Hesta closed the book.
Ava looked at the others, "Has anyone among us also watched "Stormy Mountains"?"
A young man sitting a little further away raised her hand and she said softly, "I read it...but I didn't finish it when I was in college."
"Do you still remember what I just said?"
"Of course. After all, Youleka just read it."
There was a burst of laughter from the people around.
"What do you think of the character Aksinya?" Ava asked.
The young man thought for a moment, then she looked at everyone and whispered: "I don't have a deep impression of her. I remember that Aksinya's life was very bumpy. Although she was bold, rebellious, passionate and straightforward, she was like Like most Cossack women, the happiness and value of their lives are completely pinned on a man - in this case, her lover Grigory. She cannot live without Grigory. This kind of blind love has reached the end of the world. In the end, she ended up miserable...which is why I don't like this character very much.
"However, despite this, every time I read this opening paragraph, I sigh that she has a good brother and a good mother."
The young man's voice was very gentle, and the rhythm of her words was also very soothing, like a melodious harp.
"Faced with such a crime, they did not choose to cover it up, but severely punished the perpetrator in their own way - even if this person was their father or husband."
"Yes, this is really rare." Alja nodded in agreement, "I read in the newspaper before that a mother found out that her daughter had been defiled by her new husband after remarrying - but not only did she not protect her daughter It’s ridiculous to seek justice and lock my daughter in the attic instead.”
"What happened to the daughter?" Hesta asked.
"It seems that she was rescued, and then she probably changed her name and lived in a city." Aljia replied, "If she had such a mother and such a brother, she would not have ended up like this."
Hesta was about to say something, but Ava interrupted her.
"You just said that Aksinia's fate affects you the most, so what do you see in this paragraph?"
"Well... revenge." Hesta replied, "immediate revenge on the perpetrator."
"Any more?"
"There is also patricide." Another slightly older middle-aged man added, "It seems that in psychoanalysis, young children always use the death of their father to complete their growth."
"Indeed, after this incident happened, Aksiniya got married the next year." The young man from before took over, "...Although it was a kind of growth, it was also the beginning of another misfortune. "
"No," Hesta suddenly shook her head, "No growth."
The previous "patricide" was like a wedge that opened a gap in her chaotic and boiling thoughts.
"I just said something wrong, I should correct it." Hesta said, "In this story, there is no revenge. Even if it exists, it is a failed revenge. Aksinia just changed her identity, from a daughter to a daughter. Became a wife and did not grow.
"If anyone has to grow up in this story, it is her brother, not her. After completing the patricide, Aksiniya's brother became the new leader of the family."
"But you can't deny that the perpetrator did receive the punishment he deserved." The young man on the side said, "Her justice has been served."
"Not necessarily, the perpetrator is indeed dead, but it was not done by Aksinia herself," Hesta retorted, "She just covered her head and lay under the cart shivering silently. '——"
"Are your requirements for the victim too harsh?" The young man frowned and interrupted her, "She had just experienced such a brutal atrocity, but you asked her to immediately pick up a knife and stab her in the chest. Father, otherwise it won't be considered as 'revenge' - what's the point of insisting on revenge?"
"Listen to her, Aya." Ava said warmly.
Hesta gripped the handle of her chair tightly, feeling a rush of water rushing through her chest. She had to carefully control her emotions to prevent the painful flames from flowing out of her heart and burning other people in this glass house.
"I didn't ask Aksinia to pick up a knife and stab her father immediately after experiencing violence." Hesta paused briefly, her eyes looking at the ground in front of her feet, "I'm just a pity, when she When her brother and mother beat her father with sticks, she did not step on him.
"This opportunity was once placed in front of her, but she missed it - if at that time, someone taught her to stand up, someone handed her a gun, a whip, and a wooden stick, and asked her to return the favor to the old man. Color allows her to truly experience the joy of knocking a bully to the ground...Will her fate be different in the future?"
Everyone listened quietly.
"The misfortune of her life is precisely because she is her father's daughter and her husband's wife, so her father raped her, and she could only hide under the car and tremble; her husband beat her severely, and she went to seek the love of another man. , she pinned everything on the male protagonist Gregory, begged this man to elope with her, and gave up everything for her... What was she doing?
"The meaning of revenge lies in clarifying one's own boundaries. It is not done for others to see, but for oneself to see: Oh, it turns out that I don't need to forgive, it turns out that I don't have to seek another person to do justice for me, it turns out that I myself These people can be made to pay a price - an equal or even more painful price...
"Without this awareness, Aksinya will always be a vassal, from her father's, to her husband's, and finally to her lover."
"That's difficult." Another middle-aged man who had been silent spoke slowly, "Being raped by your father is far more painful than being raped by an ordinary man... Can you understand this?"
"Maybe I can't... I don't have a father," Hesta replied.
Several people present looked at Hesta with suddenly more pity in their eyes, but Hesta did not notice this. She did not have any self-pity when she said these words.
After giving this answer, she seemed to suddenly understand something, and she murmured: "Yes, I have no father, no brother, no husband, and no son, so I don't understand Aksinya at all - and Things most of the women in this book do.
"Why Aksinia's fate concerns me the most is because in this book - at least in the first volume, she is hardworking, brave, and kind... As soon as I read about her, I immediately thought of my friends , each of them is as diligent, as brave, and as kind as Aksinia, but none of them has such a miserable fate.
"A long time ago, a friend of mine once told me that once a woman gets married, her brothers are no longer her brothers, but become her husband's brothers. When she gets married, if her husband beats someone, the brother may still They will help you stand up, but once you get married, they will just sit back and watch.
"I didn't understand then, I understand now - when Aksinya was beaten by Stepan later, where was her brother?"
