Reading after midnight 1
This article starts with Mr. Wu's family from the countryside to the city. Because Mr. Wu couldn't stand the honest noise and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Many people attended Mr. Wu's funeral. Wu agrees with the suggestion that "several entrepreneurs of different sizes should form a new group to do short selling". At the same time, Wu's brother-in-law also agreed to join the multi-head company headed by Zhao. From then on, the contradiction and struggle between Wu and Zhao began. At that time, the situation was turbulent, and Wu's rural hometown was robbed and suffered serious losses. In order to raise capital to start a new factory, he exploited the silk workers, which led to the strike and demonstration of the silk workers, and finally became a "comprador" because of the failure of stock trading.
Chapter 1 of the novel opened the prelude of the book through Mr. Wu's coming to town, and chapters 2-3 invited almost all the main characters in the book through Mr. Wu's funeral, which also laid the groundwork for the "three major fire lines". The fourth chapter describes the peasant riots in Shuangqiao town, which is suspected of being divorced from the whole book because it was not continued in the later period. Chapters 5-8 describe Wu Sunfu's attack on three sides and his victory on all fronts, forming a small climax. Chapter 9- 12 talks about Wu Zhao's fighting methods, chapter 13- 16 talks about Wu Sunfu being caught between Scylla and Charybdis because of the rise of the workers' movement, and chapter 17- 19 talks about Wu Sunfu's last struggle.
From the content of the novel, it mainly writes about what happened on three lines: first, the struggle in the public debt market; Two: Yuhua workers went on strike; Three: the struggle of farmers in Shuangqiao town against bullying landlords. It takes Shanghai, a typical semi-colonial city, as the background, and the contradiction between national capitalist Wu Sunfu and comprador Zhao as the main line, showing a broad picture of China society in the early 1930s. The struggle between workers and peasants in urban and rural areas, the merger of national industry and commerce, the scuffle between warlords and the bankruptcy of rural areas are magnificent. Through numerous clues and complicated social relations, the work shows the "midnight" before dawn in many ways.
Reflection on midnight reading II
The creation of Midnight has been fully prepared for life and thought. In order to have a deeper understanding of China society in the early 1930s, the author visited entrepreneurs, civil servants, revolutionaries and others, visited the stock exchange, inspected the situation of the national bourgeoisie, and read controversial articles about the social nature of China at that time. Midnight is written on the basis of mastering a lot of materials and in-depth investigation and study, which reflects the writer's analysis and evaluation of Marxism in the social reality of old China.
Factional struggles within the Kuomintang have intensified, and the people have suffered from war. The imperialist countries passed on the economic crisis of the capitalist world to China, and China's national industry and commerce were on the verge of bankruptcy. The workers and peasants in urban and rural areas have launched an all-round revolutionary struggle under the leadership of the Party. The story is unfolded in such a broad background, and the characters are shaped in such a broad background.
The characters in Midnight are active in such a broad historical background. Moreover, through the development of character and destiny, it clearly and powerfully shows the development trend and grandeur of the whole era. It takes Shanghai as the center and reflects the whole picture of China society. It describes the events of 1930 for two months (May to July), which concealed the past and future of China society. Complex life phenomena with great historical and social significance are expressed through rigorous and grand artistic structure.
The plot center of Midnight is the struggle between the financial comprador bourgeoisie represented by Zhao and the national bourgeoisie represented by Wu Sunfu. As a result, Zhao Sheng was defeated by Wu. With its panoramic grand picture, the work powerfully shows that in 1930s, "China did not take the road of capitalist development, and China was more colonized under the oppression of imperialism".
Reflection on midnight reading 3
Midnight has successfully created many vivid artistic images. Among them, Wu Sunfu's typical creation is the most outstanding. As a representative of the national bourgeoisie, Wu Sunfu has a strong enterprising spirit, and he is not an insignificant person. He is ambitious and wants to bring down all the so-called half-dead entrepreneurs. He has the courage to know the famous saying that "small quantity is not a gentleman, and non-toxic is not a husband", and he knows how to control the fate of others in his own hands. He also has academic qualifications, experience and rich experience as an experienced entrepreneur. However, in semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, his career could not be moved. He faces two sets of contradictions: one is the life-and-death competition with the imperialist broker and financial comprador capitalist Zhao; The second is the sharp opposition with the working class. He is at the center of contradiction, and the development of things fully shows all aspects of his personality: he is sometimes decisive, sometimes hesitant, sometimes confident, and sometimes decadent and horrible. He seems to have answers when he meets things, but in fact he often behaves perversely. The richness and complexity of Wu Sunfu's personality is a true reflection of the duality of China's national bourgeoisie.
In Midnight, Mao Dun expressed a basic idea through Lin's mouth. In her mind, Wu Sunfu is a "heroic knight and? Prince? " (Chapter III). On the one hand, Wu Sunfu bullied smaller enterprises, but he couldn't compete with bigger ones, such as Zhao. Therefore, Wu Sunfu later thought, "He knew that the circle he used to put on Zhu Yinqiu's head was now expanded by Zhao, and he set up that company" (Chapter 17), which was also "the big fish eat small fish, the small fish eat shrimp". The tone of the author's description of Wu Sunfu is full of passion: "Sun Fu has great ambitions. He is adventurous and has the courage to work hard. He likes working with people like him. When he saw that some good enterprises were in the hands of mediocre people without knowledge, means and courage, he was very annoying. For such half-dead so-called entrepreneurs, Sun Fu often deliberately beats them mercilessly and holds the enterprise in his own iron fist. " (Chapter III) This kind of vision and tolerance is not available to others, and there is a feeling of extraordinary and condescending. Mao Dun endowed Wu Sunfu with romantic temperament in Midnight.
Reflection on midnight reading 4
Wu Sunfu's birth and educational background are also different. He is an overseas student studying in Germany, a returnee, who came back from studying to start a business. He received modern western science education with modern background. In the world of 1930, Germany is at the forefront of modern science. At that time, in the eyes of China people, the worship of Germany was a bit like the worship of the United States now, and it was highly disciplined in science, economy, including people and so on. Germany is a model of the world in all aspects. Therefore, Mao Dun asked Wu Sunfu to study in Germany, which obviously revealed that he had a modern educational background. According to what we said today, it is the most in line with the world.
As soon as Wu Sunfu appeared, it caused quite a controversy. He took advantage of his father's funeral to set up a trust with two other bosses. If this trust is completed, he can eat eight factories in one breath and monopolize many undertakings such as transportation, textiles and electricity in his own hands. Today, it will become a large group company. The cotton spinning industry is now a sunset industry, but it happened to be a new industry at that time. Therefore, what he does is cotton textile, electricity, transportation and so on, all of which are closely related to modernization. On this basis, Wu Sunfu, as a capitalist, does not consider making money by himself. He has consciously linked his business behavior and enterprise behavior with the interests and prospects of the country. So, when they were going to unite with this company and eat all eight factories, Wu Sunfu looked at the draft of enterprise merger, and through this draft, he already had an imagination in his mind:
Wu Sunfu took the "manuscript" and, while reading it, put forward a big idea from the paper: tall chimneys are like forests, smoking black smoke; The boat braved the wind and waves and the car crossed Yuan Ye. He couldn't help smiling slightly. And his ideal may not be completely squeezed. (Chapter 5)
At that time, a Kuomintang politician named Tang Yunshan, who was in partnership with them, talked with Wu Sunfu about the Three People's Principles and Sun Yat-sen's general plan for founding the country. Others just want to make money and don't care about it at all. "Only Wu Sunfu's eyes sparkled with excitement." The third chapter explained that it was actually imagined by Wu Sunfu, which was consistent with the imagination of Sun Yat-sen and all the national bourgeoisie in China at that time. According to what we say today, that is imagination modernization. When the Chinese entered the 20th century, their greatest dream and "orthodoxy" was how to modernize China and how to make China the most prosperous and powerful country in the world. At this time, Mao Dun suddenly gave Wu Sunfu a great personality. The writer gave him a high starting point from the beginning, that is, to infiltrate the quality of modernization through this personality. In other words, this person was originally associated with our national imagination of how to develop modernization in China, which is seamless.
Such capitalists are bound to put forward their own ideals and demands for politics and the country. There is a detail in it, that is, Wu Sunfu talks with his brother-in-law Tu Chu-chai. Because Tu Chu-chai was a banker, he said, "What factory do I run? What a naughty boy! Why don't you open a bank? With my capital and spirit, running a bank should not lag behind others, right? At present, the huge Shanghai Bank has only100000 yuan when it opened. But then again, "as long as the country is like a country and the government is like a government, China's industry will have hope!" (Chapter II) The capitalist power imagined by Mao Dun is actually great. Their economic activities have been closely integrated with the politics of modern China at that time, and they can even manipulate the military and politics at that time to some extent.
Wu Sunfu has a strong modern character. It has been studied in the past that Wu Sunfu's scenes, such as living room, factory, office and car, are all public scenes. Almost none of them are claustrophobic and still scenes. And some other bosses, such as his competitors Zhao and Zhao, are secretive. The first scene is behind the rockery in the garden, as if they are plotting, and then in the hotel, which is also a very private place, this figure has been in the dark. In public, all Wu Sunfu's actions are in a hurry, always one action. He got out of the car, went into the living room, lost his temper, dealt with his official business, and then went out at once, as if Mao Dun was a camera, following this man all the time. This artistic image has been moving, the mood is moving, the face is moving and the body is moving. It always expresses this person's character through a strong dynamic. For example, in chapter 7, it is written that Wu Sunfu is waiting for news of speculation in public debt. As soon as he appeared, he paced up and down the living room alone, looking at the time, talking to himself, talking to Fei Moustache on the phone in the study, and even his eyebrows moved: "Wu Sunfu cried impatiently, and he was bored for a while, feeling gloomy and miserable in the room. As soon as he stretched out his hand, he turned on the headlights covered with yellow silk on the desk. A yellow light fell on Wu Sunfu's face, and his face was black and blue. Two heavy eyebrows rustled above his fierce eyes. " There is a strong sense of tension here, and the appearance of this role gives people a unique feeling. Later, Wu Sunfu collapsed completely. When he was desperate, he suddenly raped a maid, still relying on the animal power generated by vitality.
Such a strong sense of movement, combined with cars and the most modern scenes in the 1930 s, has been endowed with some aesthetic pursuit characterized by modernity. At the beginning of the car, it said: "The car is going faster and faster, going east along Suzhou North Road, and turning south at Waibaidu Bridge, the three cars are like a gust of wind, and the speed is half a minute, setting a new record of 1930 years." In his works, he wrote "1930" cars several times, "moving forward like a whirlwind", emphasizing a kind of speed and rhythm, which is the feeling of modern people, and this feeling is intertwined with inner anxiety. To understand the beauty in the classical sense, beauty must be pastoral and quiet. We look at Chinese painting, and no one is running in it. People are fishing and drinking, which is peaceful. Only in this case can we form a kind of beauty. This is the aesthetic tradition of China's classical works. Most scenes in China's ancient literary works are in a relatively static state, and then a detail is infinitely expanded and infinitely regenerated. For example, if you eat a bowl of tea in a dream of red mansions, you can eat a chapter, which is a classic description method. Not all modern literature is dynamic, but after19th century, due to the development of industrial civilization, people seem to be in a whipping environment, and the whole person is involved in a social system, which is a kind of rushing dynamics. This has also become an aesthetic phenomenon concerned by western modernist artists in the early 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, it also existed in a large number of modern writers in China. Guo Moruo's early Goddess is full of such poems. The city is moving, the horn is shouting, and the drums are ringing. Why? It is through this very strong voice and action that he embodies the rhythm of an era. Then, such a rhythm of the times must be related to a noisy and unstable modern city.
Every detail of Mao Dun's performance of Wu Sunfu is dynamic everywhere, which can't be said to be intentional. This kind of intentional behavior can be called the character of modern people. It is not that recklessness and running around are the characteristics of modern people. Wu Sunfu has a modern cultural background, modern people's quality and modern personality, which is a rare image with modern personality in China's novels.
Reading after midnight 5
Wu Sun-fu's character is not realistic, which contains Mao Dun's strong emotional color and is written from the perspective of looking up. For example, in the fifth chapter, Wu Sunfu wrote it from his wife's point of view, with an adoring look. First of all, Mrs. Wu Shaofu was worried that her affair with Staff Lei would be discovered by her husband, so she was very scared. Wu Sun-fu said, "What should come is here after all!" She is pale, neurotic and neurotic, and there is no equality between husband and wife at all. It seems that she will have to wait for Wu Sunfu's ruling. "Mrs Wu Shaofu suddenly looked up and asked," sitting on the sofa, she always looked up at her husband walking up and down in front of her. These words show Wu Sunfu's majestic and tall image: "Sharp eyes are full of terror." "He stood up, paced for a few steps, and waved his arms vigorously", "He stared at the air with fierce eyes", "Then, without waiting for the housewife to answer, he suddenly put down his hand and strode out". This is a powerful image with great destructive power and creativity. Later, the name "capitalist" was not very glorious in politics, and critics analyzed Wu Sunfu into several personalities when analyzing his characters. They all applied some political concepts, which destroyed the integrity of artistic image and violated the law of artistic creation. In fact, from the beginning to the end, Wu Sunfu has nothing ugly or duality. Mao Dun himself stood in Lin's position and looked at a "heroic knight in the era of machinery industry in the twentieth century". Prince? " .
The "prince", that is, Prince Charming, came from far away in the sky, and Wu Sunfu came back from Germany after reading a book. He is a successful man. Hero, an artistic model with modern personality, has a special charm under the background of Shanghai. "Knight", I think this is a key word. The knight disappeared today. Nobody uses this word anymore. Even in Cervantes' time, "knight" was incomprehensible, don? Don Quixote is completely ridiculed, but the knight has a basic spirit, that is to say, for his own beliefs, for his own ideals, for the people he loves, he can risk exceeding his ability and fight hard with the car. Fighting with the wind is doomed to failure in the end, but it can be destroyed for an inexplicable belief that no one can see. Wu Sun-fu actually has such a spirit, so this is a tragic hero image.
The structure of Midnight is grand and rigorous. In order to contain complex contradictions, rich life and many characters, and to make the clues clear, the author took great pains in conception. First of all, the author carefully designed a special preface. In the first two chapters, by describing the sudden death of Taigong Wu, all kinds of people came to the Wu family to pay their respects, which naturally and skillfully made many characters appear, which not only initially showed the typical environment of the characters' activities, but also led to various contradictory plot clues. Secondly, in the main part (chapter 3 to chapter 16), a network structure with a main line and several branches intersecting is arranged. The struggle between Wu and Zhao is the main line that runs through the plot development of the book. Each branch line not only has its own development context, but also serves the development of the main line together, which is colorful and orderly. The last three chapters are the climax and ending of the book, and the brushwork is restored to the main line, rewriting Wu Sunfu's efforts to save the crisis, which is ups and downs.