A Madman’s Diary, The True Story of Ah Q and The New Years Sacrifice Essay

I. entrancewayMuch of Lu Hsuns stories be re exhibitions of his past struggles. He admits this in the preface of his collection of induces entitled, Call to Arms. just as this collection was viewed by Lu Hsun himself as a way to encourage three-year-old dreamers to pursue their aspirations and spare themselves of the agony of his young, much of it start outs a mirror as well of the Chinese culture and invoice. Hence, Lu Hsun is not entirely a chief commander of mainland Chinas modern Cultural variation he is likewise the founder of modern Chinese literature.This paper aims to come to a modest critical analysis of Lu Hsuns work using his first three short stories namely A lunatics Diary, The True Story of Ah Q and The New Years Sacrifice. These are chosen to identify patterns of themes, subjects and beliefs that are embodied in his writings. Also, we hope to be com manpowersurate to apprehend Chinese traditions and heritage using the same short stories. In the end up w e may find literature as a sound method of making a noble contri andion to the world with its inbred power to opine, philosophize and influence.Let us begin with a design telling of the stories plots and details. After which we enumerate the significance of each and finishingly to lead a general assessment of the narratives lessons and socio-cultural and political implications. This last part of the analysis is relevant as we support had hints already of the intentions of the source to provide an empowerment to the readers for the attainment of certain goals. The paper leave alone end in such a way that Lu Hsun is commended for his cr wash upivity in the craft to produce sh own consistency of his agenda as manifested in his literary machinery ergo, becomes successful and compatible endeavors of regenerationary and literary toils.II. A Madmans DiaryThe first story is a narration of Lu Hsuns reading of a diary of his old friend. The latter referred to as the maniac, fi nished his personal peaks puzzle expressed the nature of his sickness. He sees his own br other(a), relatives, neighbors and pay back as man- fertilizeers. The content of the diary may seem weird and horrendous yet the reason of the diary charged of insanity has managed to think and declare of historical accounts to prove his case. For instance, he called a previous enemy, Ku Chiu which in translation means Ancient Times his doctor, Li Shih-chen who in floor was a famous pharmacologist and authored the Materia Medica.Both usage have youthfulnt meanings and will be explained later. The madman also has knowledge of several traditional myths akin his mention of Yi Ya, who according to ancient records cooked his son as present to Duke Huan who was linguistic conventionality since 685 to 643 B.C. of Chi he mentioned also Chieh and Chou who were known tyrants in invoice Hsu His Lin who during the end of Ching dynasty was a alterationary executed in 1907 whose heart and co loured were believed to have been tireen because of his assassination of a Ching official. Again, these historical descriptions have significance in the goal of the author of Madmans Diary.The context of the story may seem to its audience a basic case of mental illness but this is true unless proper decoding is employed. The story suggests that t here(predicate) is a past experience which the madman has underwent which we could think of as the cause of his psychosis. accord to the author, the madman has suffered from persecution. The sen sequencent of the main character at the time he was sick already against other people characterizes the same feelings he mat against them before this condition.Man- take in the story symbolizes the feudal system in China. The oppression that the tenants suffer from their land lords has caused the madman to perhaps hate the former. The man-eaters in the story as observed by the madman consist of his neighbors, brother, doctor, etc. basically all those who are of the land-owning class. The conspirators making themselves man-eaters as well include his own mother- this is due to the latters inability to reprimand his brother. To the madmans mind, those who support and those who are silenced by the oppression are a resembling. This is why he refers to them as man-eaters as well they all look at him in the same way like fierce animals ready to eat him and his flesh. Every daytime, the madman has to deal with the same looks and reactions.He thought he was doing a good argument of having been able to decipher their true intentions of killing and alimentation him. In the end however it pained him to have known that his infant could have died in the same experience of being eaten by other people. It pained him that his own family has not done anything while his mothers weeping did not change the fact of her daughters tragicalal devastation.The seemingly unjust treatment of the community against a madman like him is translate d into the majoritys incapacity and lack of buoyancy to uphold a revolution such as that which would overhaul feudalism and promote equality. Yet, the madman has seen that Mr Chao for instance did not look solely at him with anger but with fear as well. One is afraid to change the status quo where he/she is already benefiting. Just like Mr Ku Chiu who was displeased with his intervention on his account sheets twenty dollar bill years ago. Ku Chiu meaning Ancient Times symbolizes the long history of feudal oppression in China.The madman business leader have do wild statements in his diary but to a madman this signifies discontent, confusion, motley emotions of fear and pain, none of which is equivalent to happiness and peace. He said he has not seen the moon for over thirty years. He must have been imprisoned or isolated that long from the community, the people barely recognize him just like the dog which looked at him twice. In the new day or perhaps new circumstance he is into, he only remembers the feelings of annoyance against them. Yet he witnessed the children, lively as they may bulge but the madman, reluctant about their purity thought they also had eye that misinterpret him. When he said their parents could have told them about his story, he was referring to the authoritativeistic transfer of the tradition of tyranny to the new generation and the hindrance to their seek for truth, justice and equality.The madman abhors the fact that the own victims of this cruelty have not done anything to antagonize but why do they look at him like that? This is expressed in the part belowThose people, some of whom have been pilloried by the magistrate, slapped in the face by the local gentry, had their wives taken away by bailiffs, or their parents driven to suicide by creditors, never looked as frightened and as fierce then as they did yesterday (Lu Hsun, A Madmans Diary, April, 1918)He sees their laughers, discussions of him, teeth and speech as comprising their sequestered signs. There are statements in the story which the author has provided for us to understand further the nature of the norm in their history. Like when the madman remembers the time when he would be commended by his brother for his indifference vis a vis vituperate doingsI remember when my elder brother taught me to write compositions, no matter how good a man was, if I produced arguments to the contrary he would mark that passage to show his approval while if I forgive evil-doers, he would say Good for you, that shows originalityAt that time , it would have been wear if you are blind and deaf and perhaps insane to resist the subjugation. This is also presented in the part where Mr. Ho, the doctor tells the madman Dont allow your imagination run away with you Rest quietly for a few days and you will be alright The madman sees this statement as a warning for his deed of courage and integrity. to be brave and spotless yield death of a man.Toward the end of the story, the madman asked a twenty year old lad if it was right to eat human beings and if such was an accepted act simply because it has always been like that. The author here is arriving at an assumption that a tradition of cruelty could have been regarded by most of them as justifiable by its permanence and embedded nature. But a challenge has been set forth in the end that is to become a real man. For the madman, real men dont eat human beings. Although as claimed, primitive people have done so, he advised his brother that to remain like them is the same as reptiles and animals who eat flesh and must be ashamed of themselves.This is a way for the author to propose that to desist tradition (the four thousand years of eating flesh) is to put a halt to oppression this is the act of a real man. He calls on a change of spirit and ideas so he tells them in the story You should change at once, change from the bottom of your wagon You must know that in future there will be no place for man-eaters in the world . . . . His final words are equally challenging and meaningful. It was a call for change especially for the youth Perhaps there are still children who have not eaten men? Save the children. . .III. The True Story of Ah QThe second story is written in December, 1921. Ah Q is a worker in the Weichuang village who has become a express joy stock and destination of insult from amongst his fellow villagers. His death was a tragic one considering that while his origin has not been known to the author or to the village people in the story, the cause of his execution is also incomplete defined by him nor his fellowmen. It is in this cycle confusions and uncertainties that the story becomes a revealing of the situation of China during the early nineteenth century.Lu Hsun has used characters in the story with meaningful roles in Chinas history. Mr. Chao and Mr. Chien are both influential and wealthy people in the village whose sons have devoted them pride by passi ng the examination and having been posted to high positions in the society Whiskers Wang and Young D who are servants like Ah Q had contrastive perspectives and never united The phoney Foreign daystar who studied in Japan and has returned to the village without any meaningful contribution the nun whom Ah Q have maltreated for his perceived false modesty of her the townspeople the military original the successful provincial candidate the old man with a reasonable shaven head they all did not spare Ah Q a little.It appeared that Ah Q was lovesome of drinking wine, sleeping after a days job at the Tutelary Gods Temple and imagining his own definition of victories. For Ah Q being beaten by a son is a conquest and every time he is teased by the village folk for his scar that looked like ringworm on his head and crushed to the argue for his eccentricities, he considers them losers for they are his sons. This weird claim of Ah Q has made the people a lot much irritated of him.T o him his only two turn thumbs downs were namely his defeat by Whiskers Wang who he regard as his equal and by the Imitation Foreign Devil. He found dignity in hurt a small nun. When he lost his job due to an happening with a maidservant at the Chao family house, he headed to the other town where a stroke of luck provided him with goods enough to be sold and become a source of his new profit. Yet along with his return to the village and his regenerate sense of respect for himself when the people started to talk about him and his fortune, a revolution occurred. Without much clarity, he was caught as suspect to a robbery by the revolutionaries at the Chao family.He told the captors that he might have approved of the revolution but he was not allowed to join because the Imitation Foreign Devil prohibited him. Uneducated, Ah Q was made to draw a circle as skin senses in a paper whose content was unknown to him and later that day, he was set as an example to the people and all other revolutionaries for death execution.One must have knowledge of Chinas history to be able to appreciate further Ah Qs story. The Qing dynasty with its long-lived rule and enormous failures has caused a deterioration of performance along traditional lines. The reach of remoteers who were driven by the industrial revolution of the West had caused much scandal and loss of resources for the prideful denizens of China. With their superior weaponry and cultural superiority might have brought Chinas independence they have nonetheless encountered opposition.This foreign presence has resulted to changed political demands among the revolutionaries. The Taiping Uprising for instance considered as the longest crank rebellion denounced Confucianism and found new aspirations in Christianity. The dynasty resorted to the Chinese provincial armies to stamp down the Taipings.A lot has changed since the abolition of the civil service examination in China based on the Confucian classics. There has b een a weapons platform of sending students to Japan for modern studies that brought radical ideas convinced of overthrowing the dynasty and revolutionizing China. This success of reclamation however by Sun Yat Sen has not abandoned feudalism, and has worsened due to Chinas dependency in the new market economy and international trade, the condition of the peasants who were displaced and deprived. Warlordism and the lack of nationalism have deepened the problem of China until the success of the CCP in the 1940s.These events took place prior and perhaps during the writing of Lu Hsuns Ah Q. Clearly, Ah Q represents the peasant revolution which has been isolated from the intellectuals endeavor. When Ah Q was denied participation by the Imitation Foreign Devil, the author has implied here that those who have attained education in Japan in the nineteenth century have not accomplish the true essence of a revolution. They failed to establish unity among its people as superiority among the land owning class prevails. Thus, Ah Q might have wanted to fight off for as he claimed in the story, revolution is good, but it was late for him to prove his strength and capacity. He was executed in a offensive he has not committed.  His lack of knowledge failed him to understand the situation this is more painful for him.