Great Works of Literature II

To start off, after reading the two poems and one short story, I concluded that I was very bored ):

“The Diary of a Madman” was an interesting read, but most of the context I think was more or less stated in the background information about Lu Xun (1917-1920). Upon reading this, the first thing I thought of in relation to what we have been reading was Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” for obvious reasons. Unlike Swift however, the idea of canibalism is clearly stated in Xun’s work. However, both Swift and Xun use this idea of canibalism to express their thoughts of their country and the current situation they are in. Xun uses canibalism, as described in the authors description, a parody of of Confucian scholarship. I think the use of canibalism clearly portrays China at that time, where there was a famine, to show how much in need [of food] they were.

Generally speaking, I think that “The Diary of a Madman” was a pretty straight-forward read. I found it kind of stupid the way the diarist thinks. For example, after he bumps into the woman on the street and mentions something about biting him, he slowly becomes more and more paranoid. From the Zhao’s family dog to his brother, he became more and more paranoid of the people around him, thinking everyone wanted to eat him. In a way, this really just shows how much of a “madman” he is.

Overall, as a talented and well known author in China, I think that Xun does an excellent job in expressing his opinion and idea of China through his work.