Log# 7

The girl on the train 

P199~300

The truth has been unraveled slowly. The most important one is Megan’s body has been found. Besides, Megan’s marriage is not as happy as it looks like. Except for her husband, Megan has a secret lover and falls in love with her therapist-Karmal. Although Karmal told Megan her love is a kind of transference, he still accepts Megan.After Megan died, Karmal and Scoot are all become the suspects. However, Karmal proves his innocence to police, Scoot can’t. So, Scoot turns to Rachel for help. He tries to clarify what happens when Megan was missing. Rachel couldn’t remember things clearly because she was drunk. Rachel borrowed some money to accepted Karmal’s therapy. She tries to get information from him. Later, the news goes on reported that “Was Megan a child killer?” Megan has been Tom’s nanny , so his new wife Anna is very surprised when she read the news. Rachel found that what she has seen on the train is not true. Megan is not a merely loving wife. Rachel says,” She was a liar, a cheat, she was a killer.” On the other hand, Anna was a mistress before. She gets everything which originally belongs to Rachel: Tom and the house near the train track. Whereas she also found that Tom is a liar. He often tells a lie to her.

     The story becomes more attractive, each character shows more and more their characteristics and their thoughts. Rachel, Megan and Anna, the chain of destiny makes them connected. Actually, their relationship is similar to a food chain. As for love, Anna and Megan are the predators. From this story, I think the most important element is women’s independence. If I could rename the book title, I would say it can be renamed as “Three silly women.” In this book, the chapters are depicted by three different women. From three women’s perspective, we know their love, hate and, etc.

     However, what is love, sometimes, love is like riding a roller coaster. When the love is sweet, the passenger reaches a high point and feels very excited. However, the tricky thing is that you can’t control what position you will be. The controller is in other people’s hand. The three women in this novel they make their life as riding a roller coaster. Rachel started to drink because she’s frustrated by she can’t have a kid. Megan always relies on men to comfort herself. For example, she lost her brother when she was very young; she relied on a man called Mac to forget her sorrow. She says,” I was seventeen. I was with a man who excited me, who adored me. I’d got away from my parent, away from the house where everything, everything, reminded me of my dead brother.” Anna is pathetic because she has her own punishment, she steals other woman’s husband; thus, she also can’t have peace in her mind. She says,” there’s no way I can stay in this house, on this road, knowing everything that has gone on here. Everywhere I look now I have to see not only Rach but Megan, too.” For me, these three women they don’t know they sit on a roller coaster. The are all controlled by others, not by themselves.

    In my opinion, from these three “silly” or “poor” women’s story, I can learn that how important the independence for a woman is. I am not a girl now, so for me, I think what the difference between a woman and a girl is independence. The book title is “The girl on the train.” But actually Rachel is not a girl anymore, but she is still a girl in her mind. She objectifies herself. She let the beauty or the ability to have a baby to define her. Megan depends on her beauty to attract different men to comfort herself. Anna did the same thing and pleases herself by hurting others. They all put their controller in other’s people’s hand. From my perspective, as a woman, we shouldn’t objectify ourselves. We need not be a princess. We needn’t be always pretty and elegant or always cater to other's want. In one’s life, Shit happens. So, avoiding "shit" is more important than other things. We should try hard to put the controller in our hand, not in the "shit men" or other people’s hand.