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
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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