Mywordsabout《VanityFair》.docVIP

My words about Vanity FairVanity Fairis a novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray. The background of the society in this book is in the early 19th century in England. The novels tow chief actress is Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp. They are good friends but they have nothing in common except their beautiful appearances. After reading this story, I have some feelings and impressions about two major women, who have different attitudes toward wealth and fame.Amelia Sedley, a pretty woman, who was born in a good family. Because of good birth and superior family, she is a very gentle, kind but sensitive lady. She believes in love and is willing to sacrifice everything for pure love. But unfortunately, she goes to another extreme.In the novel, she loves a man named George Osborne. But he is not really love Amelia too. Osbornes father urge him to marry a rich but very ugly woman. In this situation, Osborne marries Amelia because of her beauty. During their marriage, Osborne is not faithful to Amelia Sedley. Osborne uses money Dobbin gives him to buy Amelia a present and even slips a note into Rebeccas hand and urges her to elope. When she has heard of her husbands unforgivable behavior, she still believes that George loves her. She is so innocent.Amelia is kind, undoubtedly, but her kindness is not always come with good results. Dobbin, the only good man in the novel, who is loving Amelia deeply and always protect her in any situation. However, She makes Dobbin suffer a lot. She prefers to love the photo of Osborne rather than show any affection to Dobbin. She may live a happier and easier life if she timely gets over the grief and accepts Dobbin. But she can not forget any man she has loved, especially her first love, Osborne. Amelias adherence to the love between herself and George has gone too far this time and later been proved meaningless. Many years after George has died in Waterloo, Amelia still believes that he is faithful and refuses Dobbin for many times.Rebecca Sharp is the daughter of a deceased drawer and a French dancer. She is a comely young woman, who is smart enough to take advantage of her beauty to climb upward in the Vanity Fair. But her parentage is rather poor. It is exactly the poor parentage that makes Rebecca Sharp go through many difficulties in her early age, and makes her decide to join the luxurious upper class so desperately that she is willing to do whatever she can. I have to admit that Rebecca Sharp is really smart and beautiful. Her beauty and keen mind is her capital in the venture of stepping into the upper class. Though she dose not have a prestigious pedigree, she still finds her own way of surviving and succeeding in the society where wealth and fame is highly adored. She makes it by proper utilization of her beauty, sharp observation of peoples mind, accurate words to flatter the noble, as well as wonderful techniques of asking and rejecting a certain demand. In order to step into a comparatively good family, Rebecca Sharp has to make compromise. So when she has heard that Joseph Sedley is single, she makes up her mind to seduce him, even though she has neither known him nor seen him. In her eyes, Joseph Sedley is just a ladder used to climb to an upper level. In this case, she dose not care much about how Joseph Sedley is, but what he is. In the case of aesthetic appreciation, Joseph Sedley is not as decent as Rebecca Sharp. He stammers, and likes to boast. But Rebecca endures his flaws and tries to cater to his topic.It is maybe the first time that Rebecca gets the chance to change her fate, and she is rather a green hand. She chooses Joseph Sedley without deliberation lest she may lose the opportunity. Given by nature, she is definitely good at using her beauty to capture a man. The victim surrenders at the first sight of Rebecca and soon gets captured thoroughly. The seduction is about to succeed, but unfortunately, another man, George Osborne, ruins it. Much as Rebecca, George Osborne is a lady-killer. He is so experienced that he knows clearly what Rebecca is thinking. So her first attempt to raise her social status has failed.Another scene can show that Rebecca has a very sensitive mind. When she has heard of the departure of Joseph Sedley, she immediately knows that it is George who urges him to leave. For only George has the ability to catch her thought, because of his abundant experiences of dealing with women. William Dobbin is so obsessed with Amelia Sedley, so he is unlikely to observe Rebecca so slightly.The ending for Rebecca Sharp is tragic, but we like this ending. Finally Rebecca loses everything which she has contrived for lifetime, and completely loses the chance to enter the Vanity Fair by relying on the noble. She is born poor, and her intention to get wealth and fame is put to an end with nothing. Frankly speaking, Rebecca has a sincere desire of amendment. But what we loathe is the method she resorts to. In the society where pedigree is highly emphasized, the poor little girl can never achieve her goal in a normal way. So the only way out is using her beauty, just like prostitutes using their bodies. It is her destiny that makes Rebecca fail, though she succeeds in ensnaring Joseph Sedley at last.Vanity Fair is a great novel, and Thackeray is definitely good at composing his work in the parallel structure. By the comparison between Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley, we can see the cruelty of the wealth-and-fame oriented society. And in order to reach the upper class and enjoy the luxurious life, different people resorts to different methods. How to distinguish flattering person like Rebecca and how to keep ones personality is what we should learn from this novel.Although Vanity Fair was written in the 19th century, the novel is still of reflective value to our real world. In our society, people are unable to see things clearly. They are confused because their minds are full of wealth, power, vanity or so-called love. This love is like a game, not a true love. Its easy for us to encounter some Rebeccas in the real world. Becky is a representative of people who are governor-oriented or money talks. In their mind, power and money means everything. They can give up all for positions and money. In the novel, to enter the upper class, Rebecca sets morality aside to seduce Amelias husband. She is a negative example which reminds us what is not to be done. On the contrary, Amelia stands for those people who are spineless. They are conventional and tend to accept the reality as it is. They have no intention to struggle for something better. And therefore, its difficult for them to have a place in the world.As a female, I think Rebecca is very brave. Everyone longs for happiness. Everyone pursues happiness. Thus, what Becky has done are only for her simple aim-happiness. Because she comes from an poor family, she has to try her best to do everything. She has only herself to rely on. She believes that a woman of low birth can marry into the purple. Due to her strong mind, she never gives up when difficulties arise, though sometimes she is in the wrong way. Furthermore, we, as women of the new era, should make our voice heard to the world: We are not weak; we are the masters of this world! We should bravely seek after our happiness, but in a proper way. Meanwhile, we should be independent. We cannot always rely on others. We should have our own dreams, our own aspiration. In doing so, happiness will be there waiting for us.