Lets recap on the earlier writing style of the Chinese during Confucius time. In those days, wen or spiritual writing was more so prevalent. Social status was very important and no one should associate with anyone else who was not apart of the same status. Feelings are not considered the most important thing in Confucius time. In those days, a Chinese person either reforms or become exiled out of society.
In the early 20th century, China has evolved from caring about social status to focusing more on the individual/main character and their feelings and their perspective. Lets look at today’s review of Contemporary Writing in China.
Diary Of A Madman
The Diary of a Madman was about a man who is gravely ill mentally and he then thinks about the looks of others that look at him weirdly. In his mind they are plotting something. Outside of his own thoughts the people were just thinking about how crazy the man really was. He, then, thought about what his brother told him about cannibalism a few years back. So in the perspective of the main character, he was next in line to be eaten. He then conjures all of the evidence that he could possible know about cannibalism and creates a strategy of how to handle it. In the end, he goes to his older brother and tells him all of what is going on and what he found out. His brother chastens other villagers for looking at the main character like he was crazy and the story ended with the main character going out of his way to change the people from Cannibalism to being respectable human beings.
Finding The Theme
The theme is perspective. In this story, its about a story being told psychologically by a madman that was very afraid. He was afraid to die.
Sealed Off
Sealed Off is about a city in China being sealed off from the rest of the nearby cities or towns. A woman named Cuiyuan was a school teacher and the guy that had a close encounter with her. However, things started with him trying to get rid of his nephew. So he talked to her and things started to run smoothly. As the conversations escalates they then begin to take a liking towards each other. Cuiyuan gives the man named Zongzhen her number. Then he leaves only to realize that he was in the same spot as he was before. This made her question her sanity. The story was told from her perspective and how she felt about the guy that may have not approached her at all.
Finding The Theme
This is about Cuiyuan’s perspective. She felt deprived of love from her life because her parents dictated how her life was going to be including her personality, who she will marry, what school she went to, and even what profession she is suppose to be in. She wanted to rebel from what her parents thought what her life should be. Only to be swamped by her own thoughts.
Analysis: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/700448
Man of La Mancha
This story was about a man that had too much coffee in his system and then felt sick. He goes to the hospital and is told about his condition. He then started to think about his life. Not only that but reflected on his life at what it seems appeared to be death. He then proceeds to work towards a strategy that will be implemented if he ever gets into a situation where he dies. He talks about all the details he laid out because he didn’t want to be in a “nameless vegetable” or “anonymous corpse.” Despite his efforts he could only write a poem about the Man of La Mancha. Overall this is what he would be remembered by.
Finding The Theme
This is another story about a main character’s perspective about death. His issue was he wanted to be remembered and not considered just an unknown corpse that happened to be lying in the street.
Analysis: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/english2850h/?p=378
What Can Students Learn From This Theme?
The theme that the students can learn from this is the fact of perception, fear, and individuality. Perception of character’s mindset and their individuality of how they operate in society. The fear of being the only one that thinks differently than the common man. In the reflection sheet, have them reflect on the following review pieces and write an essay of how the current mindset would have functioned in early 20th century China.
Pop Culture: Death Note
The reviews that I have stated in this blog can be found in a popular Japanese cartoon. (Cartoon is pronounced anime in Japanese.) The cartoon is called Death Note. It’s about a highly intelligent high school student named Light Yagami getting access to a notebook called Death Note. In this notebook gave him the power kill people by heart attack with just by writing their names. This notebook was given to him by a ghost named Ryuk. Light decided to reform Japan by killing all of the people in jail. While he was creating a new world free of crime he turned corrupted and became the criminal. His adversary, L, (Yes, his alias name is L.) was using his mind to find out who kept killing all of the men and called Light a criminal. Light, who is also known as Kira in public, was trying to outsmart him. He eventually succeeds and kills L. In the end, Light thought he couldn’t be touched and called himself a god. Ryuk didn’t like his attitude and eventually killed him with his own Death Note. Its a pretty interesting cartoon. I believe that it fits the theme of Ancient China against Contemporary China. In the end, there are lots of people who choose to reform to Confucius and others choose people like L in Death Note and the main characters in this Literature review.
Read the Manga: https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/death-note?locale=en
References
Pucher, Martin. (2012). The Norton Anthology of World Literature. https://digital.wwnorton.com/3462/r/goto/cfi/1020!/4
Xun, Lu. (2021). A Madman’s Diary. http://chinese.wooster.edu/files/luxun_madman.html#:~:text=A%20Madman's%20Diary%20is%2C%20overall,not%20entirely%20match%20the%20end.
Sandberg, Eric. (2018). Eileen Chang’s “Sealed Off” And The Possibility Of Modernist Romance. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/700448
Singh, Rishika. (2013). Man Of La Mancha. https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/english2850h/?p=378
Bridges, Carmen. (2021). Reflection Essay. https://docs.google.com/document/d/13T8yg_edzP6DaOcEK4p2FgKWrrRIegmlG2gHtHYduq8/edit?usp=sharing
VIZ. (2021). Death Note Manga. https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/death-note?locale=en
No comments:
Post a Comment