Paper Keywords: A Q Don Quixote the difference between inferiority and self-confidence
Since the publication of Lu Xun's novel The True Story of Ah Q, the comparison between Ah Q and Don Quixote, the protagonist of Don Quixote by Spanish novelist Cervantes, has never stopped. Since 1980s, this comparison has attracted the attention of more theorists. However, most of these comparisons stay on the spiritual victory method and their tragicomedy characters, and the analysis of them is also carried out from the different cultural backgrounds of China and the West and the moral realm of these two people. However, these comparisons and analyses do not fundamentally reveal the essence of the different behaviors of ordinary people between Ah Q and Don Quixote. The biggest difference between these two roles is that Ah Q is inferior, while Don Quixote is confident.
I. Inferiority behavior
In Wei Zhuang, Ah Q has always been the object of ridicule and insult by idle people. He was not accepted by other members of Wei Zhuang because of his poverty and weakness. As for this, Ah Q himself knows that in his own environment, he is insignificant and bullied by others. This can be seen from the fact that he was slapped by Grandpa Zhao and didn't dare to show any dissatisfaction.
Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist, mentioned in his book Inferiority and Transcendence that the general sense of inferiority is the original decisive force of behavior, and inferiority is the normal development process when a person pursues superior status. He believes that people's behavior comes from inferiority, from overcoming and surpassing inferiority. Everyone has different degrees of inferiority, and superiority is the compensation for inferiority. A healthy and normal person, when his efforts are blocked in one aspect, can find new ways to gain a sense of superiority on the other. However, some people set the wrong goal, pursue superiority in the wrong way, and turn their efforts to the useless side of life, while the real problems are covered up or ignored. Adler's view that inferiority is the motive of all human behaviors seems biased, but this theory is appropriate for us to analyze Ah Q's behavior.
Adler gave an example. For example, people who lack courage always avoid difficulties because they feel that they are not strong. By avoiding fighting, they gain a feeling of being stronger and smarter than themselves. This sense of superiority is the way they use to escape their inferiority complex. So much for Ah Q. He was despised for being poor for a long time, but he didn't want to face his real situation. "We are much richer than you! What are you! " I don't say that I am poor now, and I don't try to change this poor state. Instead, I seek psychological comfort and avoid inferiority through this self-deception statement. He couldn't beat others, so he said, "My son beat Lao Zi!" There are many similar words: "My son will have a lot of money", "You don't deserve it", "Sun Tzu draws a circle" and so on. Ah Q, who lives at the bottom of Wei Zhuang, can't find the dignity of life, but shows his superiority by bullying people who are weaker than himself. He felt humiliated after being beaten by Wang Hu, but he was afraid to strike back at Wang Hu. At this moment, "a little nun came across from the retreat. In normal times, Ah Q will be reviled when he sees Iraq, but after humiliation? So he has a memory and an enemy. I don't know why I am so unlucky today, just because I saw you! He thought. He greeted him and spat loudly:' Cough, bah! ..... "After teasing the little nun, Ah Q felt psychologically compensated:" He forgot Wang Hu and the fake foreign devils in this World War I, and today he seems to have reported all the' bad luck'; And strangely, it seems that the whole body is more relaxed than after the filming, and it seems to fly away. "With bullying a little nun to hide the humiliation of being beaten by Wang Hu, it is entirely because of inferiority.
Ah Q later engaged in revolution in order to get rid of discrimination by violent means. Ah Q is blind to join the revolutionary party, but as Adler said, "On the other hand, find another way to strive for superiority", his deep psychology is a deep sense of inferiority. Moreover, in most cases, Ah Q used the wrong method to pursue superiority, which was just a way of deceiving himself. No one was sure of him, so he turned all his shortcomings into advantages to express them. So the essence of Ah Q's "spiritual victory method" and his words and deeds is his sense of inferiority.
Second, confident behavior.