Those Beautiful Flowers

---Book Review: “Camille”

I read the Chinese version of “Camille” a few years ago. At that time I was deeply moved by the main character Marguerite Gautier. “Camille” or “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas, fils, is the story of

Marguerite Gautier, a young courtesan, or kept woman, in Paris in the mid 1800's, and how she falls in love with a young man, Armand Duval, and then tries to escape from her questionable past. Unfortunately, it comes back to haunt her and she ends up returning to that life and dies painfully and alone, but with the knowledge that she 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, I realized that her saucy attitude was a front to cover the lonely woman that she really was. She felt used, abused and unloved, until the gentle Armand Duval came into her life and showed her that he loved her as a person and not for what she could do for him. It must have taken great courage for Marguerite to leave the life she had lived for so long, knowing all along that it was probably too good to be true and would not last indefinitely. And it also showed that Marguerite really loved Armand Duval for she could even change herself for him.

However, happiness didn’t last for long. When M. Duval, Armand's father, came to her, pleading for her to leave Armand to save both

Armand's reputation and that of his younger innocent sister, Marguerite saw a way to become pure of heart, if not in body. She felt that it was her duty, because she loved Armand so much, to do this even though it meant giving up her own happiness and hurting 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 to Armand after her death, explaining why she had made the choices she had. I think Dumas's last few lines about Marguerite being the exception, not the rule were quite true, and I also agreed with his view that while her lifestyle could not be condoned, we as a society assume that all of these type of women are cold and heartless, while this may not always be the case. A person can make the wrong choices in life when they are young, and try to redeem themselves, but sometimes past situations prevent them from changing their lives, even though they desperately wish to do so. This applies to both men and women in many different types of circumstances: involvement in crime; drug or alcohol abuse; gambling; prostitution;

financial problems; 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, the only exceptions being Armand and Julie Duprat. Of course, the

Comte de G. and Comte de N. wanted her body and appearance. The Duke needed to “wake up and smell the coffee” and realize that she could never replace his dead daughter. If he truly cared, he could have helped her leave her lifestyle without “keeping” her himself. And lastly, Prudence was a blood-sucking leech who used Marguerite almost worse than the men. I also think she was jealous of the fact that Marguerite had so much more courage than herself and someone truly loved her.

Last morning, when tiding my bookshelf, I took this book out of the shelf, and a dried flower flew away from the book. It was pale blue, very

transparent, with thin fine veins. a dried flower flew away from the book. It was pale blue, very transparent, with thin fine veins. I held it against the morning light and blew on it. The soft breeze carried it away. Camille is just like the camellia, she could never escape from the destiny of withering. But it wasn’t her fault; it’s because of the evil of Capitalism and the hideousness of that society.

Suddenly, I remembered a saying: “Women are like the flowers”. Those pretty women are like those beautiful flowers; their delicate beauty makes people feel they are the miracle of life. However, even the God envies their beauty. It seems that beautiful women always have tragic endings. As we are normal persons, even we can see the hideousness of humanity that results in their fate of withering, we can at most ask quietly in our hearts: Where have those beautiful flowers gone? Where have they gone?

第二篇：《茶花女》读书笔记

《茶花女》读书笔记

小仲马，19世纪法国著名小说家、戏剧家。 《茶花女》就是根据他亲身经历所写的一部力作。是发生在小仲马身边的一个故事。在19世纪40年代，一个叫阿尔丰西娜·普莱西的贫苦乡下姑娘来到巴黎，走进了名利场，成了上流社会的一个社交明星，开始了卖笑生涯；并改名为玛丽·杜普莱西。她爱好文学，音乐，谈吐不俗。一次在剧院门口咳血时被小仲马看见，小仲马甚是心痛。玛丽也非常感动，于是两人开始了一段交往。后来小仲马和玛丽的感情出现了问题。一次小仲马回到巴黎时听说了玛丽的离去，异常后悔，愧疚，于是写出了这部文学史上的经典。在一些版本里，您会看到这本书的第一页就是小仲马为玛丽·杜普莱西写的一首诗，名叫《献给玛丽·杜普莱西》。此外，由于小仲马的母亲并不是大仲马的妻子，大仲马曾不肯相认。小仲马也借此为当时所有母亲是这样的女人说话。

小说的主人公玛格丽特本是一位贫穷的乡下姑娘,为谋生来到巴黎,不幸落入风尘,做了妓女,染上了挥霍钱财的恶习;她疯狂地寻欢作乐麻痹自己,但内心却讨厌这种空虚的生活.这个依旧保持有纯洁心灵的沦落女子,向往真正的爱情生活,后来被阿尔芒的一片赤诚之心所感动,彼此深深地相爱,在远离巴黎市区的乡间过起美满的田园生活.玛格丽特受到创伤的心灵也开始愈合,并决心彻底改掉过去的习惯,永远和阿尔芒在一起,享受一个正常女人的真正生活。. 可惜,这时,阿尔芒的父亲为了家庭的声誉恳请玛格丽特离开阿尔芒,一再给玛格丽特种种侮辱,难堪.面对生活的沉重打击,她对人

生更加心灰意冷.当阿尔芒得知真情赶到玛格丽特身边时,她因贫病交加,身心交瘁,孤苦伶仃地死在自己的寓所里.这段爱情自始至终就没有一个坚实的经济基础，似乎注定了他们的悲剧。但我认为这并不是主要原因，因为玛格丽特最后已经放弃那每年十多万法郎的生活，而跟随阿尔芒去过那田园的平民的生活。而此时，经济已不再是问题了。还是阿尔芒不果断地去强迫她，离开巴黎，去另外一个环境去忘记过去。而实际上，他有很多机会可以这样做。 码格丽特是一个坚强的姑娘,她一个人面临着死亡,她又如此善良,不愿让他看到自己死亡前的痛苦.她一生最快乐的时光是阿尔芒给予的,但她一生最痛苦的时光同样也是阿尔芒给予的.面临死前要永远的诀别是最痛苦的,阿尔芒的出现,是使她走向命运终点的催化剂.使她的悲惨命运更加深化.或许没有阿尔芒出现即使没有了闪耀点,也不会有深切的痛.或许正是因为阿尔芒,她的生命才有了光彩.她才能够从这个悲惨的世界里完全的解脱。

不妨看看茶花女的最终归宿，纵然是尸骨腐烂至尽，阿尔芒还是一眼认出了他，生虽不能相守，死也要用你最爱的茶花铺满你的墓地，让你贞洁的灵魂得以慰藉。花虽已凋谢，而那份真爱却能使茶花日日更新，得以长存，而这份真情将会带进另一个相会的时空。

小仲马的《茶花女》是一部不朽之作。在里面阿尔芒和茶花女的爱情是主题。他们相爱，但是得不到世人的同情，反而受到了许多不平的待遇。这是很正常的，谁都不愿意让自己的儿子去娶一个妓女，茶花女是妓女，她靠出卖她的青春来换得饭吃。这一点她与其它于这

行的女子没什么分别，但是她不同与其它风尘女子的是，她有着聪明的脑子，她看许多书，知道了许多东西，她有自己的思维和想法，是个上知天文下知地理的女子，而不是那种只懂得用外貌来吸引男人的普通妓女，这也是为什么她会得到这么多的上流社会的男人的喜欢与宠爱的原因了。

无疑，这是一段感人肺腑的，悲壮凄惨的，让人同情的，美好的爱情，尤其在十九世纪中期资产阶级社会早期世态炎凉中，赤裸裸金钱关系的那个社会，更让人赞叹不已。