Thirdly, readers can see the kindness shown on Kong Yiji from many scenes, but as he is so poor and is the attacked and laughed by everyone, including the children he has the willing to be kind with, which is another great irony the author used to illustrate Kong’s embarrassing situation. He gives the children anise flavored peas which costs him a lot, while when “After eating the peas, the children would still hang round, their eyes on the dish,” Kong is “flustered” as illustrated by the author, he said again and again “There isn’t much, I haven’t much as it is…Not much! Verily, not much, forsooth!” (Lu 2). Then the children would “scamper off, with shouts of laughter” (2). The author depicts Kong as a poor man, and a poor man with goodness. However, the author use irony writing strategy again shows the fact that it is not Kong who is fated to be poor, it is the old feudal social system which makes Kong poorer and poorer.
The irony not only comes from the people around Kong Yiji, but also from
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In conclusion, “Kong Yiji” by the Chinese writer Lu Xun uses many complexities, especially irony in the story. It is very powerful as the author uses a very strong irony all along the whole story, not only the ironic language from various people, but also the conflict and contrast designed by the author create a deeper irony. The author’s irony points to the multiple meanings of a single assertion. Through the New Criticism analyze, readers can see that the ironies author used in the work is effective and successful as every part plays an essential role and finally unify