...“Save the children . . .” (Xun 10). The previous quote was taken “A Madman’s Diary” one of Lu Xun’s notorious short stories. “A Madman’s Diary” is a narrative told through the perspective of a man who had fallen into a state of insanity, believing that everyone in his village, including his brother, was cannibalistic and would eat him; however, cannibalism in the story symbolizes so much more. Lu Xun lived from 1881 to 1936 and is considered one of China’s most influential writers. In his work he would criticize the corrupt culture of his country and inspire revolutionary thoughts in his readers. The traditional Chinese culture that Xun was criticizing in “A Madman’s Diary” relates to the Confucian philosophy. Confucianism deals mostly with...
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...Susanna Zhang Eacs 4B Section 6pm During Lu Xun’s study in Japan, some topics that he was interested in were “What are the qualities of the ideal human, what does the Chinese character lack most, What is the source of illness.” This made me pause for a little while and try to answer these questions myself. Just like Lu Xun, I was also surprised that his mother called him back to China was for an arranged marriage to a girl that he has never met. Usually in novels, we hear the women’s point of view in the marriage. The author then goes on talking about Lu Hsun’s literary work. The author says “many of his stories are flawed, though they are genuine by virtue of their depth, strength, and gravity.” You can tell that Lu Xun was a great write through the words the author uses in describing each work as “masterpiece” in “Madman’s Diary”, “transcends cultural boundaries and should reach the reader’s heart” in “New Years Sacrifice,” ect. I learned that Mao admired and respected Lu Hsun and “hailed him as the commander of China’s cultural revolution.” The author comes up with three reasons for this. First, Lu Xun’s literature was based on utilitarianism, secondly, he “subsumed literature and arts under politics”, and finally because Lu Xun was a “relentless fighter.” One of my favorite articles was a “Madman’s Diary.” The narrator had illusions that the doctor was going to eat him and that his own brother was the doctor’s accomplice. When the narrator says “ I know their way;...
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...Relationship Between the Individual and Society From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, China was in the social transformation era. More accurately, people was in the alternating period of the feudal traditional conservative ideology and emerging modern thoughts. Hence, the authors always wrote the stories about how individuals reacted to such social changes. Like three stories, Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary,” Yu Dafu’s “Sinking,” Mao Dun’s “Spring Silkworm” which depict how the individuals’ respond when they face two totally different ideologies or moral codes. These three stories show three different conditions, three different choices, and lead to three different results. One common thing is that all protagonists are suffering in that old society. First, Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary” describes a madman who is the first rebel in modern literary history. The madman was born in the feudal scholar-bureaucrat family, everyone lived around him was bound by the feudalism. However, he was not one of them, he had modern thoughts and yearn for a just society. Unfortunately, he could not find a person with a like-minded goal, and everyone else saw him as a madman. He thought that society was an “eat people” world. For example, he read history intently half the night until he saw the whole book was filled with the two words “eat people”. He thought the history were all wrote about how the powerful people oppress the poor. And he felt sorrow that such merciless history...
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...be examined and tested individually, everyone would be sane. However, if these same individuals were place in a group, then suddenly examined, tested or discussed collectively, it would easily be determined that everyone is insane. Everyday people go about their day-to-day activities and some degree of normality because it is expected. Yet, there are reports of various acts of insanity broadcasted through the news media almost daily. These reports and events are insane and cause some to fear, some to be dismayed while others grieve. The different aspects of our environment can place individuals in a state of insanity. If individuals are unaware of history, they are more prone to repeat the devastating acts such as cannibalism. When Lu Xun asserts, " There were no dates in history, but scrawled this way and that across every page were the words benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Since I couldn't get to sleep anyway, I read that history very carefully for most of the night, and finally I began to make out what was written between the lines; the whole volume was filled with a single phrase: Eat people!" (1240). The importance of history is seen as an illusion through the author's 2 point of view. History is a reflection of its environment, and through the author's perspective, he observes an elusive world that is...
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