Author: Wenhui Wang

When you read a good book, you will feel as if you have entered another world where you can communicate with the author. In this world, you can relax with all your heart, collide with the ideas in the book, and feel peaceful. This was how reading Montaigne’s Essays felt to me. Montaigne’s work was full of wise opinions which have enabled me to have a deeper understanding of life.
In this world, there are always people who complain that their situation is inferior to others. They pay too much attention to their surrounding environment and the situation of others that they have no focus on their own lives leading to missed opportunities. When a person complains about their circumstances, he often blinds his eyes and loses his direction. Montaigne says, “Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.” Only by constantly improving our skills and value can we adapt to the changing environment.
Montaigne also points out that, “There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.” I agree with this point and it is also reflected in the quote, “A free gift is a trap as people pay with their time; there is nothing more valuable in this world than time”. People often pay more in the end for something that was supposedly “free”. What we want must be achieved through our own efforts.
As for Montaigne, I didn’t know him before reading his book. After reading his book, I felt a strong sense of identity. His unique thinking on the value of life has strengthened my view on life and made me feel enlightened. This book will become a part of my value system and will accompany me in my future endeavors.

“The Book of the City of Ladies” embodies the awakening of feminism. In the book, Pizan criticizes the remarks and behaviors of men attacking and slandering women. Although the feminist movement did not happen during Pizan’s time, Pizan’s activism and courage to speak out for women is admirable. After reading this book, I started to think about the reasons that led up to the rise of feminism. In my opinion, the rise of feminism started with the social demand for female laborers. In the 19th century, European and American women began to re-examine their status in society, which was related to the surge in demand for female labor in factories after the industrial revolution. During this period, women’s pursuit of education, social status, and social rights advanced drastically and had many accomplishments. After two centuries, the development stages of feminism have changed from trying to liberating women’s rights to their bodies to fighting for equal labor rights and obtaining property to pursuing the promotion of political and social status.

Augustine recalled that he deeply loved one of his friends, but this friend died so he fell into confusion and thought death was the end of love. His fundamental criticism of earthly love is that you only love a mortal person.
This criticism went deeper and rose to the level of existence. The person you love will die, and this death destroys love. He said that true love is to love an immortal thing. For God’s sake, to love enemies and friends, first of all, we must regard all people as part of the world created by God. Love must overcome death. If you do not overcome death, you cannot say this is love. Love and death are mutually exclusive.

Under Aeschylus’s depiction, Clytemnestra is not a madwoman as he made her revenge seem reasonable. His perspective lets the reader have sympathy for Clytemnestra’s actions by helping them understand her behavior and where she is coming from. This is evident by his depiction of her husband who kills their daughter. For Clytemnestra, these actions are unforgivable and have a deep impact on her conscience. We can also look at another perspective such that in the third play, where the judge brought up the question, “Is the murder of the husband serious, or killing the mother serious?”. This question lets the readers truly feel that it was a tragedy because Orestes did not want to kill his own mother. Morality and his right to life are the main reasons why he chose to kill his own mother to get revenge on his father.