Lu Xun’s use of cannibalism in his short stories are not to focus on specific instances of cannibalism in China, but rather to highlight certain faults rooted in Chinese society. “Diary of a Madman,” is a story about a scholar who through studying, comes to see China as a country built on cannibalism. The diary writer states, “The whole volume was filled with a single phrase: EAT PEOPLE” (Xun 246). As a student, the madman would study classical Chinese literature based in Confucian thinking; while meant to provide knowledge and lead to thought that would regard the reader as genius in Chinese society, the knowledge that the madman received changed his perception on the world and created paranoia. The diary bits differ vastly from the excerpt at the beginning, where what is perceived as a calmer narrator directs.
One way to look at this is that Xun implies that different thinkers are treated as madmen in society and locked up without a voice. The Confucian classics were a mainstay acknowledged positively by most people in society; the very idea of finding fault in Confucian texts and implying that they corrupt people were not in favor until the early 20th century. Opposing rote memorization would lead to treatment as an outcast and one’s opportunities would be confined to a tiny area, much like the madman was confined in his room for many years, until he repented and was offered a government job after the elder brother said that the sickness was cured.
The idea of cannibalism happening for thousands of years can also be attributed to the heavily stratified society in China, where power was in the ruling dynasty and top government officials. The strong devour the weak and eat them whole; in other words, those in the top live in an excess of luxury, while the poor have trouble looking for food. The madman would represent the poor majority, where being confined in one area represents domestication and control over him. The poor would be confined to doing their jobs and paying taxes in this same manner; their lives hanging in the palm of the ruling class. The fear of the ruler is also replicated in the text, where the madman doesn’t dare make any physical resistance towards his captors.
The Mandate of Heaven which allows for legitimizing the ruler is part of the superstitious nature of Chinese culture addressed in, “Medicine.” The superstitions go to such extremes that people would buy a bun soaked in blood to heal tuberculosis. Ironically, this absurd legend contributes to killing the boy, as the burnt bun only encourages more coughing. Xun ridicules Chinese society of blind devotion of the superstitious when Uncle Kang continually calls the bun a, “Guaranteed cure” (Xun 256), even after the boy continually coughs in front of Kang. Relating back to, “Diary of a Madman,” the bun also represents a corpse, cooked after executing individuals who opposed the system and eaten by those in power (Xun 258).
I totally agree with your interpretation of “cannibalism”. The Use of cannibalism in his short stories was quite interesting.Although Lu xun lived in a poor society but the cannibalism he was talking about in the text was nothing close to swift’s “ a modest proposal”. Instead he used it express his anger towards Feudalism in China and at the same time to address some of the problems that people in the lower social class were facing and their desire to change. but this story was kind of difficult to understand the meaning behind it if i just read the story once. after reading it slowly i feel like lu xun was the “ madman” in the story due his revolution thinking , because back in the days most people in china would probably think he was crazy.