Wanted to share a great piece from The Atlantic: “Reading A Poem: 20 Strategies.”
Do any of these ring true to you? Remind you of your experiences reading any of the poems we’ve read for this class?
Diary of a Madman
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 4th and 5th 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 6th diary to the 9th 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 10th to 12th 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)
Lu Xun’s, “Diary of a Madman,” and, “Medicine”
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).
A Madman
Lets say your family owns a restaurant. Your great grandfather emigrated from Italy with nothing but his father’s pocket watch, the shoes on his feet, and a dream to open his own authentic Italian restaurant. After working at a butcher shop and saving every penny, he finally got the chance to open up his own restaurant at the age of 40. Ever since, the restaurant has been owned and run by your family. Your father owns it now, and you’ve worked there since you were a little kid. But, you want to move to Las Angeles to pursue your dreams to be an actor. You have just shared this with your family. Every morning you pull your chair up to scowls and grunts. Your mom stops making you breakfast, and your brother receives all of the high praise because he loves the restaurant. Your father stops talking to you. You feel ashamed.
“Just because it’s always been that way, does that make it right?” Says the Madman from Diary of a Madman, by Lu Xun. The Madman’s theory of believing everyone around him is a cannibal is a stretch, but what I believe Lu Xun is getting at here is that people need to stop being afraid to think differently from the mass population.
The Madman believes everyone is against him, and plans to eat him. The only reason The Madman initially believes this is true is because he sees people in the village looking at him angrily. Of course, he reads a history book that, between the lines, seemed to have told him that cannibalism has been occurring throughout history to this very day. But we are going to stick to the initial reason for now. The main reason the hypothetical situation in the introduction made you feel ashamed is because the people around you started to treat you differently. All of the people you’ve known your entire life and have loved and raised you don’t like your decision to follow your dreams of becoming the next Leonardo DeCaprio. You are breaking tradition.
What if the Madman has thoughts that he did not share with us? He says in the first diary entry “I’ve got reason for my fears,” but does not exclaim what those fears are.
To cover the confusion as to why he ends the last entry with “save the children” is because his initial stages of paranoia came from thinking fathers and mothers taught their children to hate him. So, mothers and fathers are passing tradition down to their children to hate this man that they don’t even know.
Lu Xun creates this sense of madness to convey to the reader that just because a person may think differently from others, and those thoughts might be breaking tradition, that person is not mad. You should not think that you are mad just for thinking differently.
Separate Ways
Kichizo is a boy of contradictions. The boy is small yet packs a punch. He is discontent but would refuse to be moved from his position in life. One who wishes to be “in a fancy kimono” (908) but says he “was born to wear plain kimono with worker sleeves” (908). So why is he like this?
The biggest reason is that he resigns himself to fate and makes no attempt to change it. “Oiling umbrella is fine” (908) for him. No matter how much he hates his job or his boss, he does nothing but accept it. He says what keeps him going is this fantasy that “the few people who’ve been the least bit kind to me turn out to be my mother and my father and my brother and sister” (909). It’s clear that for him, he does not find much value in life especially being abandoned when he was young and bullied every day. It is because of this that he doesn’t have the motivation to change. While he may imagine a grander life, the amount of work that is necessary for him to get there does not equal the value that he would get from actually living that life. Furthermore, he is very realistic with himself. The society environment does not encourage the movement of social status. Perhaps he could “squeezing a little from the change” (908) but he won’t become a noble or extremely successful. While other may have grand aspirations, he is much more grounded. However, it is clear that he could do better. If he was really that good at oiling umbrella, he could work at a better work environment or even open his own. But because he just resigns to his fate, he does not strive for an improvement.
In addition, it’s clear that the most important value for him is not money or the escape from poverty, it is family. For someone who’ve grown up being abandoned by his parents and society, love and kindness are just that much more important to him. This is why the leaving of Okyo was so hard on him. She is the only one left who is kind and like family to him, but even she is leaving him, just like his parents and Omatsu. He is once again forced to face the departure of a loved one.
Separate Ways
“Separate Ways,” by Higuchi Ichigo, is a literary work that reflects realism, for it explores the lived experiences of a pair of friends who are struggling with poverty, Okyo and Kichizo. This piece of literature focuses on the struggles the characters have to face based on their ascribed social class and how their position in society impacts the choices they make.
In the beginning of the short story, Kichizo visits Okyo and they converse. Okyo tells Kichizo, “He who wears another’s clothes will never get anywhere in life” (908). This emphasizes how an individual must work for themselves in order to succeed in life. If one were to rely on another person, he would forever remain stagnant in the position that he is in. This is ironic because at the end, Okyo proceeds to join a household that will provide her the lavish kimonos she wants to wear.
Furthermore, Kichizo is an umbrella factory apprentice. He is a poor orphan who was adopted by a granny from an umbrella factory. He is short and is constantly made fun of due to his stature and background with insults such as, “Dwarf! Dwarf!” and “Eating fish on the anniversary of your parents’ death! It serves you right that you’re so short. Round and round we go- look at him! The tiny monk who’ll never grow” (910). As a result of Kichizo’s economic status and orphan status, he is miserable. He is miserable because he was abandoned by his family and never received the proper love. He became someone who is temperament, violent, and ready to answer people with a clenched fist. If he were to be born to an upper class position, no one would dare make fun of his parents and his stature.
On the other hand, Okyo is a young kimono seamstress in her early twenties. Not much is said about Okyo, but we discover that due to Okyo’s marginal social status, she decides to abandon her reputation and poverty to become a mistress with a luxurious lifestyle. She states, “Kichizo, I’m sick of all the washing and sewing. Anything would be better. I’m tired of these drab clothes. I‘d like to wear a crepe kimono, too, for a change- even if it is tainted” (912). This demonstrates that Okyo acknowledges the fact that she is degrading herself by becoming someone’s mistress. However, she would much rather live in a better position where she does not have to worry about making ends meet.
Thus, these two friends go on their “separate ways.” Kichizo has accepted his fate and is content with oiling umbrellas. He states that he “was born to wear a plain kimono with workman’s sleeves…” (908). Compared to Okyo, who would abandon her reputation in order to achieve a better lifestyle. Not only did she abandon her social class, she has also abandoned her good friend.
Chidam and Chandara’s Love/Hate Relationship
When Ramlochan entered the house shortly his brother had killed his sister-in-law, Chidam blamed his wife, Chandara, for the murder in order to save his brother from being hanged. Upon Ramlochan suggesting that Chidam should say Dukhiram killed his wife, Chidam responded that he only has one brother and that he can find another wife if this one dies. Thus, Chidam devalued his wife’s life. In addition, the back story Rabindranath provides us with on page 896, clearly shows that Chidam was not able to control his wife the way he wanted to, and was fearful of her leaving him. When Chidam’s effort to restrain her by physical abuse and confinement was ineffective, he wished for her to die so that he can get some peace. Rabindranath also said “human beings can hate each other more than death”(page 896) further implying that Chidam hated his wife so much that he would rather have her dead than alive.
On the other hand, in few instances, Chidam’s love for his wife is proven to be strong and worth more than his own life. While he did frame his wife, he also did not realize the impact it would have on her and their life. As the story reads, “he forgot that a lie can be even more terrible (page 894)” implying that Chidam might find his wife’s life to be more important than he thought at the heat of the moment. After this realization, Chidam asked Ramlochan to help him exonerate his wife. Chidam and Ramlochan created a story to save Chandara from the death penalty. Chidam was considered to be eye candy among the village women, however he only had eyes for his young wife (page 896), so that didn’t matter to him. Towards the end of the story, when Chandara refused to plead not guilty, Chidam told the court that he killed his sister-in-law to save his wife showing that he valued Chandara’s life more than his own.
In conclusion, Rabindranath’s display of Chidam and Chandara’s love story is contradictory. It seems to me that Chidam was never able to make up his mind about whether to love his wife or hate her for being so stubborn and unpredictable.
The short story was adopted as a movie in 2004 in Bangladesh. The following parts of the movie are closely related to the actual story we are reading in class:
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGZR9IuMbt0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYmRG8uhKfU
Unfortunately, the parts do not have subtitles and the dialogues are in Bengali. However, the videos can provide a visualization of what the culture looks like.
Hedda Gabler
Here’s the full film version of Hedda Gabler (one of many) from which we watched clips in class.
Hedda Gabler Acts 3 and 4
For the majority of the first and second acts Hedda appears to be in control of those around her, manipulating them as she pleases or in other she was the “cock of the walk”. Although this trend does continue through acts three and four a shift in control is visible as her relationship with Judge Brack develops. Unlike Lovborg, Judge Brack is the only character that manages to take control away from Hedda and corners her into an unknown realm. This shift in power initially begins on page 823 when the use of the expression “the cock of the walk” is first mentioned. There is a plethora of interpretation of this saying but to Hedda it signifies a potential loss of control over Judge Brack. This expression plays to be extremely influential on the rest of the events that follow and lead up to her death.
Another character who Hedda looses control over is Tesman and its another factor that motivates her to kill herself. Tesman, devoted to make amends with Lovborg’s death, takes on the responsibility to aid Mrs. Elvsted publish Lovborg’s work. Hedda quickly feels helpless at the fact that he will not be around. She feels powerless over Tesman and its evident when she says “Cant you find any use of me here” only to be pushed away into Judge Brack’s hands.
In addition, the events that transpired with Lovborg’s death leave Hedda at the mercy of Judge Barck. Before shooting herself she directs her final words to Judge Brack and says “Yes, that’s what you’re hoping for, isn’t it Judge? You the one and only cock of the walk” (838). This particular line signifies that Hedda is no longer in control, therefore, driving her to kill herself. The tragic ending in Hedda Gabler is quite controversial because it is hard to explain if Hedda’s decision to kill herself was an act of bravery or a cowardly way to escape from a bitter reality. Nonetheless, it is certain that Hedda’s death was greatly influenced by her receding control over those around her.
Significance in the death of Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a woman that is filled with contempt, this is portrayed by the author when he uses words like derisive and cold to characterize her contemptuous nature. In the play, the author also incorporates these gestures into Hedda’s character to portray her fulfillment in manipulating other people “Suppressing a smile” (821), “Quietly, with a sharp glance at him” (813), “Half laughing, half bitterly “(802), “with a disdainful gesture” (803). She nonchalantly plays with others feeling with no regards because she feels privileged as the generals daughter and cannot find any purpose in life being that she is “bored” most of the time; which is why she enjoys pointing the pistol at people. Consequently, this pistol plays a symbolic role in the play, she uses the pistol to entertain herself, and yet it is this very pistol that takes her life away.
So the question is, why did Hedda Gabler shoot herself in the temple?
After learning the truth of Eilerts death, which wasn’t as auspicious as she wanted to be. The tender lie that Judge Brack described was for the sake of Thea so she wouldn’t have to feel more depressed. The truth that Judge Brack told Hedda in secret was in fact that Eilert Lovborg shot himself somewhere in the stomach area and not in the chest. Hedda describes his death as a curse that hangs over everything she so much as touch and so, to put herself out of the misery, she shoots herself in the “temple” to escape the life full of disappointment; demonstrating what a beautiful death is like and showing how there is a sense of liberation in the act, just as she mentions in the text “It’s a liberation for me to know that in this world an act of courage, done in full, free will, is possible. Something bathed in a bright shaft of sudden beauty” (834). What she have done was an act of courage, done in full and free will.
Right before she shoots herself, she foreshadows her coming death when she says “Oh, that will come-in time” (837) after Mrs.Elvested said she could inspire Tesman, like she did with Lovborg. The use in “the dash symbol(-)” to emphasize “in time” hinted that Tesman and Mrs.Elvested would be together in her absence(her death).
Hedda Gabler, who’s always been in control of others, is threatened by Judge Brack because it is in his power, as the judge, to alienate the scandals going towards her direction. In another words, Hedda will become a slave to Judge Brack to prevent any scandals. With the baby coming along imminently, it is beyond Hedda’s control; everything had suddenly swung in the opposite direction. With much disappointment, she rather takes “control” and commit suicide as a way to avoid reality than to be controlled and live with the “inevitable”. That is her liberation. That is the beauty she finds in life – living up to her standards till the very end.
The stage direction also plays a significant role. At the beginning, the room was bright, full of life with delightful scent of the flowers hanging around, which Hedda resented and closed the curtains, only allowing minimal light to seep in. With her cold treatment towards others, and contemptuous manipulation, as the play goes on, the room slowly becomes darker. Even the characters in Act 4 are all wearing black. This plays a symbolic role, because towards the end Aunt Rina dies, Eilert Lovborg dies, and Hedda herself inevitably dies as well.