克莱默夫妇观后感
A Tragedy of Times
We can hardly judge the heroine’s behavior simply as right or wrong, but it is certain that she is quite brave a woman. In that situation, there were only two ways she could choose. One is staying at home and maintaining the unhappy status quo, the other is leaving and taking an unknown journey to find herself. It must took her long to weigh and make the final decision.
To some extent, this leaving was a success bet, for it reached all the objectives she expected before. Firstly, she got the freedom and relieved from the trivial housework. Secondly, she recovered from the psychological problems and became happier and more confident. Thirdly, she gained her own career and realized the value of life. What’s more, she even dated with some other guys and started a brand new love story. Obviously, she found herself successfully. She was no longer the wife of Kramer, the mother of Billy, or any accessories of others. Instead, she was an excellent designer, a charming lady and most importantly, Joanna herself.
But the cost was a long time separation with her beloved son. Except for the endless miss, she had also to suffer from the deeply guilty for not being a responsible mother. And due to the absence of the most important one and a half year in Billy ’s growth, her sudden appearance was more like a disturb or second-harm to the little boy. I think, to a mother, there was nothing crueler than this .
Whether it is worth or not may depend on the individual values. To be specific, it depends on the weight each one puts on the career and family, self and others. From my point of view, Joanna’s choice was relatively rational. Just as she had written to Billy, “ I have gone
away because I must find something interesting to do for myself in the world. Everybody has the rights, so do I. Being your mother is one thing but there are still other things too. And this is what I have to do.” Being mother, one thing can hardly overweigh other, maybe thousands of interesting things. And Billy could live well with father, but Joanna might not continue life without leaving.
Last but not least, all the things have its background. In that era, there was always a contradiction between career and family to women. But with the improving of women ’s social position, this kind of contradiction may have better solutions. Firstly, the heroine should have realized and tried to solve the problem at the very beginning. Secondly, silence is not a wise choice. It can do nothing but make the problem bigger and bigger, just like the snowball. Thirdly, sometimes communication can be hard but it does not mean it is impossible. Communicate and try different skills and channels. Finally, if all above were in vain, leave for a short period to compel her husband to stand in her feet. From the film, we can see actually about half a year after Joanna’s leaving, Kramer had realized his error and Joanna herself had found herself. If she had come back at that time, the ending might be quite different. However, there is no if in life, this story is a tragedy of times.