[Reading Notes] Ordinary majority under the horror of white people on a white background - "White Portrait"

For a white portrait, is the background white, or is the portrait white?

White is originally clean, but in political terms it has become the representative color of state suppression or anti-communist purges. Relatively bloody sacrifices become red, and reckless dangers become black. The colors are interactively formed. However, if the painted person has no obvious color, he has not suffered a great disaster. It's just that a person with limited perception and limited action in the vast white background, who has lived a mediocre life, how can he/her be drawn? A more demanding question is: Is it necessary to paint such a person?

Works related to transitional justice can be said to be very popular in recent years. Whether it is February 28 or White Terror, many works have exposed the tyranny of the authoritarian government at that time by presenting the tragic experiences of the victims, and they still remain to this day. Social scars that haven't healed yet. However, in all these discussions, there is a group of people who seem to be doomed to be absent. They have no marks of persecution, nor are they the perpetrators. During this period, all they have done is to live ordinary lives and work hard in society. To have a role to play. But isn't their story worth seeing? Or, are they really unharmed?

With ordinary (blank) characters under the "white terror" as the protagonists, writer Lai Xiangyin's work "White Portraits" is about this group of people who kept their duties during the martial law period and lived most of their lives. A teacher from the normal education system, a domestic helper, and an intellectual who lived abroad for a long time, three ordinary names, three ordinary lives with different but also unrelated to the political persecution. Compared with other victims, their experiences It may not be worth mentioning, but it shows realistically that in the atmosphere of that era, the entire Taiwanese generation may have become a plaything under the white terror.

The White Horror Lives of Ordinary People

Like the lives of the three protagonists, the words Lai Xiangyin uses to describe them will also make readers feel flat at the beginning, without too many emotional ups and downs, but just like making tea, these words will increase with the length of reading. Long, gradually "tasteful", and often become extremely strong at the end. Including the differential treatment of people in the province, the eradication of intellectuals during the White Terror, as well as the Beautiful Island Incident, the Lin (Yi Xiong) house murder, etc. These are major events that were often mentioned in the past, because the author deliberately used a relatively distant written so that they do not seem to have happened on the same piece of land.

But at the same time, like ripples, these events, which feel far away, often affect the protagonists who seem to be indifferent to the world in different ways; in addition, the author seems to be very good at using the recoil of words. , especially sometimes it is only a short paragraph or two, but it can make readers feel the shock behind the words.

Those born in this era are all unfortunate groups, especially the young generation, but who do you hate? God? surroundings? It's all useless, you can only be at ease when you come. Since you were born in this unfortunate era, you must stand up to withstand the arduous test that the era has entrusted to you. Can you shrink back, and can you avoid being ridiculed by others? No, no, even if you want to retreat, you want to escape, but that's not okay.

Trauma without wounds The silent majority under the white terror

To be honest, I didn't have much expectations for "White Portrait", especially when I just read another book about white terror that was recently published, but I found it boring; however, the author bypassed the direct statement to present white terror The cruelty of the painting, the practice of using small figures to set off, and even the meaning behind the "white portrait" explained in the postscript, all give readers another perspective to explore this era. It may be said that the so-called "white portrait" is actually a group portrait of most people of that generation. It may not be so conspicuous, but it should never be forgotten.

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