Introduction
“A Madman’s Diary” is China’s first modern short story. The author Lu Xun has been well respected and regarded as one of the most well-known political figures in China (Goldman 446-461). Lu Xun has been praised as the warrior against traditional culture and feudal system. The unique narrative structure “A Madman’s Diary” is very special in its narrative structure. Its setup is very different from the traditional narration in that it avoids the use of classical Chinese. Furthermore, the “I narration” is used in the story which makes it very effective to involve the readers in the scenes of the story.
The Main Message
Lu Xun did not only open a new chapter in modern Chinese literature but also created a new style of narration. Lu Xun had a comprehensive knowledge of Chinese and western cultures. He cleverly borrowed the title of the story from Russian writer Nikolai Gogol whose same title story was successful in narrating the insanity process of a civil servant. Although the diary-style and the first-person narrator of Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary” were like Nikolai Gogol’s, Lu Xun went further away in deepening the content and the theme by adopting creative skills.
The story is made of two parts. The first part is the preface which is narrated in classical Chinese, and the second is the main story that consists of thirteen diaries narrated in vernacular Chinese. This kind of setup of narration makes the feudal system conflict more vigorous and results in a deep art impression. In the story, there is no time order like the traditional Chinese story. Moreover, the detailed plot, including time and place, is not narrated in detail. The madman’s accusation is not limited to a certain time and place but extends to the whole 4000 years of history.
This style of narration signals the start of modern Chinese novels that penetrate through the past, present, and future (Sun & Xu 40-45). Metaphors, analogs, and irony narrations are extensively applied in the story and make texts have multiple meanings. There are a significant amount of hidden messages in the madman’s narration. In the following sections, there will be more detailed discussions on the hidden messages. Basic storyline In the preface, the author who is the first person narrator makes the introductory summary of the protagonist who would be the first-person narrator in the diaries.
The narrator is told that the protagonist is seriously sick and wrote some diaries. The absurdism of these diaries proves that he is a madman suffering paranoia. The full body text is made of the thirteen diaries in which the protagonist is a madman. The protagonist shows the typical symptoms of the paranoia, but his mind is clear. He carefully observes what happens to him and is very nervous about everything around him. He studies the classical Chinese articles and knows the 4000-year history of the man-eating practice. He imagines that everyone is trying to do harmful things to him.
When he sees a dog look at him, he is terrified as if the dog was going to bite and eat him. When hearing some women chatting, he thinks that these women are planning to eat him. Eventually, he is suspicious that everyone including his doctor and brother wants to eat him. He feels hopeless and despaired. When he is upset, he has a different attitude to other people and even sympathizes with the less fortunate people. In addition, he is shocked to find out that he also intends to eat other people, even his family members.
He realizes that everyone except innocent children has eaten people. However, He does not want the children to be eaten or eat others, so at the end of the story, he makes the appeal: “save the children. ” Strong messages of anti feudalism Through the mouth of the madman, the author satirizes the 4000 years of Chinese history and culture. The man-eating practice is actually a metaphor for the feudal system. As the story hints through the madman’s discovery, people have been “eaten” by the oppressive feudalism for the last 4000 years.
It is difficult for normal people to realize the point, while the sick madman is sharp in finding the real truth of the man-eating culture and society. There are several symbolic narrations in the story. The symbolism of the story is allegorical (Hanan 68). In the preface, Lu Xun uses an ironic technique by narrated in classical Chinese in order to show a false and polite world made by cannibalistic feudal society. In the eyes of Lu Xun, the madman is the hero who plays a better role in society because only he madman knows the truth and can rise in rebellion. The madman who is an innovative and reformed thought representative is a symbol of the oppressive man-eating nature of the feudal system. Even though he tries his best to rise in rebellion, he fails every time. He is trapped in his own mind and can’t help considering that he’s in danger of being eaten. The madman could not understand the conspiracy of eating him, so he was suspicious of everyone. When the madman recovers, he is not the hero anymore; also he joins others to be one of the man-eaters.
Here, Lu Xun’s message is clear: The oppressed masses are eaters or the accomplices (Sun L. 464). Only the madman could find the truth of the eaters. However, other people including both the empowered and the oppressed fail to see the oppressive man-eating nature of the feudal system. In addition, the story implies that society is ruled by the feudal system, and people of all the classes have to abide by the same feudal rules. Also, the story helps us to see the true state of China at that time. (Zhang L. 1).
Conclusion
By extensive use of analogs and metaphors in the story, Lu Xun strongly condemns the oppressive man-eating nature of the feudal system where the poor and the weak are always eaten by the rich and the strong. In fact, under the feudal system, everyone had to eat other people. This feudal system had to be removed and the change had to take place in China. Thus, China needed a revolution. Only rebellion and revolution could change the status of man-eating habits in the oppressive feudal system. Overthrowing the man-eating feudal society is the voice the author tried to make.
