became the victims of pushing and shoving by Elena's family to cover up their mistakes. Including Elena's husband: He himself has understood that it is not appropriate to award custody of Zhou Meiling to Linda and his wife, but for the sake of his reputation, he can keep silent and continue his career as a lawyer, or he can change his mind and resign to cater to the future judgment.
What Mia did was what they realized and what they didn't want to do. Because you have done something, you have to bear the consequences. And they don't want to take this responsibility.
Postscript: In fact, on the whole, the characterization of this book is not sufficient. There are many characters involved in the whole book, but Mia is the only one with the most plump characters.
The book mentions racial discrimination many times, which seems to be related to many plots, but it is actually an understatement. There are also emotional lines between Tripp and Pearl, Lacey and Blair, which are changing so fast.
If the theme of this book is to live the life you want, then I don't think it is excluded that some people are willing to live by the rules. In fact, few people can live like Mia, but there is no more specific description of Elena's struggle and abandonment when choosing rules.
I can feel that the author wants to express a lot, but the details are not perfect.