In the work "The World", Zheng Juan and Zhou Bingkun's experience is undoubtedly the most painful.
Zhou Nan chose to study abroad after winning the scholarship, and became the envy of everyone as "someone else's child", and he will definitely have great achievements in the future. But unfortunately, Zhou Nan died in a foreign country, and Zhou Bingkun was imprisoned for attacking Luo Shibin, and Zheng Juan's hard life in the past became even darker.
Many viewers don't understand why Zhou Nan has to die?
After reading the original book "The World", I understood the three reasons why Zhou Nan "must die".
After Zhou Nan and Feng Yue fell in love, she realized that Zhou Bingkun had been hiding Zhou Nan's origin.
In this drama, Zhou Bingkun's character has undergone some adaptations and beautifications. Although Zhou Bingkun in the original book performed quite well, compared with him in the play, he showed more real emotions and selfishness.
Zhou Nan and Feng Yue are deeply in love, but Zhou Bingkun does not approve of their relationship.
On the one hand, this is out of consideration for Zheng Juan. In the eyes of most people, Zhou Nan and Feng Yue are cousins (in the original book, Feng Yue is slightly older than Zhou Nan). If they really come together, it will be tantamount to making Zheng Juan's past public. The surrounding neighbors will know that Zheng Juan was violated by Luo Shibin, which will undoubtedly damage Zheng Juan's reputation.
From another point of view, Zhou Bingkun believes that Zhou Nan and Feng Yue are not compatible. Feng Yue is the only daughter of his biological sister Zhou Rong, and she is very good. Although Zhou Nan is very good, he is Luo Shibin's bad son, which makes Zhou Bingkun very dissatisfied.
In addition, the timeline of the theatrical version has been adjusted accordingly.
In the original work, Zhou Bingkun hurt Luo Shibin more than ten years earlier than in the play. At that time, Luo Shibin had just come to Zhou Nan, which was similar to the scene in the play when Luo Shibin was injured and hospitalized. Zhou Bingkun was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Zhou Nan died after he was released from prison. At that time, Zhou Cong had already started working, and the father-son relationship between Zhou Nan and Luo Shibin in the play had not been alleviated.
In this context, if Zhou Nan is still alive, how should he spend the rest of his life with Feng Yue?From a more serious point of view, this may trigger a relationship rupture between Zhou Bingkun and Zheng Juan.
This highlights Zheng Juan's character setting.
After Zhou Nan's death, whether in the play or in the original book, Zheng Juan showed a calm attitude far beyond ordinary people.
In the original work, Zheng Juan's outstanding performance in the United States won high praise from her family and won the respect of many foreigners, as she said at the memorial service held for Zhou Nan at the university:
As a relatively low-educated Chinese mother, my only goal in educating my son is to expect him to become a virtuous person when he becomes an adult. I know that my son was a good boy when he was a child. If he's really not a good guy, then no matter how good he is, my heart aches. When my son was a child, he always proved that my wish was completely possible with his own practical actions. Now, he has shown that my expectations have not been disappointed. My son is a good man, and he has left a mark on my heart that will never be erased. My heart was filled with sadness, but it also brought deep comfort.
Zhou Rong, Hao Dongmei, Zhou Cong, and Zhou Yue (the original work has been renamed) all wanted to write a speech for Zheng Juan, but Zheng Juan politely refused. Despite this, Zheng Juan still insisted on her request, hoping that Zhou Rong could assist in the translation, and her speech moved people to tears.
Although this part is not covered in the play, Zheng Juan's behavior in court is still impressive. For the sake of Zhou Bingkun, she did not hesitate to uncover her scars. After Zhou Bingkun was imprisoned, she sold popsicles in the summer and sweet potatoes in the winter, firmly waiting for the moment when he was released from prison.
Zhou Nan's death confirmed that Zhou Bingkun's determination was correct and made Zhou Bingyi fully accept this nephew.
Zhou Nan's death was motivated by the protection of others. In the original, Zhou Nan received approval from the school to become a teaching assistant to the professor, which made him the envy and jealousy of others. At critical moments, Zhou Nan bravely stood up three times, and she did not hesitate to sacrifice her life in order to protect her classmates and teachers.
After Zhou Nan's death, both Zhou Rong and Zhou Bingyi were very excited, especially Zhou Bingyi, although he was very good to Zhou Nan on the surface, but deep down he treated Zhou Nan and Zhou Cong differently.
Zhou Nan's attitude at the critical moment of life and death made Zhou Bingyi have a deep respect for him, and conveyed such words to Zhou Rong:
Unexpected, but this is not surprising, Nan Nan's behavior is very similar to the people of our Zhou family, and the reason why Bingkun wants to fight for this son is to hope that he can become a member of our Zhou family, not like Luo Shibin. He is a very honest child, his love for his father is from the heart, and his love for his mother is unforgettable. If he had spent two years with Luo Shibin, he might not have behaved like that.
Zhou Nan's death made Zhou Bingyi deeply realize that Zhou Bingkun's firm belief for many years was correct. Years of silent dedication have made Zhou Nan truly a member of the Zhou family, full of sense of responsibility and courage, which is a trait that Luo Shibin can never teach Zhou Nan.
Considering these three factors, we can understand why the author designed such a tragic ending for Zhou Nan.