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A Madman's Diary By Lu Xun

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By the madman’s eyes, author observed the people around him: “Those people, some of whom have been pilloried by the magistrate, slapped in the face by the local gentry, had their wives taken away by bailiffs, or their parents driven to suicide by creditors”. However, they not only did not rise up against the “man-eating people”, they also want to become like a man-eating people. Author was angry: “Is it that when one is used to it he no longer thinks it a crime? Or is it that he has hardened his heart to do something he knows is wrong?” Author also wrote: “In cursing man-eaters, I shall start with my brother, and in dissuading man-eaters, I shall start with him too.” “‘You should change, change from the bottom of your hearts!’ I said. ‘You most know that in future there will be no place for man-eaters in the world.’” In the last diary hope “Perhaps there are still children who have not eaten men? …show more content…
. . .’’. “A madman’s diary” is not only shows the courage to critique thorough the feudal ethics, but also the performance of Lu Xun’s humanitarian feelings, the spirit of using literary and artistic creation to transform the society. In this sense, the meaning of “A madman’s diary”, indeed far beyond just in the field of literature. (CP pg.228/ pg.18)At the beginning of the novel, author say: “I have not seen it for over thirty years, so today when I saw it I felt in unusually high spirits. I begin to realize that during the past thirty-odd years I have been in the dark; but now I must be extremely careful.” It is not like a normal people’s thinking, because the author write the madman’s language according to thought of a sadistic patient characteristics although it is often out of logic, however, its meaning is quite profound. The madman in the novel, in fact, is a symbol image of an anti-feudal democrat who dares to challenge the traditional

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