In the dream of love, I need to distinguish the background of reality.

this article is a book review of "Carol"

Carol, an American novel written in 1952, is still not out of date in China at the beginning of the 21st century. It is a novel about women learning how to be independent and how to love. In Lillian Fadiman's lesbian research monograph Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, we can see the social background of American lesbians in the 1950s. In the 1950s, McCarthyism prevailed in the United States, and society did not tolerate any identity and behavior that deviated from the mainstream. The police will search lesbian bars and question women in masculine attire, who are considered mentally ill. Cheap popular novels portray lesbians as demons hooking up with innocent girls, often ending up committing suicide or being saved by men. But such stigmatization also provides a channel of self-identity for those confused women.

if you boldly imagine that the middle-class Tris and Carol together will not distinguish between butch and femme, the tp characters in lesbians, like the working class, are very feminine and will not squeeze into these circles. The concept of butch, femme, kiki was widely established in the 1950s and 1960s, with the working class as the main force, and some butch would feel that being a woman was very unmanly and even refused to undress during sex. The working class strictly abides by the rules of their bf and will be rejected if they choose regardless. The middle class, on the other hand, do not have to go to bars (because most bars are remote and inferior), they have their small circle, and they appeal to dress like heterosexuals in order not to reveal their identity. Butch is despised among the middle class. Les societies such as (dob), daughter of Bilitis, have been widely founded and magazines have been published one after another.

Carol depicts lesbians positively and gives hope to lesbians at that time, which is an epoch-making light. At the same time, I think lesbian love is a metaphor, a kind of woman want to be independent of the male gender roles, without the existence of men, women have to define the position and role of their feelings, everything is unknown, everything is not clear, so there can be fear as well as surprise. For Tris, I think there is more ecstasy because there is a lot of joy in the novel.

Tris is a salesperson who sells dolls, but she likes the unruly and free train. "there is an angry arrogance in the small parts of this train, and the minivan travels around the closed elliptical track. Show anger and frustration. This image is supposed to be erotic, when the train passes through the tunnel and the man passes through the woman, the total feeling is to imply her masculinity.

Tracy's dream is to be a stage designer in the novel and a photographer in the film, all of which have wonderful metaphors of "imitating reality". However, they have a better career in selling dolls. Dolls are purely manipulated, while designers or photographers are based on their ideas and are free to choose the life they want to build. I think Heysmith hinted that Tracy had entered the floor here, just as she wrote that Tris was absent-mindedly flying kites with her boyfriend, just as Tracy likes small trains, she doesn't like being manipulated by others (kites, dolls). She likes an independent, self-designed life. However, this kind of design is only an imitation of reality, it is to see the mirror image of reality to bring subjective imagination, whether it is design or photography, all need to rely on reality, but this intercepted "second reality" is too subjective. There may be a deviation in this imagination. Tracy has made progress, but she is still subject to her subjective limitations.

this limitation lies in Tracy's feelings for Carol.

Tris has an extreme and destructive love for Carol and even hopes that death will put an end to it at the top. As they drove into the Lincoln Tunnel, Tracy looked out of the windshield with wild, indescribable excitement. She wants the tunnel to collapse and take their lives so that when their bodies are dragged out, they will still be together. Here, she regards death as an absolutely useful measure to stay in love, completely subjective imagination of love, but also can see how violent she is, can be desperate.

Tracy's love for Carol stems from her fascination with high society, because Tracy's "empathy" is buried in her bones, and when she works at Pelican Publishing House, she is fascinated by a woman in the rain; when shopping, she instinctively feels that two women are "the same" with her; after breaking up with Carol, she is attracted by an actress. If it hadn't been for Carol, there might have been other women who asked her to do it. These women are stored in Tracy's subjectivity, they are only illusory images, and there is nothing substantial. It was only for Carol that Tracy finally took a step towards reality.

imaginary fiction can be beautiful and fascinating, but when you go to reality, everything will change and you may be burned by reality. So the escape of Tracy and Carol is not as beautiful as the movie, there are quarrels, anger, and jealousy between them, as well as differences of opinion.

Tracy poured all her ideals and dreams into Carol. She couldn't even imagine Carol and her family, her life, and even … Her ex. After the initial acute pain, Tracy's admiration gradually turned into something like a chronic disease. She must live with it and endure the heat, convulsions, and labor pains it brings.

Slide into charming peplum wedding dress and flaunt your sexy figure. There are massive collections on sale now!

Carol is much more rational. she is good at balancing relationships, and unlike Tracy's sudden plunge into passion, Carol can be perfect for everyone. Especially in front of Richard, she can also show that she is very considerate. Even in front of the hostess, Carol was able to clean up her mood quickly. Carol is more realistic than Tracy because the situation she faces is so complicated and the disputes she has to deal with are too complicated to be as simple as Tracy, just a job and a boyfriend. So Carol has long seen that Tris is unrealistic. Carol once criticized Tracy, "you're not used to thinking about other people's feelings." If all your things are secondhand, how can you expect to create something by yourself?

this unreality brought disaster to Carol, and the letter written by Tracy's nymphomaniac became the strongest evidence that Carol lost the case. Tracy hesitantly didn't give it to Carol earlier and stuffed it in the book and was betrayed by the babysitter. But Carol's sobriety and wisdom are that even if she loses, she loses handsomely. In a long letter to Tracy, she said, "depravity is disobedience to one's nature."

Yes, Carol knows what's most important. Even if Tracy loses the case, she still understands that love is heavier, so instead of complaining like a woman, she rationally sees reality: if Tracy is willing to love, she will continue; otherwise, if Tracy escapes, she will let go. She will give Tris one, and this is the only chance to talk.

Tris is faced with a choice at the moment: she must learn to break away from her dreams and face love independently. The reality is so cruel that it is impossible to get back to Richard, but the job is still there, and she wants to pick up the working circle. At the same time, do you follow your passion and go on a date with an actress, or do you try to face the truth and get back to Carol? At this moment, she gained an epiphany from passion to love: "half an hour at this cocktail party makes sense to herself, and then it will never make any sense." the excitement I feel now will not last, and it will never appear in another time or place.

Yes, Tracy understands that a dream about an actress maybe just another overly subjective thing and only half an hour makes sense. But for Carol, Tracy already knows the real her, and she doesn't have to love humbly anymore. She was so humble before, who could say that she didn't feel too subjectively that Carol would abandon her? And now she has the capital not to be humble. Because she knows how to go her own way. She can own bread, so she can ask Carol for love. She has met the real Carol and fell in love with the real her.