Preface: Perhaps you can tell that my article is written bit by bit, divided into three parts in total.#
Part 1#
Is "Thunderstorm" really about class? It's just about the love affairs of men and women. But it happens to take place in a chaotic family.
Part 2#
When I saw the plot here, I inexplicably thought of Qian Zhongshu's "Window".
I'll paste the original text here:
Window
Author: Qian Zhongshu
It's spring again, and the windows can be kept open. Spring comes in from outside the window, and people can't sit still in the house, so they go out through the door. But the spring outside the house is too cheap! Everywhere is sunshine, not as bright as the darkness in the house; everywhere is lazy wind that has been lazily blown by the sun, not as lively as the dullness in the house. Even the bird songs seem trivial and weak, needing the silence in the house as a foil. We understand from this that spring should be framed and viewed through the window, just like a painting with a frame.
At the same time, we realize that doors and windows have different meanings. Of course, doors are made for people to come in and out. However, windows can also be used as entrances and exits. For example, thieves or lovers in novels like to climb through windows. So the fundamental difference between windows and doors is not just whether people come in and out. If we look at the appreciation of spring, we might as well say: with a door, we can go out; with a window, we don't have to go out. Windows break through the barrier between nature and humans, enticing the wind and the sun to come in, keeping a part of spring inside the house, allowing us to sit and enjoy it without having to go outside again. Ancient poets like Tao Yuanming had a deep understanding of this spirit of windows. In his poem "Returning to the Fields," he said, "Leaning on the southern window to express my pride, examining my knees for ease." Doesn't it mean that as long as there is a window to gaze out of, even a small house can be lived in?
He also said, "In the empty leisure of summer, lying high under the north window, the cool breeze blows in, and I feel like an immortal." This means that as long as the window is ventilated, a small house can become a paradise; even though he was from Chaisang and had Mount Lu nearby, he didn't need to go up there to escape the summer heat. Therefore, doors allow us to pursue, expressing desire, while windows allow us to occupy, representing enjoyment. This distinction is not only the view of people living inside the house, but sometimes it also applies to visitors from outside. A visitor who knocks on the door and enters, making requests and inquiries, is at most a guest, everything has to wait for the host to decide. On the other hand, a person who enters through the window, whether stealing things or having an affair, has already made up their mind to be a temporary master for you, regardless of your welcome or rejection. In Musset's poem drama "What Dreams Did the Young Girl Dream," there is a clever line that says, the father opens the door and lets in the material husband, but the ideal lover always enters through the window. In other words, those who enter through the front door are just formal sons-in-law, although they have been approved by the father-in-law, they still need to win the affection of the young lady herself; but those who enter through the back window are the true lovers to whom the girls completely entrust their souls and bodies. When you enter through the front door, you have to be announced by the gatekeeper, then wait for the host to appear, and exchange a few pleasantries before you can explain your purpose, which takes effort and time, unlike the straightforward and direct entry through the back window. It's like taking a shortcut in learning, which depends on the references behind the book. If you start reading from the main text, it will seem more roundabout. Of course, this distinction is only applicable under normal social circumstances. In abnormal times like war, when the house itself cannot be preserved, what's the point of talking about doors and windows!
All houses in the world have doors, and we can still see houses without windows. This indicates that windows represent a higher stage of human evolution than doors. Doors are the needs of people living in houses, while windows are somewhat of a luxury. The original purpose of a house is like a bird's nest or an animal's den, prepared for people to come back and spend the night, closing the door is considered protection. But when windows are opened on the walls, allowing in light and air, we can stay indoors during the day without having to go outside, even with the door closed.
Therefore, the meaning of a house is enhanced in one's life. It is not just a place to shelter from wind and rain and spend the night, but also a place with furnishings, hanging paintings and calligraphy, where we think, work, entertain, and perform the tragedies and comedies of life from morning till night. Doors are the entrance and exit for people, while windows can be said to be the entrance and exit for the sky. Houses were originally built by humans to escape the threats of nature, enclosing a corner of the sky within the four walls and a roof. Windows entice a corner of the sky to come in, tame it, and make it available for human use, just like how we tame wild horses and turn them into domesticated animals. From then on, we can come into contact with nature inside the house, without having to go outside to seek light and fresh air, as light and fresh air will come to us. Therefore, windows are a victory for humans over nature. However, this victory is like a victory for women over men, on the surface it seems like a concession - people open windows to let in the wind and sunlight to occupy the space, but who knows that the one who comes to occupy this space is also being occupied by this space! We just said that doors are needs, needs that are beyond our control. For example, when we're hungry, we need to eat; when we're thirsty, we need to drink. So when someone knocks on the door, you always have to open it, maybe it's a young person who wants to rush in, as Ibsen said, maybe it's the world of light trying to invade the world of darkness, maybe it's a prodigal son, maybe someone is borrowing money (or maybe collecting debts), you don't know, you're afraid to open it, but you want to know what's going on, so you have to open it. Even the sound of the mailman knocking on the door every day makes you feel hopeful with some doubt, because you don't know what news he brings. The opening and closing of doors is not up to you. But what about windows? When you wake up early in the morning, as long as you pull the curtains aside, you know what's outside the window, whether it's snow, fog, rain, or a beautiful sun, and then you decide whether to open the window or not. As mentioned earlier, windows can be considered luxury items, and luxury items are something that people consider adding or reducing depending on the situation.
I often think that windows can be considered the eyes of a house. Liu Xi's translation says, "Window, intelligence; looking out from the inside, is intelligence." This is similar to the opening line of Gottfried Keller's "Evening Song," which says, "The eyes are like small windows, collecting beautiful scenery." But both of them only tell half of the story. Eyes are the windows of the soul, we see the outside world, but at the same time, we allow others to see our inner selves; eyes often follow the heart, so Mencius believed that the eyes are the most truthful reflection of a person, and in Maeterlinck's plays, lovers don't close their eyes when they kiss, they can see how many kisses are rising from the heart to the lips.
When we talk to people wearing black glasses, we always feel uncertain about their intentions, as if they are facing us with a mask. That's why I moved closer, swallowing my saliva with interest, feeling anxious and restless, but still holding that withered hand, begging, "One more! One more!" So the birth of "Thunderstorm" is a kind of mood haunting, a fermentation of emotions. To say that it represents a hidden understanding of the universe is an arrogant exaggeration, but it represents a temporary cessation of personal emotions, an inexplicable love for those "incomprehensible" things, which is clearly marked as a stage in my short life.
It's interesting that in Xu Zidong: "Thunderstorm" is Cao Yu's best work, it is mentioned:
Cao Yu was initially influenced by Yu Dafu and imitated "Sinking", writing his debut work "Where to Wake Up from Tonight's Drunkenness". Yu Dafu even replied to him. Cao Yu went to perform Ding Xilin's "Oppression" when he was eighteen, and also performed "A Doll's House". Later, when his father passed away, Cao Yu studied journalism at Tsinghua University. At this time, he met a campus beauty named Zheng Xiu. He knew that Zheng Xiu loved acting, so he wrote a play for her to perform. This play is "Thunderstorm", and Zheng Xiu came to play Fan Yiyi. When someone asked Cao Yu what "Thunderstorm" was about, Cao Yu said, it's about Fan Yiyi, Fan Yiyi is a fire, and it's written for this fire. In fact, he was writing about Zheng Xiu, Zheng Xiu is a fire. He wrote "Thunderstorm" in 1934 when he was only twenty-four years old.