But in Shen Congwen's works, we can see the strong optimism in his works. From the beginning of the novel, Xiaoxiao got married as a child bride, and later she got pregnant across the border because of Xiaoxiao's budding love, and Huahou fled because she didn't want to take responsibility. Xiaoxiao went to prison because she was pregnant and even lost her life. This series of events is undoubtedly tragic for a teenage girl, but from the beginning to the end of the novel, no one can appreciate the taste of tragic novels. Prose-style and lyrical narrative style, simple folk customs, kind and simple people and beautiful scenery constitute a beautiful picture of Xiangxi and a border town world full of beautiful humanity, which is the most artistic part of Shen's works.
It is the lack of Mix's education and family relationship that endows Mix with an optimistic, free, strong, pure and simple personality. All her characters were given to her by Xiangxi World. She was only nourished and edified by this beautiful natural scenery world since she was a child, and her character can be said to echo this beautiful Xiangxi world. Xiaoxiao's life completely follows her instinctive reaction, which is also the main reason for her cross-border pregnancy. Her life is heart-oriented, completely free from the constraints of secular morality, which makes her reckless and eccentric with the behavior of Huahou.
Mix written by Shen Congwen is a woman who pursues freedom and dreams of love. Quite a taste of rural women's human liberation. Mix fantasizes about becoming a "female student" and longs for the free life of a "female student". Shen Congwen's novels show us the conflict between the western Hunan world and the urban world. People in Xiangxi world are biased against urban women because of strange distance, and we can also feel the influence of urban life on people's thoughts in Xiangxi world.
Xiaoxiao dramatically escaped the fate of being sunk and betrayed, which is directly related to Shen Congwen's pursuit of human beauty and her poor life. Xiao Xiao successfully gave birth to an illegitimate child, and the accident was accepted by her husband's family again. But her son Mao Mao also married a child bride, and another girl had the same fate. It seems that everything is back to square one. This is the saddest place in the novel and the help and presentation of the core beauty of Shen Congwen's works.
This is a person's tragedy, and it can also be regarded as the tragedy of an era.
hope this helps