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The title of the novel is quite a tribute to the little match girl. On the cover, the earth is hazy; A little girl knelt in the hole, and the light in the hole lit up her face.
Like the little girl selling matches, the little girl looking for light tells a sad story: in the ruins ravaged by war, two survivors-a little girl and an old man-live together; In order to avoid the slaughter of the war, the little girl and the old man hid in an unknown corner to keep warm, illuminating each other with weak lights and looking for a bright road.
In a short space, the author uses "narrative montage", alternately using the perspectives of old people and little girls, interspersed with their memories and dreams, and shows the readers the cruelty and pain of war from a microscopic perspective.
The old man who is over eighty years old was originally a composer and lived a rich and happy life. But the sudden war changed everything: witnessed the tragic slaughter and saw the tragic death of the closest relatives; The survival of his granddaughter once made him ecstatic, but it didn't last long. Right under his nose, his eight-year-old granddaughter was devastated.
"That can no longer be called home …" In the ruins ravaged by war and slaughter, he still has a sigh of relief-it is no exaggeration to say "surviving". In order not to be discovered by "that kind of person", the old man blocked all the doors and windows at home and cut off all contact with "light" until one day-
"Dirty little body, curled up in a pile of waste. I looked at the' corpse' through the gap in the window board for a few minutes or even hours-I have no concept of time. "
When the "corpse" was found alive, the old man took the "little corpse" home at the risk of being discovered by "that kind of person" and being ridiculed as a "monster giant".
My little daughter resigned herself to her fate, but suddenly she turned a pinion in her heart. This small structure brings another structure and drives other structures-a series of strange mechanisms have given birth to a subtle thing: hope. "
The little girl was saved. From the girl's flashback memory, we know that the poor child is an orphan of war, and has lived in a dark sewer with a group of street children since birth. Because she "searched" for food but always looked for candles, she was beaten and even abandoned.
The little girl can't talk and has no name. The old man gave her a name-"Guanger"; In her mind, Guanger secretly gave the old man a unique title-"Mr. Grandpa". Without food and light, they go out to look for it at night; Don't know the time, there is no hope, they comfort each other. Grandpa taught Guanger the rules and gave her a "list of all things to do after the war"; Under grandpa's care, Guanger glowed with the unique vitality of the little girl, confidently crossed off the item "Love a person" on the list and gently kissed grandpa's forehead.
The plot of the novel is not ups and downs, but the brushstrokes described are very delicate: either the old man mumbles something or the little girl knows something new around her. But with the deepening of reading, I was deeply attracted by the protagonist's situation: looking for hopeless hope from the broken radio with them, being extremely nervous about the sudden intrusion of "that kind of person", rejoicing and comforting the arrival of the blue helmets.
"A bright morning sun immediately projected in ... Today is so beautiful that even photons want to dance ... When the dusty little dance music ended next to grandpa's face, she noticed that his face seemed to be grayer than usual. "So she kissed his forehead, and in a flash, the cold feeling immediately attached to his lips, reaching his heart. "
I can't help crying when I read this. There are many wonderful descriptions of death in famous works at home and abroad, and those words that hit people's hearts vividly express the decadence and emptiness after flower of life's withering and the disillusionment and loss after the fresh life dissipates. But a few words here are very sad: grandpa is gone, what is waiting for the light?
02
Whenever I read about the trivial and warm daily life between Grandpa and Guanger, I always think of the movie "This Black Boy is Not Too Cold". In my opinion, there is a wonderful connection between novels and movies: they are the same lovers who have lived together in the past few years, and the surviving protagonist is also a forgotten and neglected soul, comforting and warming each other in the day-to-day relationship. ?
The difference is that Guanger and Grandpa are older and have more pure feelings for each other. Grandpa regards Guanger as his own and loves her like a granddaughter. Guanger, on the other hand, is as clean as a blank sheet of paper, and sincerely and purely loves her grandfather who gave her food, warmth and light.
In the film, the hatred of abnormal police created Matilda's paranoia and rebellion; In the novel, Guanger, who has lived in the sewer since she was born, is full of gratitude for everything her grandfather gave her. She yearned for the world her grandfather painted for her, which was completely different from the dirty sewer, although it was only the most common scene before the war.
"Tragedy is to destroy beautiful things for people to see", Guanger, who has lived in the sewer since he can remember, just instinctively looks for light; For Mr. Grandpa, he has a happy and prosperous life, but what he experienced was a complete nightmare.
In this sense, Mr. Grandpa needs to be cured more than Guanger. With light, he has the ability of fall in love again alone; With the light, he rekindled his hope for life; With Hiro, he can fight to the death with "that kind of person" ... In the days when he and Hiro lived alone, "good memories before the war" and "good hopes after the war" complemented each other. Two hearts, one old and one young, reflect each other with a faint light, warm each other and redeem each other.
In the film, Lyon gradually developed a wonderful feeling for Matilda, but eventually died of the weakness brought by this feeling; In the novel, grandpa completed his self-salvation under the care and warmth of Guanger.
"This killer is not too cold" made Natalie Portman famous and touched countless people; The little girl looking for light makes readers feel the cruelty of war and the warmth and gentleness of human nature. Subtle care and a little love, like a small candle, although teetering in the storm of war, still strongly exudes aura and heat.
03
From Wen Yiduo's Ode to the Sun to Gu Cheng's "Night gives me black eyes, but I use them to look for light", in the literary context, "light" has always been a metaphor, symbolizing freedom, justice and positive power.
From the theme, The Little Girl in Search of Light is an anti-war novel, and the experiences of the two protagonists are directly or indirectly caused by the war. People in war are like dirt, and their dignity is trampled by filth and bullying. They must be like mice, huddled in a dark corner, isolated from the light. ?
A staunch anti-war, a tough guy in the literary world, Hemingway, in his short story In a Foreign Land, said through the mouth of an American soldier who appeared as a winner:
"In the face of cruel war, no matter which country the combatant comes from and what he fights for, he can't escape the same fate-the war abandoned him from normal human life."
And the impact of war on civilians is even more fatal. During the war, the displaced civilians lost, suffered, lost and struggled; Compared with the visible post-war ruins and corpses, the psychological trauma caused by the war is even greater, just like what Grandpa experienced: excessive tension, insomnia, persistent tinnitus and fear everywhere. ...
When Guanger first saw the sunshine, it was the real daytime sunshine. That light is neither an orange and shy dawn, nor a gray and blue and disturbing dusk. " ?
Under the haze of war, the sunshine we are used to will bring such a great shock to the light that lives in sewers all the year round!
Although it is an anti-war theme, "Looking for a Bright Little Girl" does not describe the tragic and cruel war from the front. In the book, we can't tell the time and social background of the story; As for the perpetrators of the massacre, the author just called them "that kind of people" by the mouth of Guanger and Grandpa.
If "In a Foreign Land" aims to show readers the inner world of war participants, "Looking for a Bright Little Girl" is an exploration of civilian psychology in the shadow of war. This 80,000-word novel does not have enough space to discuss the grand proposition of "war and peace", but we can see the author's reflection on war and his tribute to love and redemption.
From The Cuckoo, The Long Engagement to Cold Mountain, including The Beautiful Legend of Sicily and Miss My Brother, a new film released by Korea at the beginning of this year, in recent years, more and more literature and film and television works focus on exploring the living conditions of ordinary people in the shadow of war from the microscopic perspective of ordinary people and reflecting on the suffering and pain brought by war. For innocent civilians, struggle and belief, party and politics may be far away, and a happy family and its happy life are the most important.
Just like Guanger and Grandpa, they don't know "that kind of person"; All they expect is an early end to the war and a safe life. No matter who represents justice, we must respect life; Belief in light and respect for life are above all else. Nothing is more important than living, nothing is warmer than love and redemption.
At the end of the book,
"Guanger" began to play the piano as her grandfather taught her ... restless music, accompanied by Guanger's tears and the sadness that guided her fingers for many years, ... like the saddest song of freedom, like the most beautiful cry of love. "
When the light came, grandpa closed his eyes forever; And looking for a bright road, Guanger will continue to go on. Because, as Hemingway said, a person "can be destroyed, but can never be defeated."