When Waddington talks about “the richest in beauty is the
beautiful life,” he is not talking about how people look on the outside. He is
saying that people who live an authentic, happy, fulfilling life are the
beautiful people. The nuns, who live in poverty, and who risk
dying, are the people who are the most beautiful. They are helping people,
fighting against the “chaos” of life.
This relates to the title of The Painted Veil because it affirms that what matters is not the
beautiful decorations someone might have on the outside, what matters is
whether they are an honorable, good, and internally beautiful person. Kitty
seemed to have learned some of this in China, especially when she found
fulfillment in working with the orphans and nuns. But I’m not sure how long
this lesson will really last, since she was unable to keep that sense of decency and
honor for long once she returned to Hong Kong.
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