New Streams of Life (9)
New Streams of Life (9)
Today I feel back to normal finally. Sorting out the messed-up room was the first thing I did in the morning: Moved the stacks of books from the floor by my laptop to the desk; sorted out the tiny wardrobe in order that I don’t need to spend a quarter every morning to find my socks; changed the direction of my laptop
table so that I don’t feel I am stuck in this chattered square bedroom.
It has been days that I don’t feel quite well to write something. My sister had
gone for holiday with the result that I couldn’t talk to her any more; then accounting really grated on my nerves; and thirdly I was kind of bored of the slow
process of waiting and drifting around. Normally I read novels and books to relax after a nerve-racking day. But since I didn’t achieve much, reading novels became something that I loathe for as it seemed to indicate a passive feeling of
escape.
That said, I still managed to finish two books during the past week: The Beach by Alex Garland, and Far from the Maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy. The Beach was
not as stunning as my friend suggested. It was quite different from the same-titled film. At times the conflicting characters in the film and novel caused me such confusion that I didn’t know which one was to follow. But in general it was
a distinct story. Either from the film or the book you could conclude that where
there were people where there tended to be the depletion of an ideal island.
In contrast to The Beach, I quite enjoyed Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Maddening
Crowd. Reading it reminded me of the time of reading Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield years ago. It was the same feeling of mercy and warmth running through
me. Similar to David Copperfield, in the Far From the Maddening Crowd the writer created imperfect characters in an idealized world, in which they (such as Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene) learned from their mistakes to grow more mature
and understanding.
While readers know in their mind the hardship and faults of the time, they couldn’t help enjoying the sympathy and simplicity of the story. It was as if while
you knew blast and hail was the winter, you couldn’t help enjoying the occasional winter sunshine and shrugging the image of blast and hail out of your mind a
while. It was a nice feeling.
Anyway I had stopped reading novels now. Somewhat I feel I have far more important and urgent things to read and learn. My friend’s Ideas That Change the World
introduced me lots of things I didn’t know much such as economy rent, conformity in the section of economics and the concept of free will and determinism in the section of philosophy. The introduction offered me a base for further exploration. I have to confess it is a strange feeling to learn new subjects. It makes
you wonder why you had never heard of them before and how many new ones still remain somewhere wholly unknown to you.
Coming to England and starting a new life style have a new compact on me. Every
day I am exposed to new ideas and concepts. And every moment I am aware of my limitations in various aspects and fields. But because I define myself as flexible
and quick to change and learning, I believe that I should be fine in this country that I was familiar in novels yet unfamiliar in reality.
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