Keywords: Jiang Mei; Qi hong; Female consciousness
Zong Pu, as a female intellectual with deep family roots, has experienced severe mental turmoil brought about by changes in political environment, but her intellectual nature, cultural personality and cognitive style have not completely changed. Although she can't be called a feminist or a feminist writer, the female consciousness shown in Red Bean really impacted the male discourse hegemony at that time and challenged the mainstream political discourse to some extent.
The female images in the seventeen-year literature are very rigid and faceless. The author divides them into two categories: the first category is female revolutionaries or heroines who are different from men only in gender reference. Except for their gender, they are all as masculine, courageous, decisive, strong demagogue and leadership as male revolutionaries. The reason why they appear is to set an example and call on more women to join the revolution. Male-dominated discourse rudely erases women's own characteristics and only labels women as gender. This female image is just a symbol that mainstream discourse needs to use. The second category is that only with the help of men can we get rid of the clutches of backward forces and gain the rights and freedoms belonging to the people, or only under the guidance of male revolutionaries can we transform backward ideas and grow into advanced revolutionaries. Such women must have a senior man to help them, otherwise they will not be able to complete their self-growth and transformation. In these works, women have completely become the accessories of men, disappeared from themselves and become the masks of men's carnival, which is undoubtedly a violation of women's dignity.
However, as a female writer, Zong Pu made a breakthrough in describing and shaping female images under the old model of "revolution+love". Although Xiao Su, a female revolutionary, can't get rid of the traces of the above-mentioned first-class female characters under the "enlightenment" and "guidance" of patterned writing, or in order to "hide people's eyes and ears", the appearance of Jiang Mei, the heroine, has brought a refreshing feeling. The most important point is that in Zong Pu's works, Jiang Mei has a unique aesthetic feeling belonging to women. Her beauty is feminine, and her body sparkles with the liveliness and beauty of adolescent girls. She is so cute. She feels fresh and interested in everything. Even the falling snowflakes "made her feel fresh, and her young heart was full of joy." She walked between two rows of short loose walls made of makeup jade, almost wanting to bounce snow-white branches and make the whole world dance. She stretched out her right hand, immediately embarrassed, and quickly shrank back. "She lives in Xiaotian's own land. She is pure, kind, sentimental and prone to tears, so she got the nickname "Little Bird". She has a woman's beauty-loving nature and wears a hairpin with two red beans on her head. Spring has come, "her black fur coat has been replaced by gray woolen cloth, and she is used to wearing a red scarf, which is full of the breath of spring." All this outlines the image of a vibrant female college student and an intellectual who exudes feminine temperament. Of course, it is this close description that leaves an excuse for the criticism of "petty bourgeoisie sentiment" in the future. Secondly, in the development of love between Jiang Mei and Qi Hong, Jiang Mei didn't, like the "Lin Daojing-type" female revolutionary, make a clean break and throw herself into the arms of the revolution after discovering that her lover was "backward" and deviated from the revolutionary road, but focused on the description of her inner struggle. Whether choosing revolution or love, Jiang Mei doesn't want to give up the other for one. At that time, it was a manifestation of unclear class position and a serious mistake. But there are two problems here: first, people's inner world is not "simple and rude", but complex, and feelings are not like silk hemp, which can be cut off after talking; Second, people have independent dignity, the right to think independently and the right to choose. This kind of contradictory struggle is closer to the truth than the mainstream works of the times, and it also reflects the psychology of a generation of intellectuals in the great changes of the times to some extent.
The author's depiction of Qi Hong, the hero, also coincides with the principle of "emotion first" and forms a "close echo" with the image of Jiang Mei. First of all, Qi Hong's identity is unique. He is not a revolutionary cadre who saves or guides women, nor can he be regarded as a "Yu Yongze-style" bourgeois intellectual, although their origins seem to be the same. However, unlike Lin Daojing who discovered Yu Yongze's class backwardness and gradually lost his feelings for him, Jiang Mei's feelings for the rainbow remained unchanged. Qi Hong's hatred for the world and mankind (from Xiao Su's mouth), indifference to the revolution and selfish individualism are unacceptable to Jiang Mei, but she has not lightened her love. The failure to portray the hero as a positive and advanced figure challenges the hegemony of male discourse, and is also full of feelings for people who should be condemned and ugly. Such feminist feelings are commendable.
Jiang Mei can be said to be a rare real female image in seventeen years' literature, and her body shines with the brilliance of pure beauty of human nature. Although the expression of female consciousness was limited by the historical context, the expression of this relatively hidden discourse did have a great impact on the status quo that politics was above all else and mainstream discourse dominated the literary world at that time.
References:
[1] Zong Pu: Red Bean, Selected Novels and Proses of Zong Pu, Beijing Publishing House, 198 1 Edition.
[2] Zong Pu: "Memories", "Lu Feng's Ink", Shanghai Far East Publishing House 1998.
[3] Zhang Ning: "Reconstruction of Babel of Literature", Guangdong Education Press, 2009 edition.
[4] Sun Xianke: "Narration Created in the Cracks of Discourse-On Zong Pu's Seventeen-year Novel Creation", "Evaluation and Humanistic Interpretation of Seventeen-year Literary History", Zhejiang University Press, 2007.
[5] Chen Shunxin: "Narration and Gender of Contemporary Literature in China", Peking University Publishing House, 2007.
About the author: Li Ran (1990-), female (Han nationality), born in Zibo, Shandong Province, is a 2009 undergraduate majoring in Chinese language and literature in the College of Literature, Beijing Normal University. Her research direction is modern and contemporary literature in China.