ipl-logo

Symbolism In Yu Hua's To Live

1234 Words5 Pages

Each and every character in Yu Hua’s To Live is a catalyst through which he explores human nature. The novel itself follows the life of Fugui, whose narrative is framed by pre-communist, Maoist, and post-communist China. Though it chronicles a long period of time, Yu Hua effectively uses characterization to present and prove his claims on human nature. In the end, Fugui is the only one left alive, which further proves every claim he made, because everything dies, including human beings. Throughout Fugui’s journey, each character he encounters reflects on an aspect of human nature, and comments on a specific event or group of people. For example, Long Er symbolizes the death of feudalism, while Fengxia symbolizes the Chinese people under the fascist government of Chiang Kai-Shek. In Yu Hua’s To Live, Fugui’s son Youqing is a symbol of the people living under Mao’s control because they put all of their trust into the government, and as a result were deceived because of their naivety, which shows that blindly trusting authority leads to deceit.
It is because of Youqing’s youth …show more content…

Over and over again Youqing is let down because he allowed himself to hope for greatness; with sparrowcide, land reforms, and peoples communes, the Chinese peasantry hoped that they would be helped, because it is human nature. However, throughout Youqing’s youth the author uses a skeptical tone when describing the new policies enacted by the CCP, such as the peoples communes. At this point, Youqing’s family had been self-sufficient for years, and “naturally, Jiazhen was reluctant to see our five mu of land be returned,” and Fugui is even more reluctant to hand over all of their pots but he “figured there was no real way out,” (Yu 101). This use of language implies the authors disappointment in the rise of communism, and implies the negative effect it will have on the

Show More
Related
1154 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the Revolutionary Years The book “to live” follows a man named Fugui throughout his life story as an adult about personal and political disturbance of the late twentieth century. It shows how gender relationships change, the problems people faced like sicknesses, job loses, starvation, family issues, and political problems. Throughout the story, the narrator, Fugui, shows examples of all the problems people faced during the revolution and how hard it was on families, but in his own way. Fugui is the main character in the story and he is the son of a rich landowner.

Read More
850 Words | 4 Pages

Document 1 depicts the leader of the Chinese Communist party, Mao Zedong,’s written report that describes peasants’ strong nationalism. His written report uses strong words as “corrupt” and “evil” which describes peasants’ enemies, such as officials and landowners. Mao wanted to uprise the sense of nationalism by mentioning the peasants’ enemies. However, Mao Zedong is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, so he might exaggerated the state of peasants in order to gain trusts from the peasants. According to document 2, a sense of nationalism is shown in the discussion between a teenaged peasant and his grandfather.

Read More
349 Words | 2 Pages

The song “Live Oak” by Jason Isbell has many different symbols and puns littered all around the lyrics. One of the symbols in the song is when Isbell sings the line, “There’s a man who walks beside me he is who I used to be”. This symbolizes that the narrator’s past is still haunting him, as if it is a man that walks beside him. In the song, Isbell sings, “Could it be the man who did the things I’m living down”. This is talking about how the narrator’s lover doesn’t see who he is now, but his past self.

Read More
1247 Words | 5 Pages

Xiong uses battles, executions, assassinations, and scandals to appeal to readers of any genre. Once a reader gets into the book they are hooked in the epic events of the book and the deep look into the ruling class. Unfortunately, Xiong’s novel might somewhat difficult to get into for many readers with no experience in Chinese history. Xiong also attempts to utilize dialogue that often comes off as underdeveloped or simplistic.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the reader follows the main character Wang Lung as he lives in the shifting nation of China. The novel begins on Wang Lung’s wedding day as he travels to the great house of the city to marry his new wife- a former slave named O-Lan. Wang Lung never truly loves O-Lan, but respects her for her hard work. Together the two work on the family’s small plot of land. O-Lan successfully births three children, and all is well until the famine strikes.

Read More
959 Words | 4 Pages

The Chinese communist party gained much power after going after and attacking the Kuomintang and its anti communist policies into Taiwan. With the growth of the communist party’s power, the peasant and lower class experienced major influence that would change the course of their lives forever. Chinese peasants and the Chinese communist party between circa 1925 and circa 1950 had a relationship in which the party fostered and cared the state of the people. This created a sense of nationalism and pride for the peasants, while they were advocating social equality, and showing anti-Japanese sentiment. First of all, the Chinese communist party greatly influenced the peasant class in sparking and igniting a sense of nationalistic unity into the

Read More
1395 Words | 6 Pages

In Elizabeth Economy’s monograph, the Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese state, the topic of a new modern china is discussed and breaks down how President Xi Jinping wishes to steer the country into the future. Elizabeth Economy explains President Xi Jinping’s desire to constitute a Third Revolution and how there will be a “New Chinese State.” To start, one must first understand China’s past to learn what a “New Chinese” State would look like. During the time of Mao Zedong, China attempted to become a player on the World scale.

Read More
924 Words | 4 Pages

When Japan invaded China in 1937, they started a chain of events leading to their defeat at the end of the second world war. Between circa 1925 and circa 1950 the Chinese communist party took hold of China sparking nationalism and anti-japanese stances, bringing the people new opportunities, and advocating social and gender equality. The Chinese people felt a loss of pride when Japan invaded them, but with the rising of the communist party they felt a new sense of nationalism and pride in their country. When looking at the conversation between a teenager and his grandfather, we get a wider picture at what life was like before the communist party rose to power.

Read More
1492 Words | 6 Pages

Its influence derives from characters who depend on materialistic values to display prosperity, maintain power and stay healthy. Huong uses the characters’ meals to emphasize the conditions in which different echelons of society are forced to live and to portray the contrast in the character 's’ life styles. The authors first use of this representation is directed towards families who are at the bottom of the hierarchy and the characters financial struggles are illustrated through the quality of their food. For instance, when Chinh becomes ill with diabetes, Que makes great sacrifices in order to provide him with food and medicine throughout his illness. Huong’s oddly detailed description about their rapidly declining food supply provides insight into the harsh living conditions.

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

Every person has their own way of having a symbol for something. For example, how someone‘s symbol for success would be money while another person’s symbol would be family. “The Mask of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe is about how there is a disease called Red Death and it is killing everybody. In the story, all of the rich people blocked themselves in the castle to evade the Red Death, as in reality where all of the rich people have money to buy medicines to protect themselves from sickness and death. There is no cure for the Red Death, just like in life there is no cure for death, eventually death will find you.

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

Critical Analysis “Comment Wang-Fô fut sauvé” by Marguerite Yourcenar The text that I have decided to study is “Comment Wang-Fô fut sauvé” by Marguerite Yourcenar. The extract is located after the first paragraph at the beginning of the story. We are introduced to the characters Ling, Ling’s wife and Wang-Fô .

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

On the other hand, it leaves a kind of profound thinking about the typical ordinary Chinese ideology and how great is the impact of such a decision on people’s

Read More
1493 Words | 6 Pages

The Significance of Female Figures in Love in a Fallen City " In 1918, Lu Xun asserted that whenever the country seemed on the verge of collapse, Chinese men would thrust their women forward as sacrificial victims to obscure their own cowardice and helplessness in the face of the onslaught of aggressors and rebels" (Louie 15). Eileen Chang critiques the social status of females during the transitional period before the modern era in China throughout her novella Love in a Fallen City. Eileen Chang was influenced by the New Culture Movement in China, which promoted gender equality and education. Also, Eileen Chang 's mother who was a "self-possessed, westward-learning" (Zhang xi) female, enormously impacted her philosophy thoughts.

Read More
1319 Words | 6 Pages

Secondly, the Cultural Revolution and the chaos and disaster this had on the Chinese population, especially through the “Down to the Countryside movement” and finally, the Cult of Mao and what the idolisation and glorification of Mao meant for the future of China. Mao’s introduction of the Great Leap Forward policy and the impacts and effects this had on the Chinese population as well as its role in the introduction of the Cultural Revolution played a key role in shaping China into what it is today. The plan’s failure lead to Mao’s loss of power, which resulted in Mao introducing the Cultural Revolution in China. Unfortunately, Mao’s five-year plan was a disaster, and caused the death of an estimated twenty to forty

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

Qian zhao Alan Levinovitz Hum252 3/1/2016 The Interpretation of Kong Yiji In the Luxun’s short story of kongyiji, he described a person who lived in the Qing dynasty, which was a particular time. Kongyiji was scholar at that time, but he did not get a good score, so he didn’t have a work, money, and status. He usually went to the pub to drink, and he often was derision, because his work was to copy down the books for people who did not recognize words, however he usually stole books, so he had a bod reputation. At last, kongyiji was dead also because of that.

Read More

More about Symbolism In Yu Hua's To Live

Related Topics

Open Document