Xiangzi's tragedy is the product of his cowardly and selfish personality, the instability of his personal fate and the turmoil of the times, and it is a helpless way home for a nobody. This paper will analyze the multiple causes of Xiangzi's tragedy from the aspects of social background, clash of civilizations and character, and select the symbols in the works such as Land and Rickshaw to fully interpret Xiangzi's classic literary character.
First, the root of tragedy-morbid society and distorted life
1. The social background of "Camel Xiangzi": warlords scuffle and the people are in dire straits.
It was an era of war, internal and external troubles. It was an era of intrigue, self-interest at the expense of others and extortion. It was an era when the Lebanese people were displaced, hungry, cold and naked. Being born in that era was Xiangzi's greatest sorrow and misfortune. He had no choice from the beginning, no way back.
Combined with history, the old China in the 1920s was in a transitional period from a semi-colonial society to a new democratic society-warlord regime, years of melee, broken mountains and rivers, and there was no basic living order in society, let alone ensuring the personal and property safety of the working people at the bottom. Combined with Xiangzi's life experience in his works-warlord scuffle, so-called detective of reactionary government, extortion of landlord class car dealers ... the heavy oppression makes the working people represented by Xiangzi have no way to go, and the poor at the bottom of the city struggle in the abyss of suffering every day.
The social background in his works has a great influence on Xiangzi's life. For example, Xiangzi's car was robbed: the news of the war outside the city has been circulating for ten days, and Xiangzi knows it well. However, just to earn more money and do more work, he took the risk to pull the car to the western suburbs. Unfortunately, just out of the city gate, it was robbed by deserters, even with people and cars. It can be seen that wars and disputes not only threaten the lives and property of ordinary people, but also make people in constant panic, which is a major source of mental pain and trauma for the people at the bottom of society.
Living in such a background, Xiangzi was not without a war. Ups and downs, ups and downs, repeated battles and repeated defeats ... When Xiangzi struggled in reality and fate, his once strong heart gradually became more and more fragile under the impact of society. The dream he once embraced hit a wall several times in the darkness of society. Eternal pain and insurmountable setbacks made Xiangzi finally give up his resistance to social reality. He became numb and indifferent, willing to bear the oppression of society and bow to fate.
2. The clash of civilizations in Camel Xiangzi: the dispute between urban and rural areas
Xiangzi, as a new guest and an outsider in a city, is also a combination of civilization contradictions-the mainstream trend of thought of negative enjoyment in the city, which constantly erodes his hard-working habits brought from the countryside, thus accelerating his degeneration and gradual sinking.
When Xiangzi first came to the city from the countryside, he completely adhered to the duties of a rickshaw driver and retained his distinctive peasant temperament. Even in the complicated urban environment, Xiangzi tried his best to keep his heart pure and simple. However, the influence of the environment on people is subtle and inevitable. The civic culture of the city began to gradually invade Xiangzi's spiritual world and was finally completely occupied.
When Xiangzi's rickshaw was taken away by deserters for the first time, he still adhered to the creed of hard work and self-reliance, and was determined to try to buy another one. However, after saving enough money to buy a car for the second time, he began to think that it was futile to work hard in the society at that time, which was worse than the days of "drinking today and getting drunk today". Until Tigress died in childbirth, Xiangzi finally accepted the negative elements of civic culture and completely fell into the obsession of the bottom urbanites.
Tigress and Xiangzi
3. Analysis of the characters in Camel Xiangzi: the interweaving of simplicity and cowardice.
Xiangzi became a classic figure in Lao She's works because he is not only an independent individual, but also a vivid portrayal of a class of people with the same characteristics-bankrupt farmers in the process of urban-rural integration.
A poem by Zhang Yu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, appropriately shows the social status and humble status of such people: "I entered the city yesterday and returned with tears." Those who are covered in Luowei are not silkworm farmers. "
As a typical rural land bankrupt, Xiangzi came to the city to start another life, but sadly found that he could never integrate into this new environment. City people and he belong to two worlds, and the peasant bankrupt represented by Xiangzi is lonely, helpless and self-pitying.
In the chaotic urban environment where warlords are separated, the people at the bottom of the city are the most vulnerable and the least able to resist. The values of cities and rural areas are completely different: in rural areas, land is the whole support of farmers' lives and their hope and source. Therefore, the interpersonal relationship in rural areas is relatively simple, and there is still true feelings between people.
The drama Camel Xiangzi
In the city, money is the only goal of most people. People struggle with money for survival, fame and wealth. Xiangzi's bones have the shining point of typical traditional peasant character, and his manners and manners also reveal a strong local color-he inherited the simple desire of self-reliance, getting rich through labor and working hard, and also had his own pursuit.
Although the pursuit of this life is only to own a rickshaw of his own, "If this goes on for two years, at most two years, he can buy another car, one, two ... he can also open a factory!" "
Xiangzi was robbed by officers and men in a well-paid rickshaw puller. Xiangzi, who once had illusions about life, began a tortuous road of life. Unfortunately, the limitations of the petty bourgeoisie limited him, and he just shouted "why" for the sudden major changes. He can't think deeply about his own misery, and his cowardly character doomed him not to make brave resistance.
4. Funeral of love and tragedy of marriage
There are two important women in Xiangzi's life-Joy and Tigress, but their relationship ended in tragedy. Xiangzi once had a crush on a girl: joy; Xiangzi can forget Joy's past. In his mind, Joy is clean, pure and kind, and she is his ideal partner.
But the cruelty and selfishness of real life make cool thin's love become nothingness. When Xiangzi got up the courage to join hands with her all his life, he was thinking of himself, not the other side. For example, he hopes that Joey can leave his father and two younger brothers to help himself. The embarrassment of life is like a catalyst, which accelerates the appearance of his selfish and cowardly side.
He didn't want to bear the burden of supporting his family with his beloved Joy, so in the face of Joy's infatuation and her eyes swollen with despair, he just left a bubble-like oath-"Wait! When I finish, I will do it! Be sure to come! " In this irresponsible way, he personally ruined his supposed beautiful love.
Joey Steels
In his marriage with Tigress, his selfishness not only led to the tragic ending of the marriage, but also indirectly accelerated Tigress's death. Tigress's dystocia and dying are undoubtedly one of the most disturbing plots in this work, and Xiangzi's performance at that special moment is also a portrayal of her selfish and narrow-minded character.
In Tigress's Fight to the Death, his first consideration is not how to save two precious lives, but the huge cost of hiring a doctor. Undeniably, although Xiangzi never really loved Tigress, she made him feel the warmth of his family. Xiangzi's tragic ending, in which he lost both human and financial resources, is inextricably linked with his narrow and indifferent personality.
Second, land and foreign cars-disintegration and disappearance of spiritual sustenance
1. Land: the obsession of traditional small farmers.
Throughout the history of China, there are countless social changes caused by "land". Tracing back to the peasant uprisings of past dynasties, if the leading group wanted to overthrow the rule of the oppressive class with the help of the peasants, their slogans were often directly related to the land —— for example, Li Zicheng's "Farmland Free" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties and the "China Farmland System" in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
On the eve of the founding of New China, in the process of the new democratic revolution, the * * * Production Party put forward a series of measures to cater to farmers' concerns about land: rent reduction and interest reduction, land revolution, etc. So as to successfully mobilize farmers and embark on the correct road of "encircling cities from rural areas and seizing political power by armed forces".
For farmers represented by Xiangzi, land is the most affectionate and reliable spiritual habitat. Therefore, land bankruptcy is undoubtedly an important turning point in Xiangzi's life. From then on, he began to gradually break away from his familiar lifestyle and look for new opportunities in the city, which also laid the groundwork for his later feelings for foreign cars.
2. rickshaw: the yearning of rickshaw drivers
Xiangzi's new identity in the city is a rickshaw driver, so it is natural for him to desire a rickshaw of his own. The pain of losing land deepened his desire. Rickshaw is a beam of light in Xiangzi's spiritual world, the source of his struggle and the witness of his hope for life.
Foreign cars are also an important source of his economic income and a strong support for his self-confidence. However, it is a pity that Xiangzi's dream was shattered by reality, and the light in his life was extinguished by unscrupulous deserters and blackmail by detective Sun. In this way, his only spiritual sustenance was shattered. He has lost his place and is now in no way back.
Third, summary.
The image of Xiangzi in Lao She's works is incisive and worthy of readers' deep thinking. He is a victim in the process of urban-rural integration, and he is the complacency of a rural bankrupt when he first entered the city. After a series of setbacks, he finally degenerated. Xiangzi's life tragedy is the result of many factors. The impermanence of fate, the chaos of society and the cool thin of people's hearts ... Isn't Xiangzi's sorrow the sorrow of society and human nature?
References:
1.The tragic origin and significance of Xiangzi in Camel Xiangzi.
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