Lu Xun was a famous writer who lived in the darkest time of modern Chinese history. Almost all his works have similar theme which is criticizing the corrupted society and feudal ethics and rites. Diary of a Madman is one of the most representative works that Lu Xun wrote. Diary of a Madman used diary format, detailedly portrayed the psychological changing of this Madman. In the first three diaries, he noticed somethings were wrong around his neighborhood, suspected his neighbors were going to do something bad to him. His mood was like the nights, the “moonlight’s really nice” in one night, then the second night was “no moonlights at all” (244). Eventually, he “realized” that others were going to eat him. In the 4^th and 5^th diary, he thought everybody who got close to him were cannibals and wanted to eat him, including doctor He who came to treat him and his own elder brother. Even the food he ate, he “couldn’t tell whether it was fish or human flesh” (246). From the 6^th diary to the 9^th diary, he firmly believed others were going to eat him, and he tried to fight back. Through the conversation between the Madman and the stranger he met, we can see he tried his best to convince a stranger that people have been eating human for long time, but he failed (249). In the 10^th to 12^th diaries, he accepted his “fate”, and thought he was one of the cannibals. The psychological changing indicated the Madman’s illness was becoming more and more serious. Furthermore, the psychological changing process is basically the flow of the whole story. The diaries recorded the psychological changing of this Madman day by day. In other words, each diary represents different stage of the Madman’s illness. While readers are reading these diaries, the diary format leads readers to understand the psychological changing process of the Madman step by step. As a result, readers are easier to follow the flow of the story. Besides, the diaries were written with first person perspective so that readers are be able to read the story from the Madman’s point of view.

In addition, Lu Xun wasn’t simply saying human beings were cannibals. The true cannibal was the feudal ethics and rites which have existed in China for more than four thousand years. The feudal ethics and rites have a lot of fatal weaknesses. For instance, unequal social position for men and women, bureaucratism, etc. Yet, the feudal ethics and rites still existed in the society. “Just because it’s always been that way, does that make it right?” (249) Existing mistake doesn’t mean is right. Mistakes are needed to correct, sooner or later. Therefore, the corrupted society needed to change. Social changing was not only Lu Xun asked for, but also the people demanded. “If you don’t change, you’re going to devour each other anyway.” (252)

The Story of the Stone is full of personal narratives, third person description of other’s stories, and conversations. These narratives, stories and conversations initiated the whole novel, introduced the main characters, and also allowed readers get to know the background and the relationships of the characters. The magical story of Jia BaoYu which is “at the moment of his birth he had a piece of beautiful, clear, colored jade in his mouth with a lot of writing on it” (535) was described by Zhen ZiXing during the conversation between Jia YuCun and Zhen ZiXing. Moreover, the novel is also mixed with poems and verses. These poems and verses help the readers understand the content better, some of the poems or verses are hints foreshadowing later developments in the story. “Pages full of idle words, Penned with hot and bitter tears” (526) this poem that the author used to describe The Story of the Stone tells the readers that this story is so distressing, full pf sadness. It set up the keystone of the whole story.

Speaking of symbolism, the author used a lot of it throughout the novel. The most important symbol in the first three chapters is the “stone”. The stone is a unique, magical used piece rock by the goddess. It became a “beautiful, clear, colored jade” (535) that came out from Jia BaoYu’s mouth. Jia BaoYu has same exact personalities like the stone. He is remarkable, extraordinary. He is someone special, and someone who doesn’t being seen so often in the society that BaoYu lives in. Besides, “Yu” means “jade” in Chinese. Actually, a lot of characters’ name has another meaning. For example, the last name “Jia” has the same pronunciation as the word “fake” and the last name “Zhen” has the same pronunciation as the word “real” in Chinese.  It is a pity that we can’t notice this easily because of the translation.

In traditional Chinese culture, women have much lower position than men in the society. On the contrary, Jia BaoYu has a completely different opinion regarding women. He thinks “girls are made of water and boys are made of mud” (535).  When he is with girls, he feels “flesh and clean”, but when he is with buys, he feels “stupid and nasty” (535). In his eyes, men and women is equal, and women should be respected as men. His thought challenges the traditional idea which is “men are superior to women”.