Mr. Tang believes that Zhang Ailing is the most profound romantic novel writer in the history of modern literature in China, and this judgment is popular. The First Furnace Incense is Zhang Ailing's first novel. Zhang Ailing became famous as soon as it was published. This novel was published in Violet Magazine, a literary publication run by Yuanyang Butterfly School, which is a popular literary genre and specializes in writing romantic novels. Judging from the plot of the novel The First Furnace Incense, it is a romantic novel, telling the love story of a female college student and a playboy. It is for this reason that Zhou Shoujuan, the leading brother of this genre, was amazed when he saw this novel. This shows that Zhang Ailing took the romantic route from the beginning when she wrote novels. However, Zhang Ailing's cultural background determines that there is no sincere love in her romance novels, only men's use of women and women's attachment to men. Her romance novels add to the pain of her life, reveal the tragedy of women's dependent existence, and make her novels more modern. What is left in the novel is only love and the sadness of life. The tragedy of Xiaolong in the novel is an inevitable tragedy under the dual pressure of primitive desire for survival and primitive lust. This reminds me of Pride and Prejudice written by British writer Austin, which is also a love novel, in which the love stories of four young men and women are written. The love story between Wickham and Lydia is very similar to that of Wei Long. Wickham's character is, beyond the golden jade, among the frustrations. He is a prodigal son, having fun and wasting money is his specialty. He pursues women mainly for two purposes: one is to get money and satisfy his greed; The second is to get sexy and satisfy your original lust. Wickham doesn't love Lydia, but with such a thin-skinned woman along the way, he certainly won't miss the opportunity. Lydia has an irresistible love for officers in "red uniforms". Her highest requirement for life is to satisfy her own lust, and it is impossible to pursue sincere love in emotion. So she married Wickham, and all she got was a husband who was having fun everywhere and an unhappy marriage cage. We can find that Wickham and Lydia are a combination of desire and impulse. By writing this pair of love, Austin set off the beauty of true love between Elizabeth and Darcy and mocked the loveless marriage. Zhang Ailing is a woman who has been hurt emotionally. She died of true love. Therefore, she will not describe the true love story like Elizabeth and Darcy. From the point of view of this work, this is a story of a woman's depravity. That's what I said. When a woman goes bad, she becomes rich. This is a story about a woman who went bad and became rich. Since the publication of The First Furnace Incense, it is difficult to judge whether it is good or bad in the literary world. It is difficult for many readers to accept the story of this woman who has become worse and worse because of her lust for pleasure, and she can't find her position in the history of literature. Comparing Sunrise written by Zhang Ailing before, we can find that Sunrise is also a story about the deterioration of women. This is biased. Chen Bailu struggled in the noise, her body was falling, but her spiritual world was not completely falling. She yearns for good humanity. Her final suicide was a protest, a remorse for her depravity and a protest against her terrible fate. It is in this sense that Cao Yu is responsible for Chen Bailu. However, Zhang Ailing's novels are only lamenting the fragility of human nature. She sympathized with Ge Weilong. Ge's embarrassing life shows that many times, it is difficult for a person to control his own destiny, especially in Hong Kong, a materialistic world. It's too easy to squander your life, and it's hard not to be tempted. At the beginning of the story, Ge is a Shanghai female student from a declining family. Because it is said that there was a war in Shanghai, she took refuge in Hong Kong with her family. But I didn't know that Hong Kong, a colorful world, was basically owned by the rich. Soaring prices have reduced their savings day by day, so after receiving the news that the situation in Shanghai is slowing down, my father decided to go back to Shanghai. However, Wei Long didn't want to delay her studies, and planned to stay in Hong Kong to finish her studies. But how can she survive alone in Hong Kong? We can see that Zhang Ailing has set a major survival problem for the heroine. It is precisely because of the arrears of tuition fees that she is under pressure to drop out of school. How can she be eager to learn? Being trapped by money is the biggest problem that Wei Long, a female student pursuing a better life, must overcome. In desperation, she went behind her parents' backs to the luxurious Liang family mansion on the hill in Hong Kong for help, where her aunt lived. Her motive for coming to see her aunt is very clear, that is, she wants to borrow some money to continue her studies and realize the value of life. But her aunt is a guilty woman and is regarded as insulting Ge's family style. In her early years, she fell out with Wei Long's father, because in the eyes of Wei Long's parents, her aunt had contemptible human nature. At that time, regardless of her family's opposition, she was willing to be a concubine to a dying man and lost the face of the Ge family. It is against parents to borrow money from such an aunt, that is, to bow to human evil. In the story, Mrs. Liang's yesterday is actually Xiaolong's today, and she is not a born lowly woman. She resisted the pressure of being an aunt to an old rich man in Hong Kong, and was also troubled by the survival problem of money. Under the double blow of being trapped by love and money, she can't have both, so she can only give priority to solving the problem of being trapped by money. Let's look at a passage she said to Wei Long: "Who am I in your home? -bring disgrace to oneself, corrupt family style, I don't want my brothers to find me a home, but I married Liang when I was a child, and I lost my family's face. Scare! The more worn out, the more smelly and hard the bricks in the toilet are. You were born late, missed the excitement, and didn't hear your father scold me! " It can be seen that she despises the so-called integrity that has been broken. Later, Wei Long really got to know her aunt and found out that she was actually trying to be the Empress Dowager Cixi behind closed doors. This is the best annotation pursued by Mrs. Liang all her life. The meaning of her first half life is to wait for the rich man to die. After the death of the rich man, the whole value of Mrs. Liang's later life is to use and enjoy the money left by the rich man. With money, she is the Empress Dowager Cixi and can go back to solve the problem of being trapped by love. We can see that Mrs. Liang's weak humanity suddenly became tough after possessing money. There is a description in the book about her quarreling with someone. In this scene, Mrs. Liang said, "I have plenty of money!" "Because the life confidence gained by marriage is so flamboyant. The phrase "I have plenty of money" vividly shows her arrogant possessiveness. Let's look at her: holding the iron gate and looking down, the car door opened, and a petite young woman in a suit got out of the car, covered in black grass and hung with a green net on the brim. A fingernail-sized emerald spider buckled on the net, shining in the sun and crawling on her cheek. When it is bright, it looks like a tear, and when it is dark, it looks like a blue mole. The net is two or three yards long and draped over the shoulders like a scarf. This description of appearance has always been praised by people. Black is the proof of her car-scrapping. Jewelry is like tears, and its meaning is self-evident. The description in the online text is even more unique, indicating that she lives in the online text. Let's look at the following details: the driver can't see clearly. Looks like a young man. She stuck out her head to say goodbye to her. She froze her neck and walked up the steps. Yiner greeted him with a big smile and asked, "Why didn't the thirteenth master of the Qiao family come up for a drink?" The woman said, "Who has time to tease him? "Hearing that her voice was wrong, Yiner quickly put away her smile, took the small rattan box in her hand and whispered," It's time to get tired! Come back early! "When the woman turned around and saw that the car had already left, she spat heavily on the ground and scolded:" You go, you go. Don't come back! "We are finished!" Seeing that she really moved the atmosphere, she dared not interrupt again. This is very much like Wang Xifeng in A Dream of Red Mansions. Her dissatisfaction with Georgie, who served her badly, and the servant girl's reaction to her vividly show the bossiness of a rich widow. Mrs. Liang became a widow after her husband died, but she inherited a large inheritance as she wished. Facing the daughter who despises her sworn enemy in the past, she came to have a windfall. Mrs. Liang, who is quite wise in her life, knows that her opponent is now cornered by money and has become a person trapped by money. This is a good chance for her to get even. However, this is not the case. Instead of revenge, Mrs. Liang tried her best to bury the hatchet and promised to help Xiaolong. Wei Long was very grateful to her aunt, but she didn't know that she had fallen into the trap set by Mrs. Liang. Because Mrs. Liang found the value of investment in her beautiful young niece. This value is much more important than revenge. The lustless aunt wants Xiaolong as bait to hook up with men. Wei Long was born in a rich family, and she was a declining lady. She also went to a foreign school, played the piano and tennis, and spoke fluent English, which naturally made her the best choice for cocktail parties and parties. Mrs. Liang, like a fisherman casting a net, found cheap bait, which was a good deal. Later, according to Mrs. Liang, she wanted to move into Liang's house. At this time, she explained: "You live with me, and there are many people around me. Just talk to me. Anyway, there is a car at home, and it is not inconvenient to send you to school every day. " In this way, we can see that this novel is the story of a pure schoolgirl and a possessive young woman. This is also the main line of contradiction in the novel. Let's take a look at Xiaolong first, and see how she was forced by money to embark on the road of menstruation again. When Wei Long stood behind the Liang family mansion in the Mid-Levels, there was a trace of fear in his heart: Wei Long stood and rested for a while, but he was a little disappointed. Looking back at menstruation's house, you can still see the yellow and red window lattice, and the color of the sea is reflected in the green glass window. The towering white house, covered with green glazed tiles, is a bit like the ancient imperial tomb. Wei Long thinks she is a scholar in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. After going up the mountain to visit relatives, in a blink of an eye, your mansion has become a grave mountain. She might not be surprised if Liang's white house turned into a grave. She saw that her aunt was a capable woman, holding the great wheel of the times in one hand, keeping the lewd breath of the late Qing Dynasty in her own land of Xiaotian, and being the little Empress Dowager Cixi behind closed doors. In Xiaolong's eyes, aunt is a powerful woman, not the woman who ruined the family style in his father's eyes. This emotional change was caused when she was trapped by money and looking for a solution. This is a 180 degree turn from her attitude that her aunt's reputation was unclean when she first came. She realized that Mrs. Liang's way was her way, which was her first step towards depravity. The story in the work takes place in Liang Zhai, and Mrs. Liang's life force is embodied in this house, which she bought with her youth. Here, she pinned her life ideals and witnessed her tragic fate. This house is endowed with the flavor of image in the works, and it is a place where life is wasted and possessiveness is satisfied. The work described the house in detail at the beginning, and then it was described many times. The white houses on the hillside are streamlined and geometrically patterned, similar to the most modern cinemas. However, the roof is covered with antique blue glazed tiles. The glass window is also green, and the narrow red frame is embedded with chicken oil yellow. The windows are decorated with carved iron fences and painted with chicken oil yellow paint. The house is surrounded by spacious corridors, local red bricks and towering rows of white columns, which are the heritage of early architecture in the southern United States. Entering from the glass door of the corridor is the guest room, which is a three-dimensional western layout, but there are also several exquisite and popular porcelain decorations. There are jade snuff bottles and ivory Guanyin statues on the stove, and the sofa is surrounded by small bamboo screens, but this oriental color obviously exists for the sake of foreign friends. The British have come a long way to see China, so they must show them some China. But China here is China in the eyes of westerners, absurd, clever and funny. The little dragon trapped by money entered this house and never came out. However, at this time, Wei Long is still a pure female student, and she still has some thoughts of getting rid of mud: "As for me, since I walked into this haunted world with my eyes open, who should blame me for being possessed?" But after all, we are aunts and nephews, and she was detained by face. As long as I do the right thing and stand up straight, I am not afraid that she will be rude to me. People outside gossip, do as they say, and I read my books. When I meet someone who really likes me in the future, I will naturally understand and never believe those boring rumors again. "However, the desire for happiness has left little self-esteem. This is where Liang Zhai squandered his life. On the night when she lived in Liang's house, she found a wardrobe full of "resplendent" clothes in her bedroom: she opened the suitcase, prepared to put the clothes in the drawer, and opened the wardrobe, but it was full of clothes and resplendent; Whose is this? " She whispered. My aunt must have forgotten to empty the cupboard. "After all, she is not naive, and can't help but lock the door and secretly try it on one by one, but they all fit well. She suddenly realized that all this was specially prepared for her by her aunt. Self-made brocade robe, gauze, satin, short coat, long coat, cape used on the beach, pajamas, bathrobe, evening dress, cocktail party afternoon dress and semi-formal dinner dress worn by guests at home all have colors. Where can a female student use so much? Wei Long quickly took off one of her evening dresses and threw it on the bed. People's knees are soft, they sit on the bed and have a fever on their faces. She whispered, "What's the difference between this and buying a person in the long hall?" After sitting for a while, I stood up and hung my clothes on the hanger one by one. There is a small white satin wallet under the clothes, which is filled with clove powder and smells delicious all over the cupboard. Mrs. Liang was entertaining guests all night and fell asleep to the music. However, that night, she was still in a daze. In her dream, there was music to accompany her to try on clothes: "Woolen products are like provocative jazz; Thick velvet, like a melancholy theme song of classical opera; Soft satin, like the Blue Danube, goes around people and flows all over the body. " Before going to bed, I said to myself twice, "Watch. ".Her reason gave in a little to her desire for happiness. Wei Long's self-relaxation of "looking around" led to her life style being completely included in the trajectory of Liang Zhai's squandering life: from a schoolgirl to a social butterfly. There is an interesting detail in the work. On a stormy night, menstruation's old picture frame, Shantou enamel giant Situxie, put a diamond bracelet on Wei Long. "The process was rapid, and the detective unexpectedly handcuffed the prisoner." Wei Long understands the meaning of this very well: "It took three months in a flash. I wore clothes, ate and played, and I also gained some fame in the communication field;" "Ordinary girls have tried everything they dream of. Is there such a cheap thing in the world? In this way, things like today are inevitable. It is not necessarily the first time that Mrs. Liang sacrificed her young daughter to win over Stuart Xie. She needs Wei Long to make the same sacrifice, but not necessarily just this time. The only way to refuse it is to leave here. " Under the pressure of this bracelet, Xiaolong's desire is constantly expanding: "In three months, she has been addicted to life here. If she wants to leave here, she can only find a rich man to marry him. " She looked at Mrs. Liang's color in entertaining men, but she couldn't resist the temptation of lust and walked into the trap of "being trapped by love" Her unrequited love for George is wishful love, a desire to possess George's feelings is at work, and she resists menstruation's possessiveness. This marriage is doomed to be hopeless. George, who squandered his life everywhere, refused to be bound by marriage. He ruthlessly destroyed Wei Long's dream of marriage: "I can't promise you to get married, nor can I promise to love you. I can only answer that you are happy. " He promised to give Wei Long happiness, but only regarded Wei Long as a prop to squander his life. This is the destruction of Liang Zhai, and the happiness of living in a drunken dream corrodes pure human nature. Wei Long once went to his aunt to get rid of the situation of being trapped by money, but in just a few months, Empress Dowager Cixi, who had money and lust, became her life model. When she defected to her aunt, she lost her original intention and principles and became as dependent as her aunt. After marrying the playboy Georgie, she will either get money for Georgie or get someone for Mrs. Liang. At the end of the novel, when a group of sailors got drunk and treated Wei Long as a prostitute, which scared her to run away, George smiled and said, "Who did those drunkards take you for?" Wei Long said, "Originally, what's the difference between me and them? ..... They insist, I am voluntary! " This total is amazing. In the trap set by Mrs. Liang, Wei Long seized the marriage with Georgie in order to resist her aunt's possessiveness, but in this loveless marriage, she finally ended up with her aunt's victory. "The purpose of your money is to play, you didn't play well. What do you need money for? Of course, after 1978, Wei Long's income will definitely be greatly reduced. When she can't earn money to support her family, you can get a divorce. In English law, divorce is quite difficult, and the only legal reason is rape. It is not easy for you to catch the evidence of the other party's rape? " This is a passage that Mrs. Liang used to enlighten George. It turns out that she kills two birds with one stone. First, she can firmly trap George, who has never been fettered, and make her yield easily. Second, it can make Wei Long a senior social butterfly at his mercy. This is vivid possession, terrible possession. Mrs. Liang, Wei Long's aunt, is the real protagonist of this work. This role is very successful. It is a subsidiary existence. Captured by desire, she began a long attachment, which showed Zhang Ailing's deep thinking about the fate of women. Mrs. Liang seems to have directed and manipulated the degeneration from a simple and inexperienced schoolgirl to a double captive of lust and material desire. But we can see that Mrs. Liang's today is actually Wei Long's tomorrow, because Wei Long jumped into this fire pit like a moth after seeing Mrs. Liang's motives and intentions clearly. Mrs. Liang was trapped by money and went into Liang Zhai against her will to be a concubine. Her motivation is possessiveness of money, but the satisfaction of this possessiveness comes at the expense of emotional possession. The pain of being possessed for a long time aroused her possessiveness of emotion. After gaining possession of money, she began to possess men's emotions crazily, which was actually a revenge for being possessed. So she didn't squander her lust because she was trapped by emotion, but rose up after being suppressed. This is the aesthetic significance of this character. The possessiveness of human beings drags human beings into the pit of desire, which can only lead to the profligacy of lust rather than true love. This is the genius of the female writer Zhang Ailing. In the story that women seem to go bad, she writes the tragic power of women's lives. Because of her love for her father and the lack of her father's love, Zhang Ailing found an old man many years older than her in both marriages. This is not so much looking for love as looking for spiritual comfort. She has paid a lot for those old people, but she still lives in a world without love. There is a sentence in the novel, which is full of charm. When Mrs. Liang saw that Wei Long had moved the truth about Qiao Qi, she said, "Why are you moving the truth?" . This seems to be what Zhang Ailing said to herself.