The theme of the novel "Red Sorghum" not only propagandizes the outlook on life of bold life, emancipating personality and frankness, but also praises the patriotic spirit of bravely resisting Japan. The so-called "personality liberation" refers to the personality liberation of "people". Man is the unity of spirit and flesh, divinity and beast, spirit and matter, social man and natural man. People have "natural humanity"-human survival instinct and natural lust. Lu Xun pointed out that the "survival, food and clothing, development" that people need is limited-calling for the freedom and joy of "life" in an emotional form; He also pays attention to "limiting indulgence" and clearly puts forward that "rationality" should be used to properly restrain and adjust natural instinct: "What I call survival is not living; The so-called food and clothing is not a luxury; The so-called development is not indulgence. " It not only requires free self-development, but also pays attention to self-control and self-responsibility. Rationality and irrationality are interrelated, infiltrated and restricted. Red Sorghum not only describes and affirms the exuberant survival instinct and natural lust of "my grandfather" Yu Zhanao and "my grandmother" Dai Fenglian, but also the freedom and joy of full emotional life. At the same time, it describes and affirms their other side, that is, the "rational life" of Yu Zhanao, a "social person", and witnessed the "excited eyes" of Dai Fenglian, a weak woman, asking for help from herself. It's really hard to find peace, so we have to rush to eradicate the robbers. He followed the moral principle of "draw out a sword to help each other when seeing rough roads" and spread widely among the people. Some critics say that Yu Zeao has Dai Fenglian, which is really wrong.
The description of the novel is clear: "Grandma and Grandpa love each other in the vibrant sorghum field, and two unruly hearts that despise the laws of the world are closer than their happy bodies." They are both two parts of an "emotional life" and the connection of two rebellious feudal forced marriages of a "rational life". Moreover, in this sorghum field, Dai Fenglian was "distracted and tearful" and asked Yu Zhanao for help: "He is really leprosy." However, relying on their strong economic strength, the single father and son, regardless of the desperate resistance of Dai Fenglian and the silent opposition of all the villagers, are actually trying to forcibly slaughter a 16-year-old girl with leprosy germs. To the death, there is no choice. Yu Zhanao clearly saw through the seriousness and urgency of the situation, decisively laid hands on him, and eradicated the two murderers who tried to kill in silence. This is not only based on emotion, but also on reason, even the unwritten law of the people. He made the right choice. In addition, Yu Zhanao and Dai Fenglian threw themselves into the National Revolutionary War and ambushed the Japanese motorcade, apparently out of hatred and indignation against the Japanese aggressors, but also for the lofty purpose of defending the motherland and protecting their hometown. Red Sorghum describes and praises the grandparents' spirit of combining spirit with flesh, feeling with reason, and daring to think, do, love and hate. In addition to the theme of "publicizing personality liberation", some critics actually think that Red Sorghum shows the theme of resisting Japan and patriotism. For example, the article "The Resurrection of Wandering Ghosts" wrote: The writer "only wants to resurrect the heroes and ghosts wandering in the red sorghum fields in his hometown ... So, the people who joined the national revolutionary war became grotesque figures such as Liu Luohan, Yu Zhanao, grandma and Dou Guan; These personalities above the national spirit are integrated into a special atmosphere-the endless red sorghum exudes a sweet taste and becomes a symbol of tragedy, sacredness and eternity. " This is obviously the image expression of "the heroic people who swear to resist Japan and defend their country are immortal". The two themes of "personality liberation" and "anti-Japanese patriotism" are quite close to the novel text.
"Red Sorghum" tells the story that the guerrillas led by Yu Zhanao are rational, purposeful, organized and trained folk anti-Japanese armed forces. When the claws of the Japanese invading army extended to the northeast township of Gaomi, "Commander Yu raised the anti-Japanese flag" with the purpose of clearly pulling up the anti-Japanese team and pointing the sword at the devils. He made an adjutant as an instructor, both for political education and military training. "Sorghum is red, the Japanese devils are coming, our country is broken, our family members are dead, and our compatriots get up quickly, take up swords and guns, fight with the Japanese devils and defend their hometown", singing their heartfelt wishes to protect their country and defend their country. Broadsword, soil cannon, shotgun, old Yang Man, two pistols and three guns are their weapons for training and killing the enemy. Guerrillas have strict discipline. Yu Daya, an uncle who kindly raised Yu Zhanao, raped a woman in cloth. The commander suppressed the situation and finally executed him on the spot according to the opinion of Ren's adjutant. The guerrillas insisted on joint defense. When Commander Yu had an argument with the cold detachment leader, Dai Fenglian said, "This is no place to use knives and guns. We have the ability to give it to the Japanese. " Commander Yu even said in humiliation: "Who is a bandit? Who is not a bandit? Being able to fight Japan is a great hero of China. " He also educated his son Dou Guan to "hit the Japanese first". Guerrillas are "deaf and dumb, lame and lame, but no more than 40 people ... On the road, more than 30 people huddled up like a frozen snake". It was such a team, but in an ambush, forty or fifty Japanese troops and soldiers including a major general were wiped out. This is mainly because they have the fearless spirit of sacrifice that they would rather die than protect their homes.
The works also praise grandparents' anti-Japanese achievements through the narrator "I", or in narration or directly. "I" praised Grandpa as "a legendary hero who is famous all over the world". "I" narrative: 1958 Grandpa came back from Japan and held a grand ceremony in the village. The county magistrate honored grandpa as an old hero and toasted him, saying that he had brought glory to the people of the county. "I" praised my grandparents for "loyalty to the country and performing a heroic dance drama." I "thought:" The plan to block the retreat of Japanese cars with iron harrows was actually conceived by my grandmother. My grandmother should also be a pioneer in the war of resistance against Japan and a national hero. ""I "also wrote:" Grandma ... this heavy bread left a deep purple mark on her soft shoulder, and she died and ascended to heaven with her. This purple seal is a glorious symbol of my grandmother's heroic resistance to Japan. Writer Mo Yan said: The narrator "I" in Red Sorghum adopted "omniscient and omnipotent". "This perspective is also an attitude to judge history. "Since this' judging attitude' is' historical', it is undoubtedly objective, fair and realistic.
The novel Red Sorghum not only publicizes the liberation of personality, but also praises the indomitable will and sacrifice spirit of resisting Japan and patriotism. The dual themes of enlightenment and national salvation in literary works are the inheritance of the May 4th tradition. The May 4th Student Movement and the New Culture Movement both took place at a time when imperialism's invasion of China was intensifying, and the sense of national crisis and the historical requirements of national self-improvement, self-reliance and saving the country were becoming increasingly urgent. It is for this reason that the May 4th generation emphasized the spirit of self-sacrifice while emphasizing the liberation of personality. First, narrative language-aesthetic or ugly?
The whole symbol system of Red Sorghum is a multi-faceted and multi-level aesthetic category, in which the characters' language is vulgar and filthy rural language such as swearing, swearing, raving, swearing, flirting and so on, which is a typical high-density peasant dialect. This kind of language, which seems almost crazy to others, has a unique aesthetic feeling in the novel environment, and this language style shows the author's unique aesthetic taste.
(A) dialogue between vulgar and lofty characters
The dialogue between the characters in Red Sorghum is a highlight of the work. Personalized folk spoken language runs through the story from beginning to end. In the local flavor, readers can not only feel the primitive "vulgarity" of folk spoken language, but also hear the cry from the most primitive and noble power at the bottom of life.
Two dialogues:
1, Commander Yu shouted: "Japanese dog! Son of a bitch Japan! " Commander Yu was shocked, kicked the king and said, "You are an egg! You can talk without a head! "
2. "God-give my lover, God-give my son, God-give me wealth, God-give me a life as full as red sorghum for 30 years ... God, what is chastity? What is the right path? What is kindness? What is evil? You never told me that I had to do what I wanted. I love happiness, I love strength, I love beauty, my body is mine, I make my own decisions, I am not afraid of sin, I am not afraid of punishment, I am not afraid of entering your eighteen layers of hell. "
The first conversation is what "my grandfather" Yu Zhanao said when he led the guerrillas against the Japanese devils. He called it dirty words and vulgar words. In a few words, a rough and bold, arrogant and tenacious bandit image is vividly presented to the readers, and the bandit spirit and heroism revealed between the lines left a deep impression on the readers. Here, it is difficult to attribute Yu Zhanao's swearing to a vulgar performance. In the face of the anti-Japanese national righteousness, these dirty words become true, sensible, plump and noble because they are full of the blood of a China man.
The second dialogue is a summary of my grandmother's life before her death. She dares to love and hate, dare to think and dare to do, and is not afraid of the scourge and retribution. She described the relationship with "my grandfather" in the sorghum field as "the control of her own body" and the affair with uncle Luohan, a long-term worker, as "the pursuit of happiness", treating chastity as nothing and reputation as dirt. In a sense, what "my grandmother" did violated the requirement of chastity and integrity of women in China's traditional moral concept, and it was a kind of dissolute performance of not keeping women's morality. However, from the last sentence of My Milk, readers will not think that this is a easy virtue, an emotional woman who is unreasonable, but a bold and enthusiastic feminist guardian's persistent pursuit of happiness and life. As a writer based on the folk, Mo Yan's character language is full of earthy flavor. In "Red Sorghum", we can hear the unique speaking style and characteristics from the bottom farmers from the characters' language, with vulgarity in simplicity and sublimity in sublimity. This seemingly contradictory language feature has been harmoniously unified in Mo Yan's unique narrative art..
(B) Love and hate intertwined scene narrative
Scene description has always been Mo Yan's specialty. Mo Yan likes to use synaesthesia in scene description. His imagination is bizarre and bold, and his language is full and vivid, giving people a broader imaginary world and more complex sensory space. In his own words, it is: "Creators should be bold and unconstrained. No matter in creative thinking or artistic style, it must be a bit evil. " There are a lot of scene descriptions in the novel Red Sorghum. Description of the scene in sorghum field:
1. Sorghum soaked by dew, ear after ear, looked at his father sadly in the fog cave, and his father looked at them devoutly. My father realized that they were all living souls. They are rooted in black soil, nourished by bright moonlight and rain, and know astronomy above and geography below.
2. Grandma stared at the red sorghum. In her eyes, sorghum is magnificent and grotesque. They groaned, twisted, cried and twisted, sometimes like the devil, sometimes like their relatives. In her eyes, they formed a snake-shaped ball and dispersed. Grandma can't tell their brilliance.
Mo Yan chose a narrative language with completely different styles and colors for the same sorghum field. This is not only the catharsis of the author's subjective feelings, but also the side foil of the theme of the work. The first paragraph is what "my father" thought when he followed "my grandfather" through the sorghum field to fight the devil Lu. There is vitality and hope in this magical land, and red sorghum is the eternal master of this land. They have been nourished by rain and dew and gained the essence of heaven and earth. They have grown up here for generations, witnessed the warmth and coldness of human feelings and the coldness of the world in Gaomi Northeast Township, and witnessed the heroic sons and daughters who defended their homes and resisted aggression on the black land. The ideological activities of "my father" standing in front of the sorghum field are like a devout believer making a pilgrimage and praying in front of the Buddha. In this description, Mo Yan endowed red sorghum with the fullest soul and the greatest life. Taking red sorghum as an example, he is actually a national hero who is eulogizing generations and guarding his homeland like red sorghum. At the end of the novel, Mo Yan wrote: "I want to use this article to summon the spirits wandering in the endless red sorghum fields in our hometown. I'm the black sheep of you. I'm going to take out my heart pickled with soy sauce, chop it up and put it in three bowls and put it in the sorghum field. Fu Wei is still very popular! Shangyi! " This emotional catharsis is the best interpretation of the theme of Red Sorghum, which embodies the author's most sincere and enthusiastic love for people who are as determined as Red Sorghum in their hometown.
The second paragraph is the red sorghum scene in the eyes of "my grandmother" before her death. Here, red sorghum has changed from a god to a devil. They put "my grandmother" to the end of life step by step with the ugliest form and the most disgusting voice. Being in a sorghum field has a strong emotional contrast and seems contradictory, but as long as you read the text carefully, you will understand the author's intention of writing like this. "My grandmother" died at the gunpoint of the Japanese on the way to send food to the anti-Japanese troops. In Mo Yan's works, this piece of red sorghum is the grave where "my grandmother" is buried. Their bloodthirsty ugliness is a true portrayal of the criminal acts of the Japanese aggressors.
Mo Yan loves this sorghum field because it has nurtured generations of heroic and unyielding Gaomi descendants. I hate this sorghum field because it witnessed that tragic history and was stained with the blood of the people. This contradictory emotion, in Mo Yan's own words, is: "Gaomi Northeast Township is undoubtedly the most beautiful, ugly, detached, secular, holy, heroic and jerk place on earth." As a representative of avant-garde literature, Mo Yan pays great attention to the exaggeration and tension of language when creating beauty and ugliness. Only in this way can his creative intention be most profoundly highlighted. The comparative description of Red Sorghum in the novel is also a concentrated expression of the author's consistent narrative style.
Second, the narrative perspective-who is telling the story?
In the novel Red Sorghum, the author breaks the conventional usage of narrative perspectives and uses various narrative perspectives alternately to achieve unexpected artistic effects.
The novel Red Sorghum mainly tells the love story of "my grandfather" and "my grandmother". From the story level, "I" didn't directly participate in the story at the scene and didn't know the psychological activities of "my grandfather" and "my grandmother". According to the general narrative technique, the author can completely narrate from the perspective of the third person. However, in Red Sorghum, "I" is not only a public narrator, but also a part of the story. The story of "My Grandpa" and "My Grandma" takes the narrative voice of "I" as the main line and shuttles back and forth between history and reality. This narrative perspective directly brings "I" into the context of the story and into the historical scene. Therefore, as a narrator, "I" is not only an outsider, but also can know the words and deeds and psychological activities of "my grandfather" and "my grandmother", and even know something they don't know. For example, "I" can smell the warm fragrance floating from grandma's jacket, and you can hear "My grandma" sitting on the flower bridge with her heart beating like a drum and see the details of "My grandpa" and "My grandma" having sex in the sorghum field.
Judging from the content of the novel, "my grandmother" died before I was born, and "my grandfather" didn't tell me directly. Obviously, "I" can't know these personal events from the mouth of the parties, and I can't know them from others. However, as a narrator, "I" transcends the boundaries of time and space by virtue of historical imagination and pursues the history in which "I" is not present. Not only that, "I" can also comment on them according to what I have seen and heard: "I am convinced that my grandmother will do anything as long as she wants. Her old man is not only an anti-Japanese hero, but also a pioneer of sexual liberation and a model of women's self-reliance. " Mo Yan was deeply influenced by the Colombian magical realism writer Marquez in his creative thinking and art. An important feature of magical realism is to draw the distance between history and reality from a magical perspective. Mo Yan also quoted this technique, but changed "Magondeau" to "Gaomi Northeast Township". From this perspective, the narrative perspective of "I" in Red Sorghum is the author's reference and innovation to magical realism. However, in the novel Red Sorghum, "I" is not omniscient from beginning to end. In the description of many scenes, the author uses the third-person perspective, from "I" telling stories to "they" telling their own stories. For example, at the end of the novel, my father picked up a cake from the river bank and handed it to my grandfather, saying, "Dad, please eat. This is the cake rolled by my mother. " Grandpa said, "You eat!" Father put the cake in grandpa's hand and said, "I'll check it again." Father found another piece of cake and took a hard bite. In this description, the author did not describe the psychological activities of the characters, nor made comments, but jumped out of the story and calmly and objectively restored the scene in the form of dialogue between the characters. "My father" and "my grandfather" ate the cake rolled by the dead "my grandmother", without showing a sad look or talking too much. After the baptism of war, life and death became indifferent in their eyes. Mo Yan's calm description of "silence is better than sound" has brought strong emotional shock to readers. This kind of shock is not created by the author in words, but a profound emotional experience based on his own life experience.
Throughout the novel, Mo Yan shuttles back and forth from the narrative perspective of omniscience and limited knowledge, telling other people's stories while listening to other people's stories. The application of limited knowledge perspective dispels the existence of "I" in the text and gives readers a fair and objective feeling. The use of omniscient perspective makes "I" everywhere in the story, as if "I" were telling what happened to me. This seemingly contradictory perspective shift not only enables Mo Yan to control the narrative rhythm freely, but also gives readers enough imagination space, so that he can really use skills in narrative without showing off his skills, which is both subjective and fair.