? Most of the protagonists in Zhang Ailing's novels are "ordinary people", who are part of all sentient beings living in this bustling metropolis. Their sorrows, joys and love entanglements can also be taken care of in the life course of ordinary people. The events they experienced in their lives, the emotions they generated, and the interests they understood in life are all parts that Zhang Ailing tried to describe and intended to spread out for the world to witness. The love game with Fan Liuyuan in Love in the City, the depravity of Ge in Aquilaria Fragrant: The First Furnace of Fragrance, the distortion of Cao's lust in The Golden Lock and so on. All of them are described and developed in detail by Zhang Ailing in her novels.
? One touching story after another written by Zhang has a common feature, that is, the environment or place where the story takes place is the city. Yes, this city is both familiar and unfamiliar to people, because everything here is temporary. Zhang's novels truly show the way of life in the process of modernization. As for all these temporary features in the city, it is exactly what the novel blockade wants to reveal. ?
? "Blockade" tells the story of what happened on the tram when the city was blocked and the running tram was forced to stop during the occupation of Shanghai. The content of the story is very simple, but the author rarely sees complicated life situations in simplicity. The heroine Wu Cuiyuan, a college English teacher, was called a new girl at that time, but she was despised by people around her because of her newness and fell into inferiority complex. The hero is Lv Zongzhen, a bank accountant and an ordinary employee, who leads a quiet life after work. However, in an accidental blockade, two seemingly unrelated people came together and experienced the same thing. In fact, in the words of Zhang Ailing in the novel, they just had a dream together. Here's the story. As usual, people of all colors are sitting in trams and rushing to their destinations. Suddenly it was blocked, and people in the street started to drive around. What about the people in the car? They encountered emptiness. So how should they deal with this sense of emptiness? Everyone started their own actions, reading newspapers, reading signs and talking about things ... Lv Zongzhen met one of his relatives and was afraid that he would come to beg for mercy, so he sat down beside Wu Cuiyuan and made a false love attack on her. When the blockade was lifted, everyone returned to everyone, including Lv Zongzhen, as if nothing had happened. "The whole of Shanghai took a nap and had an unreasonable dream." Everyone returns to their roles and the day begins to pass the next stop.
? Here, there is no doubt that the temporary characteristics of everything in the city are presented to us. A series of people's activities triggered by the temporary event of blockade are temporary, such as chatting, reading newspapers, sympathizing and pitying, and even the vows between men and women are temporary. This series of timeliness reflects that in the process of modernization, it is difficult for people to grasp their own lives and beliefs because of the rapid pace of social progress and the great degree of social change. It is difficult for them to stick to their past lifestyles and mental outlook, unable to adapt to today's new situation, full of fear and anxiety about unknown changes in the future, and so on, which constitute their temporary characteristics.
The novel "Blockade" pays full attention to the temporary characteristics of the city and reveals its concreteness in many levels and directions. However, the intention of the novel itself is not limited to this. Under the temporary background of the city, the novel should convey two major themes to us.
? First of all, Blockade reveals the inner emptiness, boredom, hypocrisy and power of some bourgeois intellectuals through a false love story caused by the blockade of Shanghai. As a highly educated intellectual, Lv Zongzhen only learned practical knowledge, but did not learn how to establish a correct outlook on values and love. He doesn't want poor relatives to associate with him for fear that others will curry favor with him. He is mercenary, and he avoids anyone or anything that harms his interests. This is a vivid embodiment of the capitalist concept of money supremacy in individuals. In order to avoid being disturbed by poor relatives, Lv Zongzhen went to talk to Wu Cuiyuan and then launched a love attack on her. However, after the blockade was lifted and everything was restored, it seemed that nothing had happened to him. He only regards this pursuit as a game to pass away emptiness and boredom, and completely ignores Wu Cuiyuan's feelings. In fact, Wu Cuiyuan was really moved. However, this moving flame was quickly extinguished by cold water, and everything was an illusion and a dream. Lu's behavior is not only hypocritical, but also malicious deception. From here, we can deeply feel the hypocrisy and emptiness in Lv Zongzhen's heart.
? Secondly, from another hero, Wu Cuiyuan, the author also conveys our concern and reflection on the confusion and helplessness of intellectual women in that era. Wu Cuiyuan is a representative of new women. She made progress in reading and became a university teacher at a young age. But in those days, an intellectual woman like her was despised by people around her, making her feel inferior and incomprehensible. She longs for the love of the opposite sex, but it is always hard to get. She even thinks reading is useless and should go back to being an old-fashioned woman. She is not proud of her education, but disgusted. In China in the 1940s, feudal thoughts were still deeply rooted. People don't understand women's liberation and freedom, even resist and stifle them, which makes the new women who have just broken away from the shackles of feudal families immediately vilified and despised by the group, and makes them fall into deep distress. This undoubtedly provides us with a sample of intellectual women's life difficulties in the 1940s, which is worth studying. This is also a case in Zhang Ailing's Women's Studies. Among many women in her works, Wu Cuiyuan, as a representative of intellectual women, presented a thought-provoking report for her. ?
As a typical novel of Zhang, Blockade still has the characteristics of Zhang Ailing's ingenious conception, beautiful writing and profound thoughts. At the same time, it also shines with its own unique light. The dream of a prosperous city is full of human feelings, with endless stories and endless melancholy. Although everyone is an ant in this vast world, they all have their own joys and sorrows. Zhang Ailing's description of all aspects of it has set up a monument for her own works.