Introduction to the Characters in The Thorn Birds

As a family novel, The Thorn Birds has few characters, but it is full of personality. There are all kinds of wonderful characters in the works: the loyal Wenyapadi always loves his wife who fell from the sky in an implicit way; Fiona, who looks indifferent, has never walked out of the shadow of being betrayed by love in her early years; Frank, with a violent personality and suffering, buried his dream of getting ahead in prison; Other industrious sons of the Cleary family dedicated the energy and enthusiasm left by other men to the vast land of Drogheda; Meggie, who is gentle, introverted and stubborn, Father Ralph, who can't put it down, Mrs. Mary Carson, who is arrogant and full of bitterness, gentle Dane and eccentric Justine ... are all flesh and blood and lifelike. Although most of the characters with complex personalities are still traditional skills, they are used freely without any trace of axe carving-wonderful dialogue between characters, delicate psychological description, superb action description and appropriate appearance outline; Then put the characters in a specific environment, or design conflicts, or contrast, so as to set off and highlight their personality and essence.

The Thorn Birds is divided into seven parts, named after the main characters respectively, and tells the story of Cleary family substitution from 19 15- 1969. Fiona and Paddy are the first generation, Meggie and Ralph are the second generation, and Justine and Dane are the third generation. Both of them are thorn birds, but their personality characteristics and life pursuit are different. Fiona, Meggie and Justine, as women, are more and more rebellious from generation to generation, and more and more dare to fight against Almighty God and cruel fate. But on the other hand, from Paddy to Ralph, from Luke to Dane, in these men, their desire for normal human nature and healthy love is weakening, and their ability to love is gradually deteriorating. fiona

Fiona is a thorn bird, and Pajihan is the longest and sharpest thorn in her body. There is no positive description of their love story in the novel, but it is told to readers through Paddy's confession to Ralph after a drunkenness and Fiona's confession to Meggie in her later years. Fiona's love with Pajihan was short and painful, but she paid a lifetime price for it. Patchhan and Paddy are the two most important men in Fiona's life. One has love without marriage, and the other has marriage without love. But Fiona doesn't regret falling in love with Pajihan. That short and profound love is worth remembering all her life. Nearly 70 years old, she still said affectionately to Meggie, "I love that man. He is the most famous politician in New Zealand. He is handsome, tall, with black hair and always smiling eyes. He has everything your father doesn't have: culture, eloquence and charm. I'm almost madly in love with him, and I know I'll never fall in love with anyone else from now on ... "That's why Fiona loves Frank more than other children. Dean Michelle is the continuation of Pajihan's life, and he loves Frank as much as he loves Pajihan. However, what pains Fiona is that Frank and Paddy are so incompatible, just like rivals in love-they hate each other. They cannot live under one roof. So when Frank knew his life, he left Paddy's house decisively. When he came back at the age of fifty, Paddy no longer existed. God is still kind to Fiona. Although he deprived her of the right to love, he gave her the right to be loved. Paddy is a good husband to the core. When he was alive, he deeply loved his wife, but did not love her, with inferiority and admiration. Fiona really loved only one person in her life-Pakihan, but behind her silence and deadpan, Fiona was deeply grateful and respectful to Paddy. After all, this man, Paddy, protected me and gave me a stable family, but I never loved him: he was the most gentle and lovely person, but I didn't understand this until I lost him: "I love him, but I never have a chance to treat him again."

Meggie

The novel begins with Meggie's fourth birthday and focuses on her emotional entanglement with Father Ralph. From this, we can easily draw the conclusion that Meggie is the most striking thorn bird in the novel, and Ralph is the longest and sharpest thorn in her body. When they first met, Meggie was only 9 years old and Ralph was 29 years old. However, the disparity in age does not prevent them from attracting each other at all. When Meggie's family appeared in front of Ralph, he didn't seem to notice that his robe was left in the dust. He crossed the boys, squatted down and stopped Meggie with his hands, which were firm, soft and full of friendship. "Megan, this is my only favorite name." This may just be a very common compliment. This little girl, who is only ten years old, lit the fire of passion that Father Ralph put out for many years. When Paddy appeared in front of Mary Carson, Meggie put her little arm around Ralph's neck. She is so dependent on him. My father and brother once gave Meggie a sense of security. These two men were Meggie's protectors before Ralph appeared, but when Ralph appeared, they were left behind by Meggie. Mary hardly listened when Ralph introduced the Paddy boy to her. She is busy observing the priest and Meggie. Such an understatement is rich in meaning: Mary, who has been widowed for many years, fell in love with the handsome young Ralph;

Ralph's intimate behavior with Meggie caused Mary's jealousy and anxiety. She knew that Meggie's appearance meant that she would never get Ralph. Therefore, Mary played the role of a narrator. She told readers that the love story between Meggie and Ralph had begun.

In the following decades, Meggie became a mother of two children from a little girl who didn't know anything about dust, and Ralph became a hot Vatican red archbishop from a dashing young priest. One had the family and children she longed for, and the other got the teaching position he worked hard for, but lost the most cherished love. Fiona was lucky to marry a husband who loved her, while Meggie married a husband who only loved her money. Frank finally returned to Fiona after leaving home for decades, but Dane disappeared forever after leaving Meggie. Poor Meggie not only lost her lover, but also lost her son, the son born with Ralph. However, Meggie is also lucky. Although she can't legally marry Ralph, they have never been separated emotionally.

Zhu siting

From the moment she was born, it was decided that she was an exotic thorn bird. She didn't pursue an unattainable love all her life like her grandmother or mother. She doesn't even intend to get married. When Meggie asked her if she wanted to get married, she looked contemptuous: "Impossible! Cry and wipe your tears, and spend your life like a beggar? Bow to a self-righteous person who is only half as good as me? " However, Justine is by no means an ascetic. As Hegel said: "lust is the natural nature of human beings and has the characteristics of primitive instinct." Passion is dynamic, and the essence of restlessness is anxiety about the status quo. "Just because Justine doesn't intend to get married doesn't mean she intends to live an abstinent life. On the contrary, her lust is even stronger and more unruly than her mother and grandmother. Just because she doesn't intend to get married doesn't mean that she has given up love. Justin is a thorn bird, but her longest and sharpest thorn is not her lover, but her brother Dane. Because she is not Meggie's expected child, she has been neglected by Meggie since she was born, so Zhu Siting has shown independence and detachment from ordinary girls since she was a child. She never approached anyone, not even her mother, until her brother Dane appeared. Perhaps it is the deformation of the complex of loving father, or the rebellion against maternal love. She showed a strong sense of possession and responsibility in Dane, as if Dane belonged to her alone. Even as an adult, she and Dane have maintained this close relationship. Dane is the most important man in her life, and any man is eclipsed in her eyes. This is an important manifestation of her rebellious character. She despises worldly love, and Dane is everything to her. In her view, the love between men and women has no emotional factors, so that even if you joke, it is easy to lose your virginity. " She took off her clothes deftly and briskly and climbed into bed without twisting and pushing ... the reason is "if I don't know anything about men and women, how can I expect to be a good actress?" ? "However, just as God had no mercy on Fiona and Meggie, God mercilessly deprived Justine of her love for Dane and brought Dane back to her.

Although Dane's death gave Zhu Siting a heavy blow and made her fall into infinite pain and regret, it was Dane's death that awakened Zhu Siting's true side and made her embark on a healthy emotional path. Dane is Zhu Siting's swan song, which is also sad. Zhu Siting is another kind of thorn bird. After the song, Zhu Siting, who was aloof and indifferent, was exhausted and replaced by Zhu Siting, who was full of passion and love. Zhu Siting finally walked out of Dane's shadow, accepted another important male Reina in her life, and found her happiness on the painful cliff.

abstract

The reason why The Thorn Birds stands out in the contemporary literary world lies not only in the unforgettable love stories of the hero and heroine in the novel, but also in the love stories of three generations with their own characteristics and connotations. Through these stories, the author created three women who dared to fight against fate and social customs. If love is the eternal theme of literature, then women are an old topic. No love story can exist independently from women. From a purely human point of view, even the most unique point of view often hangs over the shadow of social adjustment consciousness. Most importantly, through these three female images, the author reveals a truth for us: true love and all good things need to be exchanged at unimaginable prices.

From the theme, the love of Fiona, Meggie and Justine belongs to the same motif, that is, rebellious women boldly pursue their own happiness. However, with the progress of the times, their emotional experiences are also different and developed. Fiona and Pajihan only have a short love story. Meggie is happier than her. She and Ralph had a long love run until Ralph came to his senses forever. Zhu Siting is the luckiest. After a short emotional journey, she had a happy marriage based on love. Although the specific roads are different, on the whole, they all reflect the love view of western women different from that of eastern women. First of all, they all have a strong sense of self and attach importance to their feelings. They don't want to be subordinate to men, and they pursue marriage based on love, so they pay a heavy price for it. Fiona fell in love with a married man, but she didn't want to be his lover. She wants to marry him and live together forever. But the prestige of the family did not allow her to do so, so she had to marry a man she had never met and suffer for life. Meggie went further. She never concealed or gave up her love for Ralph, even after Ralph gave up her to realize his personal ambition. Although she also got a marriage, it was also a loveless marriage, which doomed Meggie's misery from the beginning. Secondly, western women pay attention to the independence of their own personality. Equality between men and women, first of all, equality of personality. On the issue of marriage, pay attention to the equality of personality to a certain extent. "Marriage is to connect two completely independent individuals, not reconciliation, not retreat, not escape, nor compensation." Fiona married Paddy for the sake of her family and her reputation, but in front of Paddy, she is equal to him. She is a faithful wife, but by no means a maid. She thanked Paddy for giving her a home, but she would never give in blindly. She has her own independent thoughts and opinions. In Meggie and Justine, this kind of personality independence is more obvious. Their marriage is their own choice, not obedience to their parents. paddy field

Paddy, an Irish immigrant, was penniless and married the beautiful and noble Fiona. This extremely disproportionate marriage was puzzling from the beginning. Although he loves her deeply, is gentle and considerate to her, and tolerates her indifference and quirks, he always pays more between him and Fiono, and it is unilateral and unrequited. Despite his resentment, he embraced Fiona wholeheartedly. Even when he was dying of fire, he kept calling Fiona's name. But Fiona was still cold to him, and she didn't wake up until Paddy died.

Ralph

Ralph is a man full of contradictions in his heart. The conflict between love and church, humanity and divinity is like a thorn in his heart. Ralph loves Meggie, and he will go to her whenever she needs it. But he is a priest after all, and his special status determines that there will never be any result between him and Meggie. At the same time, his ambition for church power did not allow him to do so. His "purpose is not a person, never a person, but something greater, something beyond just one person's fate." Between the two opposites of love and church, Ralph can't abandon either. He wants to have both, but in fact he can neither be a pure man nor a priest, so he is doomed to spend his life in pain and suffering. In the church, Ralph has always had doubts about God, and even becoming an archbishop can't resolve his inner doubts. The joy of matlock Island made him realize that "living in the world and pursuing divinity is just an illusion", and he even admitted that his love for Meggie far exceeded his love for God, and God was just "a scam, a ghost and a clown." But his love for Regret Ji is short-lived, and he can't resist God's law. The huge prescriptive temptation finally brought him back to God, and he spent the rest of his life in Rome.

But once the seeds of suffering are sown, they will eventually grow. Dane is the fruit of Meggie's struggle with God and the evidence that Ralph betrayed the church. This was doomed to be a mistake from the beginning, and it was also doomed to pay the price-Ralph lived with his son day and night without knowing it, and he didn't understand the truth until Dane died. The pain of losing a child and the regret of losing love finally completely defeated Ralph. He "cried and curled up on the crimson carpet as if blood had just flowed out." We seem to see a thorn bird that died of exhaustion.

Luke (male name)

Unlike Ralph's inner struggle between love and ambition, in the emotional world of Luke and Dane, love is extremely scarce. Luke is a real miser, with money first and enthusiasm for work. "I like real cash, far more than what the money can finally buy for him." What he cares about is neither the ownership of land nor the inheritance of land, but he hopes to accumulate rows of neat numbers in his passbook and in his own name. "He carefully planned to get Meggie, but only for Meggie's considerable savings. Luke completely ignored Meggie's feelings. He made love to her arrogantly, took all her money and even changed her name at will. His emotional world is a desert, and all his thoughts are on money.

For him, Meggie is just a tool to collect money. Luke has no love in his mind, and he doesn't know what love is. He declared, "Love! what is love ? Apart from the imaginary creation of women, there is no such thing at all, that is. "

Danes

Contrary to Luke's disgusting personality, Dane is a gentle and handsome boy, but he has devoted all his love to God and has no desire for the women around him, because he thinks that loving them and loving God cannot be both. It can be said that he is the ideal incarnation of Father Ralph. So how do you express your deep love for God? He firmly believes that "only by giving him something can I show him that there is nothing in my heart except him." I can only give him what he can match, which is the sacrifice he asked me to make. I am his servant, and he is incomparable. I have to make a choice. "Dane gave up the possibility of love, accepted the priesthood, and took the initiative to embark on a thorny road of dedication to the church.

Rena

Reina is the husband of Zhu Siting, the third generation son of Cleary family. Reina is short and fat, but she is gorgeous and charming. He is loyal to Zhu Siting and tolerates her naughty, mischievous and stubborn. "Only God can defeat his emotional firmness. He never regards love as a bargaining chip in life, and career and love are in an equal position. He always accompanies Zhu Siting like a friend, brother and lover, helping her solve problems. He cared for Zhu Siting carefully, without sweet words, but showed his loyalty to Zhu Siting, waiting for her to wake up to her responsibility for love. He respects Zhu Siting, her feelings, her independence and her career.