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 still continue in his world.
The madman had dual image, “mad” and “not mad”. On the surface, the Madman was described as a mad person, for example, his words, lifestyle, and thoughts were all unacceptable by that society. But inner, his advanced ideology was a symbol that dared to challenge the feudal society. He hoped people would change, change from the bottom of their hearts because he believed that there would be no place for man-eaters in the future. Even though the whole story was talking about how the mad person he was, through his unacceptable words and thoughts, we found he spoke about the things people were afraid to say or simply had not thought of at that time. As the tradition of the history, thus against existing order of society were no exception to be seen as “mad”. The madman’s thinking and language were not accepted by the society, but, in fact, his observations and conclusions were rich and deep. Although this story was an madman’s diary, but it always show the “eat people” phenomenon which occurred recurrently in the Chinese history for thousand years. Its purpose was to tell people that there were only two words “eat people” in the old society. Lu Xun combined the diary with the madman’s monologue to show the darkness of feudal system, and felt grief or indignation of people’s deep feudal ideology. As a writer, Lu Xun thought he ought to save this society, awaken people’s sleeping minds, and let them knew they could abolish such unfair system. He believed there was still hope for the future, just like he wrote in this story, “perhaps there are still children who haven’t eaten men? Save the children”. Second, the protagonist in Yu Dafu’s “Sinking” is an oversea student who has knowledge and ambitious. However, he was expelled from the school because he sought freedom and liberation which unacceptable by the old society. During the life in Japan, he sought or longing for the sincere friendship and pure love. This was young people’s peculiar enthusiasm, but his enthusiasm was suffering mockery and insult because he came from a weak country. Hence, he was feeling lonely, empty, and finally becoming a depressed patient. He did not want to sinking, but he could not extricate himself from sinking. In the circumstances of lose, he came to the tavern and the brothels to destroy his pure sentiments. Even though he felt regret of self-injury after the fact, he still had no faith for the life. At last, he sank into an ocean of despair and giving up easily. His miserable fate was closely combined with his motherland, thus, he bitterly shout out, “o china, my china, you are the cause of my death! I wish you could become rich and strong soon! Many, many of your children are still suffering”. The protagonist’s melancholy belongs to that era. Weak China created the opportunity for him to study abroad, but Chinese was suffering discrimination in Japan also constituted the reasons why he had melancholia. However, these were all external reasons, because not all oversea students had such depressions. Investigated its internal causes, I think the protagonist was an idealist, had hopes, desired to revitalize the motherland. But when he found his best time was losing in the pitiless island, and his knowledge was not necessarily used in the homeland, he fell into the sorrow which unspeakably. Therefore, he chose the hooker and the wine to relieve his indignant heart. On the surface, the protagonist’s depression was on sexual anguish, but in the deep, it reflected the young people’s inner aspirations were difficult to achieve under feudal society. The author, Yu Dafu through this story expressed the old society’s tragedy, but also reflected people’s helplessness and puzzled. Third, Mao Dun’s “Spring Silkworm” wrote about the trials and tribulations of an old farmer named Lao Tong Bao and his family during the silkworm raising season. In general, the harvest of silkworm would increase the income, and improve family’s economic condition. But Lao Tong Bao, instead owing another thirty silver dollars and losing their mortgaged mulberry trees after sold the silkworms. This story reflected rural economic decline in the early 1930s. On the surface, It demonstrated that without greater technological inputs, just working harder was not always enough to stave off privation. But the essential reason was Chinese farmers were unable to develop revolutionary consciousness. From Lao Tong Bao’s attitudes that opposed foreign people, foreign goods, and foreign boats, the author found the feudal conservative culture already occupied people’s thoughts. They did not know and never cared about outside world. Only two things, land and food could attract their attention. Another reason was that the feudal superstition restricted people to accept new things. For example, Lao Tong Bao forbid his youngest son Duo Duo Tou to talk with He Hua because he thought talking to He Hua would infect bad luck. Due to such superstition ideology, he and his family refused to make any progress. A certain extent, this was one of the reasons caused his poverty. Unfortunately, most Chinese people had this feudal superstition at that era. For comparison, Mao Dun also created another important person, Duo Duo Tou who had suspicious and critical spirit. Contrary to his father, Lao Tong Bao, he thought only depend on the trials and tribulations could not stave off privation. As a young farmer lived in the society which filled with superstition and conservative ideologies, his revolutionary ideas reflected the discontent of the old society. But his ideology also showed us that the new ideas had exist in the old village, and such ideas could lead the rural future development. Three articles were all describing people’s thoughts and living conditions in the old society. The differences between them were the protagonists’ reactions for such suffering situation. For example, when Madman, Lao tong Bao, and the protagonist in “Sinking” were feeling the pain of feudal ideology, Madman chose to resist, Lao Tong Bao decided to yield, and the protagonist in “Sinking” chose to end his life. Whether they chose to resist, yield or to suicide were all the tragedy in that era, because they were all confused in the darkness. The people in these stories were only found out the negative side of the old society and passively to against or yield it, but they never thought about how to successfully change it. If I have to choose one reaction, I prefer to Madman, because his resist spirit influenced more and more people in China, and based on such spirit many young people joined in the revolution in the later time.