Notes on The Thorn Birds

How do you feel after reading famous books? It's time to write reading notes and record them well. But what are the requirements for reading notes? The following are my reading notes on The Thorn Birds, which I hope will help you.

The Thorn Birds is the first novel by Australian woman writer Colleen mccullough. It is also her famous work and her most successful novel. This is probably the most successful literary work of Australia-New Zealand southern Pacific continent and islands so far.

Based on the love between Meggie and Ralph, the book shows readers a vivid picture of New Zealand-Australia from the end of/kloc-0 to the first half of the 20th century. The content is vivid, the plot is compact, the story is ups and downs, and the characterization is also in place.

Cleary's family came from New Zealand to live and manage in Drogheda Ranch, which was the biggest turning point of their family and also planted many tragicomedy and tragedy seeds.

Cleary's family is rich, and Cleary's family is not short of social status. Ralph can become a cardinal, and his power position is very unimaginable. However, money and status are not important. The most precious things in life are: love, affection, hometown, career, dreams, nature, the glory of life stage, the tranquility of leisure when physically and mentally exhausted, and so on. They brought great happiness and great pain, and made people enjoy the beauty of the world, but left many scars!

Ralph and Meggie

When Father Ralph went to the railway station to meet their family, he met Meggie, and their doomed love was doomed, even though they were a generation apart. Destined love, because they fell in love with people who are doomed to be impossible together and who should not fall in love.

A person pursues God, career and power and does not hesitate to put it into action, but as a person, as a person, he can't get rid of human nature. His only wish in earthly life is to have a unique temperament to attract his little girl-Meggie. However, it is impossible to get the latter if you get the former. He can only endure emotional suffering when his career is booming.

The other is pure and kind, strong and arrogant, longing for a romantic and normal love and marriage life, but this most common wish has become the most impossible fantasy. Meggie married the wrong man for this affection, got a failed marriage, and then spent most of his life in Drogheda. His life's youth and family romance have not been obtained. What a high price! It is because of these costs that the most ordinary wishes become so great!

Meggie's mother Fiona doesn't like her children being with Patty, including Meggie. Meggie's father and brothers also love Meggie very much, but they are not so careful and sensitive after all, and they can't replace the role of mother. It was Frank who loved Meggie the most since childhood. It was Frank who ran away from home and went to prison when Meggie was growing up. The only person who can teach and care about Meggie from all aspects of life, thought and emotion is Ralph. Meggie's process from a little girl to a girl, The Seeds of Love was carefully cared for by Ralph, and Meggie's affection for him changed from attachment to his brother's parents to love between men and women. This is natural and inevitable. In that relatively closed pasture environment, among the people close to Meggie, who else can replace Ralph? Ralph is gentle and considerate, caring for Meggie, and he is Meggie's teacher of thoughts and knowledge. Ralph will be the most important person in Meggie's life.

When it was finally determined that Ralph could not be with her, Meggie chose to marry Luke, who was very similar to Ralph. However, Luke is a selfish beast, a miser, a man with a big appearance and a small heart. This is in sharp contrast with Ralph. Meggie finally decided to return to Drogheda and never wanted to marry anyone else again. However, like her mother, she prefers Ralph's son Dane, while Luke's daughter Justine is not so lucky. At this point, Meggie is not more noble than her mother, and even makes people feel a little narrow and disgusted. But this is human nature after all, and this is a woman's psychology. Forgive her.

Ralph is the embodiment of contradiction. He is capable and talented; He is sociable and can win the favor of the Pope, civilians and even Nazis. His theft is also good, sometimes dark and sometimes thick, so he can ascend to heaven step by step. These are his strong side. However, he kept his inner torment, that is, as a man, he longed for normal feelings and love. This love tortured him all his life, even from youth to old age. Ralph was attracted by Meggie's temperament and beauty at first sight, and was captured by this woman from then on, and never escaped. He looks strong, but his heart is actually more fragile than Meggie's. His pain is a kind of pain close to struggling in despair. It was not until he learned that Dane was actually his own son and personally held a funeral ceremony for Dell that he could no longer bear the torture and blow of life and died suddenly.

There is no doubt that Ralph has a strong sense of dedication and utility. Although he is very contradictory and painful, he would rather give up his love for his children, his married life and the most ordinary and greatest rights that a normal person has. This is the price. When Ralph gains great power and status, he is bound to give up many precious things. When he acquired the wealth that should belong to the Cleary family by improper means, his death must also belong to the Cleary family. Although Cleary's family and himself are actually kind-hearted, they have always had a harmonious relationship and cared for each other. This is another beautiful light of human nature.

The love between Meggie and Ralph is very tragic. Meggie is almost as persistent as a martyr, and Ralph's struggle in front of God and the secular makes people feel a kind of human tension.

However, the love between Meggie and Ralph has caused such a great tragedy because of an extremely ridiculous and contemptible shallow reason, which shows how many human tragedies will be caused by a little narrowness of human beings and how many obstacles will be caused to human liberation. Protestant priests can get married and have children, but why can't Catholic priests fall in love? Must abstain from sex? How similar is this to all kinds of unimaginable horrors caused by China's backward feudal ethics? Until the cultural revolution, until today, those lovers who were interfered by their parents, those who were deeply bound by traditional backward concepts. The ugly nature of Catholic asceticism is exposed in this novel.

If God is great, he shouldn't be so ugly. If there is a so-called God, is there a God? Ha ha ha ha! I think Meggie will agree with me very much. )

Mary Carson

Mary is a very powerful woman.

Her worst fear is three points: 1, and her mind is deep. She used various means to match her beauty, successfully captured the hearts of the Australian rich, and then became the richest widow in Australia. She was also the first person to see through Ralph's special feelings for Meggie. 2. Strong self-control. She can endure Ralph's possessiveness without pursuing anything, and she can leave laughter in front of Ralph's nakedness, although she is gnawed and tortured by desire. 3. Smart and capable. Her husband left her an inheritance, and she managed it well. She invested in different industries and countries and became the richest person in Australia. She manages Drogheda Ranch with ease and knows everything like the back of her hand.

With these three points, this woman must be very powerful.

But god can't be so kind to a person. She was lonely and autistic all her life, and she had a strong possessive desire for young and beautiful Ralph, but she couldn't get him. When I finally die, the rancid smell and those terrible eyes directly remind people of the most terrible witch.

Patty and Fiona

Patty and Fiona are poor and lucky. Unfortunately, no one really gets the person they love. Fortunately, the two can be combined for a lifetime. As a shearing worker, Patty has been with a fairy-like aristocratic girl all her life, and the girl has been trying to live with him. Fiona, though she didn't love her, married a good man who was the most suitable and took care of her.

Patty is the person who can best represent the personality of new immigrants from New Zealand and Australia, which can also be seen in Patty's Sons. They love the land, love the pasture, and are hardworking and brave. They are not interested in the outside world. Their favorite things are pasture, soil and nature. What they like best is to exchange their real labor all year round for harvest and a little luxury and comfort. They don't pursue grandiose fame and fortune, but their hands are their virtues and medals!

Patty knew Fiona didn't really love him, but he was as good as ever to Faye and did his duty as a husband. His warm, reliable and simple man qualities shine on him, which is much better than the successful politicians of betrayal fee or Raphael.

Fiona can't be loved. She is like a cold beauty statue, and can't laugh or show her feelings easily. She spilled her love to many people around her, including Patty, Meggie and other sons. She only loves Frank, and her love and even life ended as early as when she was abandoned by the person she loved.

Many of Fiona's personality traits were passed on to Meggie. They are introverted, extremely strong, extremely infatuated, extremely self-respecting, and have a serious preference for children. The emotional stories that happened to them are also strikingly similar. This dramatic coincidence has the inevitability of personality determination, and the love tragedy of two women profoundly determines and affects the lives of two generations.

The biggest difference between Fiona and Meggie is their attitude towards fate, and their courage is also far from each other. Since being hit by love and betrayal, Fiona has almost completely lost the joy of life and the pursuit of life. She has been in a state of partial peace all her life, and settled in a dilapidated house in New Zealand and a wealthy Drogheda. She just let life take its course, let it take its course, and there is no big pursuit.

However, Patty and the children subtly made her fall in love with this family, Patty and Drogheda. Although she loves her eldest son Frank more, it may be because Frank is the continuation and shadow of that emotional betrayer.

Frank

Frank's intolerant and violent personality is determined by his long-term extreme depression and his growing nameless resentment. First of all, he is a utilitarian and enterprising person. But the only people who love him are his mother and his little sister Meggie. Because of his character, he is full of rebellion. Rebellion must have a goal, and this goal is Patty. In the end, he ruined 30 years of good times because of his character, and he ruined it alone.

Bob and other brothers

These brothers are very much like their father and have inherited their excellent qualities. They are all kind, simple, hardworking and brave, with mainland character. But one thing is strange. They are unmarried, shy and not good at pursuing women. This is difficult to explain with logic and common sense in this novel, and I think it is far-fetched. But this is also for the needs of the novel, in order to highlight the main characters, such as Meggie. If everyone is married and dozens of people are getting married and having children, Meggie and her two children will be greatly weakened.

These brothers like Drogheda very much. They like life on the ranch very much. Only there can they find their spiritual home. Although it is full of flies, heat, dust, drought and floods, although it seems far away from modern civilization, there is no doubt that it is also a place where the mind can be stretched and relaxed. They stay in Drogheda, and the unconscious is also pursuing a kind of peace of mind. This is a great happiness that city people will not have.

Zhu siting

A rebel finally appeared in Cleary's family. He wanted to get out of Drogheda and pursue modern life. She can't stand the sameness and can't calm down. She wants to be wonderful, she wants to be free, and she even wants to indulge. This is Zhu Siting, who obviously inherited her father's character, not her mother's.

On the surface, Zhu Siting is very casual and doesn't care about feelings, but in fact, she cares and is also very contradictory. This can be seen from her attitude towards Reina. Although she also made some random boyfriends, she didn't really devote herself. Her love needs a person with enough strength to inspire and guide, and this person must be very mature. Only Reina can meet this requirement.

The brotherhood between Zhu Siting and Dane is touching. Two people's personalities are completely opposite but very complementary, and the difference of personality has become the necessary foundation of a brother-sister relationship, such as gear meshing. Two people are really rare brother and sister partners.

Danes

This is an extreme character in the novel, although I think everyone is a little extreme. This guy is a perfect incarnation, the most loyal believer of God, and the last person who should come to earth. If Zhu Siting's rebellion can often be found in the world, Luke's image of a miser is everywhere, and even Drogheda's unmarried brother can understand it, then Dion's image is the most impossible. Although Dion is excellent, many of his thoughts and actions are not in line with human nature, so the portrayal of this character is very false.

Many virtues that God wants to see can be found in Dane. It's perfect. Too perfect people are often short-lived. So Dane went to a very accidental event, which is inevitable in the author's eyes. I really think Dane's departure is unnecessary. The author's description of many things is too extreme and unreasonable. The story about Dane's death is true or false. I can't see the inevitability of the development of any characters, and I can't see the logical inevitability of the development of any plot, just for a far-fetched reason: Dane is so perfect that God likes to recall him. Is God stupid? If it is to highlight Ralph's reaction to know that Dane is his son, then I don't think it is necessary to express this plot through a reckless death of Dane. After all, it was the golden period of development in Europe after World War II. I'm not too surprised if Dane died in World War II.

Dane's introverted personality is contrary to Justine's, but he likes his sister so much. Only he really knows Justine. In fact, it doesn't matter to me how Dane loves God. On the contrary, I think he was cheated by religion and wasted his life. But his selfless and truly understanding love for his sister makes me feel that he is very warm, and it is also the place where he radiates the most human light.

Dane's departure can only mean one thing: he was used to set off Justine, Ralph, Meggie and the so-called God. Is the author too cruel to Dane? Don't treat it like a person.

Rena

Finally, someone needs to take over Ralph's care of Drogheda. Eventually, someone will carry on the family line of Cleary in Drogheda, so this character has to appear. He is Reina, finally able to take care of Drogheda and combine with Justine.

Generally speaking, The Thorn Birds is a successful work. All the images are very typical and lifelike; The plot is not procrastinating, ups and downs; The historical and geographical background of the exhibition is also relatively broad, spanning three generations, from New Zealand to Australia to the Roman Catholic Church to London; There are many topics that can be discussed in the novel, including immigration, homeland, nature, happiness, religion, money, family and so on. Many of the love explained in this novel are particularly touching, especially the love between Meggie and Ralph, which deeply infected readers.

What The Thorn Birds reveals has transcended the concepts of love, affection and religion. Readers can feel the hardships of life, the courage of life, the blood and tears of life and the songs of life from the words describing the thorn birds! Life needs to go through a lot, and it is often hurt by thorns that sting the chest and heart the most. When deep red blood flows out, the strongest voice of life-and the most beautiful timbre! Life is only once, so precious! Nothing in the universe is more precious than life! Only a few people with a heart will spend this life like a thorn bird, instead of pursuing a life that satisfies low-level senses and interests like a pigsty. They must be the richest people in the world and have the most wonderful life, because like the thorn birds, they have no regrets in life, struggle forward, experience the ups and downs of fate, face the thorns and stand up and sing!

"There is a legend that there is a bird that sings only once in its life, and its song is more beautiful than all the creatures in the world. From the moment it left the nest, it was looking for the thorn tree and wouldn't stop until it reached its goal. Then, it plunged into the longest and sharpest thorns and let go of the sound among the wild branches. At the dying moment, it transcended its own pain, and its singing actually eclipsed larks and nightingales. This is a beautiful song that ends with death. However, the whole world is listening quietly, and God is smiling in the sky. Because the best things can only be exchanged with the deepest pain ... this is the legend of the thorn bird.

The bird has a thorn in its chest. He follows an unchanging rule. She was stabbed by something whose name was unknown, driven away and died in singing. At the moment when the thorn pierced, she didn't realize that death was coming. She sang and sang until her life ran out, and she couldn't sing another note. However, when we stab the thorn into our chest, we will know. We know very well. However, we still have to do this. We still stab thorns into our chests. "