Xiangzi's tragedy is the product of his social life environment. By describing the characters and interpersonal relationships around Xiangzi, the novel truly shows the life of that dark society, the ugly faces of warlords, spies and car factory owners, and the distorted reflection of the oppression and oppressed relationship of Xiangzi by their ruling network.
The novel The Appearance of Camel is the representative work of Lao She (1899 ~ 1966), a famous modern writer in China. Lao She, whose original name was Shu Qingchun, was born in a poor family in Beijing and grew up in the living environment of the bottom citizens in Beijing. From 1924, Lao She worked as a Chinese teacher in Tian Xiang, England, until 1929. There, he read a lot of western European literary masterpieces and began to write novels. Early works, such as Lao Zhang's Philosophy, Zhao Ziyue, Ermayina, etc. There is irony in humor, which is quite close to that written by British writer Dickens, but exaggeration is sometimes out of proportion, and it is almost flashy. However, for Lao Hui, the initial creation is indispensable for practicing writing. In 1930s, his creation gradually matured, and finally his masterpiece Camel Xiangzi was released at 1936.
Camel Xiangzi tells the tragic story of Xiangzi, a rickshaw driver in Beiping, old China. Xiangzi came from the countryside, and the declining countryside made him unable to survive. He came to this city, eager to create a new life with his honest work. He tried all kinds of jobs and finally chose a rickshaw. This career choice shows that although Xiangzi left the land, his way of thinking is still the way of thinking of farmers. He is used to individual labor, and he is also eager to have a car as reliable as land. Buy a car and be an independent worker. "This is his wish, hope and even religion." The city seems to have given Xiangzi a chance to realize his wish. Struggled for three years, bought a car, and was robbed in less than half a year. But Xiangzi still refused to give up his car dream. Although he doubted his pursuit and wavered several times, he kept pulling himself together and struggling again. It should be said that Xiangzi's tenacious character and stubborn attitude struggle with life, which constitutes the main plot content of the novel. The end of the struggle ended in Xiangzi's failure, and he finally failed to realize his dream of owning his own car. The realistic profundity of this novel lies in that it not only describes Xiangzi's material life deprived by the harsh living environment, but also describes Xiangzi's spiritual degeneration after his life ideal is destroyed. "He has no heart. His heart has been taken away." In this way, a hardworking and kind-hearted rural youth was transformed into a walking dead unemployed.
Xiangzi's tragedy is the product of his social life environment. By describing the characters and interpersonal relationships around Xiangzi, the novel truly shows the life of that dark society, the ugly faces of warlords, spies and car factory owners, and the distorted reflection of the oppression and oppressed relationship of Xiangzi by their ruling network. The novel does not avoid the instinctive desire and a little attachment between Xiangzi and Tigress, but at the same time it profoundly describes that even this kind of love between men and women is based on the relationship between money and interests, so Tigress should always keep the money in her own hands. "The money is in her own hands, and the power is on her own." The combination of Tigress and Xiangzi undoubtedly aggravated Xiangzi's tragedy.
Camel Xiangzi occupies an important position in the history of modern literature in China. Most of the new literature after the May 4th Movement is good at describing the lives of intellectuals and peasants, but few works describe the urban poor. The appearance of Lao She broke this situation. With a number of works describing the life of the urban poor, especially the novel Camel Xiangzi, he expanded the expression range of new literature and made special contributions to the development of new literature.
Camel Xiangzi was first published in Cosmic Wind magazine (1936), and the new single was published by People's Literature Publishing House (1955+0). Lao She once made a revision, deleting the second half of Chapter 23 and the whole Chapter 24. The complete works of Lao She published by People's Literature Publishing House in 1980s, 1982, restored the original appearance of the old edition.
Although the book Camel Xiangzi is written around Xiangzi, it is interspersed with many other characters. It is these people with different backgrounds and levels that make a miserable old society more clearly presented to us.
Xiangzi, once such a strong first-class driver, did not struggle out of his tragic fate in the end. Life didn't give him too much because he was stronger, such as soldiers, camels, Cao Zhai, Inspector Sun, tigress, and joy ... All these didn't seem to let him escape the ultimate fate of the driver. He once didn't believe in life, but what's the use? His efforts, his first car, his savings from buying a car, didn't attract anyone, didn't provoke anyone, and it was gone? Who can blame this? I can only blame my life. As a result, Xiangzi finally became no longer strong like other drivers, and developed things like alcohol and tobacco that he never refused to get contaminated in the past, which made people feel forgivable, and all the bad habits seemed to be unforgivable. But what a strong man Xiangzi used to be! He deducted every penny from his life in order to buy a car. He sacrificed his face and the strong seat of the inferior driver, pulled the car desperately and refused to drink a good cup of tea. Although it is normal for a senior driver like him to drink good tea, he regards himself as steel and desperately saves money ... Things are often unsatisfactory, and all accidents run counter to his wishes. Xiangzi's knowledge and experience honed him into a different person-a completely opposite person to Xiangzi in the past-who learned all the bad habits, played tricks on the patrolman, maintained himself and became a driver who muddied along. Sometimes he thinks he should live a good life, but when he thinks about his experience, he loses confidence. What if he's stronger? Wasn't he stronger before? Finally, like everyone else, he may be happier every day. Until the end, even his last hope, joy, left this world, and he was completely desperate. A simple, honest, kind and strong rural youth degenerated into a sympathetic gangster, and finally fell down on the street like a dog and never got up again. Xiangzi is the epitome of the poor working people in the old society, and he reflects the hardships and helplessness of the working people in the old society.
Tigress, a shrewish and calculating middle-aged woman, is born with a man's character. She is very good at taking care of things and managing people and parking lots in order. She tried her best to arrange a scam, but her father, Si Liu, found out earlier, but he still tricked Xiangzi into marrying her, but she didn't expect her father to leave her and sell the factory to other places. In the end, she died of dystocia caused by laziness. All her endings are of her own making, and she is counting her own life. The Tao is one foot high, and the devil is ten feet high. Like Tigress, she didn't get a good reputation and no one sympathized when she died. It seems better to be an honest man.
Grandpa Si Liu, the Paoge in the old society, improved and built a parking lot. He is an honest and frank man with a strong personality and never refuses to lose face in the outfield. The biggest regret in this life is that there is no son to take over. Although a daughter is capable, she is a daughter after all. Because my daughter is middle-aged and unmarried, I feel sorry for her, and I will let her go on weekdays, but I don't want my hard-earned property to be given to others with my daughter. So I broke up with my daughter, and finally I didn't even know where my daughter's grave was. Feudal thought made him forget his family, and when he woke up, it was too late. I believe Xiangzi really felt lonely when he kicked him out of the car and stood there alone for a long time. He really feels that he has nothing but money, and he can't even see his daughter's grave. Family ties are precious. I hope we don't know how to cherish after losing it. At that time, we could only stand in the same place for a long time like Si Liu, crying silently in the wind.