Appreciation of Dimension

王琳 段雨塵

王琳，大連理工大學， 英語語言文學專業，外國語學院，2013級碩士研究生

段雨塵，遼寧大學，外國語言學及應用語言學專業，2013級碩士研究生

When I saw the title Dimension， I thought a lot. Maybe its a story of choice or a story of lost. After I have read the story， I change my mind. Maybe its a story of female. It is about womens love， marriage and daily life reflecting a theme of a womans growth.

The protagonist of the story is the woman called Doree who lives in a town with her psychological illness husband. Because of an intimate contact with another woman， her husband became suspicious and revenged her killing their children cruelly. She lived like a walking corpse with suffering because of fearful stimulation. Her painful husband said that he freed himself from another dimension. The heroine was enlightened and awakened. At last， she saved a driver who was still of tender age. She realized that if you want to free yourself you should help others and find your own dimension.

Curiously， when I first read the story I have a pity on the husband. This is his nature. His possessed desire is too strong. He is afraid of that his wife would go away from him and have intimate contact with his neighbor Maggie. He loves his wife strongly in his own way. This is too selfish. He doesnt care about his wifes feeling. But after I read the story for the second time， I feel that he is really crazy. This is not the problem of desire， but a problem of good will. Maybe he doesnt have a good education when he was a child thus making him this kind of characteristic.

At first， I read the sentences such as， “whenever he had time hed come in and chat with her about the concerts and protest marches theyd both attended， the outrageous people theyd known， drug trips that had knocked them out， that sort of thing.” From this sentence， we know that he was a person lacking of education. Maybe he lacked of fathers love or mothers love. He doesnt care about himself and his family. Because I think a person if he wants to do something and before he does this kind of things， he must think about others. If the things he did would bring harm to others and made other people painful， he would not do them. Just like that， if he take drugs with others， his parents would be painful. In this way， he doesnt care about his parents. He is selfish. In this story， there are other things proving his selfish. For example， “Her hair had been long and wavy and brown then， natural in curl and colour， as he liked it， and her face bashful and soft—a reflection less of the way she was than of the way he wanted to see her.” Here Doree wants her husband happy， so she have that kind of hair. And her husband doesnt think about whether Doree like it. “Lloyd thought that their children should be educated at home. This was not for religious reasons—going against dinosaurs and cavemen and monkeys and all that—but because he wanted them to be close to their parents and to be introduced to the world carefully and gradually， rather than thrown into it all at once.” Here Lloyd didnt think about his childrens thoughts. He just commanded his wife educate them at home. So he is selfish.

There was another illness of him was his suspects. He was suspicious of his wife. For example， in this story， “Also about how easily she had become pregnant at first， and how she didnt so easily anymore， and how that made Lloyd suspicious， so that he went through her dresser drawers looking for birth-control pills—thinking she must be taking them on the sly.” Actually， his wife didnt take any pills. It is just Lloyds suspect. He is too suspicious. Another example， “Thats funny. Two women riding in a car. First I heard of it. Two women talking about nothing. She is out to break us up.” He loves Doree so much. I do not know whether this could be called love. Maybe he just thought Doree is just kind of one thing to him. And he was afraid of losing it. These two women didnt talk about their relationship. But he didnt believe them.

From the perspective of Doree， she firstly love his husband but after the thing she changed her mind. She was afraid of him. “it cost her such an effort to look at him， to get him into her vision as his thin and grey， diffident yet cold， moving yet uncoordinated man.” And I think she finally realized something after his husband told her he had saw his children. She saved a young driver. This is a reflection of common love. It is different from his husband. His husband just cares about himself. He just thinks about freeing himself from dimension. She found her own dimension. And this is real salvation of herself.

If I were Doree， whether I would finally go to see him depending on whether we still love each other. If he really has mental disease， I could understand him. Maybe the man loves her so much in his own way. It is just he doesnt know this way is wrong. If we didnt love each other， and he didnt have mental disease and he killed our children， I would not see him. I would hate him all my life.

Different people have different opinions from different angles. According to the story， I draw a conclusion.

First of all， maybe obeying Kants good will utterly could be difficult. But it is not difficult for you to do the things that wouldnt be harmful to others. If you can do this， you are also very kind.

Secondly， every people should have responsibility in this world. In real daily life， we communicate with each other. We should try our best to do what we have said. If you cant do it， please dont say it. It is a kind of promise. And you should have responsibility to every role you play. For example， you are a student， you should do what a student should do. Dont be like Lloyd， he is not responsible as a father.

Finally， dont be too suspicious of anything. You just let it go. If the thing is yours， though it is lost， you can find it at last. Dont be too worried.