The Appearance of the Hundred Treasure Chest
The "Hundred Treasure Chest" is a clue that connects the story. In the novel, the "Hundred Treasure Chest" appears four times, constituting four stages in the development of the storyline:
The first time: when Li Jia was running around borrowing and borrowing for the 300 taels of silver that he had redeemed Du Shiniang from her pimp, but he was in no way able to find anything, Du Shiniang took out her "private savings" (said to be from the pimps), which she had saved from her pimps. (which she said was borrowed from her sister but was actually taken out from her "treasure chest") 150 taels for "half of it" (in addition to 20 taels for "traveling expenses"), which finally touched Du Shuniang's heart. (In addition, there are twenty taels as "traveling money"), finally moved Liu Yuchun to borrow the other half, so that Li Jia can successfully redeem Du Shuniang. This is the first stage of plot development.
The second time: when Du Shuniang and Li Jia bid farewell to Liu Yuchun and the sisters and were ready to go on their way, Xie Yuelang "ordered his subordinates to bring a piece of gold stationery to the front." This gold stationery is the "treasure box", with this "treasure box", the couple floating between the Wu and Yue landscape fees will not worry. This is the second stage of plot development.
The third time: when Li A used up the 20 taels of silver and was worried about the lack of traveling funds, Du Shiniang took the key to open the box again and took out 50 taels of silver as traveling funds. This time, although the treasure box was opened in front of the face, but Li A in the side of the shame, but also do not dare to peep at the box of reality, resulting in the treasure box once again fell into the five fog. This is the third stage of plot development.
The fourth time: when Li Jia was instigated by Sun Fu, Du Shuniang betrayal, Shuniang grief and indignation, take the key to open the lock, the box of treasures one by one thrown into the river, and finally also hold the treasure box, to the center of the river, a jump, the end of the young life. This time the treasure box only let Li A, Sun Fu and bystanders have a clear view, so that Li A and shame and bitter, and regret and sob, but it is too late to repent. This is the fourth stage of the plot development and the climax and ending of the story.
In the whole storyline development process, as a link between the clues of the story of the treasure chest is like a thousand zhang swim silk, have haunting flowers and sticky grass of the wonderful; just like a dragonfly pointing at the water, as if it were; and like the dragon's WanYuanYou, hidden and hidden. Treasure chest this imagery in the novel four times, the development of the plot plays a role in suggesting and promoting, the first three times (of which the first is suggestive) readers do not know what is in the box, also do not care too much until the fourth time, the reader only suddenly realized. This is exactly where the author's ingenuity lies.
The Role of the Treasure Chest in the Story
The treasure chest is a wonderful piece of narrative editing. In the novel, the treasure chest closes first and then opens, prolonging the secrets of the story, setting up suspense for the reader, and enhancing the readability of the work. Specifically there are two points:
1. Control the narrative distance, forming a narrative rhythm. The four appearances of the treasure box, is immediately after the completion of the previous event of the preparation of new events, is in the old tension lifted at the time of the advent of the new tension, such as the Yangtze River waves push the previous waves in general, a wave has not leveled off, a wave again and again, so that the storyline ups and downs, twists and turns.
2. Adjust the narrative perspective and create narrative tension. In traditional Chinese novels, the story is told from an omniscient point of view, where the causes and consequences of events, the ins and outs of clues, and the characters' lives are explained to the readers in a clear way, or else there will be a suspicion that the narrative is incomplete. Du Shuniang" is different, it adopts the perspective of limited knowledge, so that readers do not know what the treasure chest is, nor do they know the specific situation and mentality of Du Shuniang's daily secret accumulation of treasure chests, until Du Shuniang is betrayed by Li Jia, when she opens the chest to get the treasure and throws herself into the river, then she realizes that she still has a treasure chest. In this way, the readers will think: why Du Shinniang wants to save up the Hundred Treasure Chest, and why she refuses to tell Li Jia the secret of the Hundred Treasure Chest, and why she doesn't let the Hundred Treasure Chest play a role in the critical time and sinks it to the bottom of the river for nothing. The readers' discussion and answers to these questions reflect the author's good intention, and are the key to the readers' understanding of the connotations of the novel.
The Allusion to the Hundred Treasure Chest
The Hundred Treasure Chest is a symbol of Du Shuniang's tragedy. What exactly is the cause of Du Shinniang's tragedy What is the social and historical significance of Du Shinniang's tragedy For a long time, people have made a variety of guesses and interpretations of these issues, yet they are always unsatisfactory. For example, some people think that Li Jia is the direct murderer of Du Shuniang, and it is his negative feelings that pushed Du Shuniang into the river; some people think that Sun Fu is the direct cause of Du Shuniang's tragedy, and if there is no instigation by Sun Fu, perhaps Li Jia will not abandon Du Shuniang; and some people think that the tragedy of Du Shuniang is due to Li Jia's negative feelings and Sun Fu's instigation, which is too simplistic and superficial, and that the cause of Du Shuniang's tragedy is feudal rites. The cause of Du Shinniang's tragedy should be feudalism, and the novel reveals the cannibalistic nature of feudalism through Du Shinniang's tragedy. The author thinks that the first and second viewpoints are certainly too superficial, and the third viewpoint seems to be profound, but it is also formulaic, conceptualized, and fails to make sense. If you start from the treasure chest of this imagery to interpret the tragic implications of Du Shuniang image, may be a new way through.
1. The treasure chest is a symbol of money, a representative of interests. During the Ming Dynasty in China, which was the period of the rise and prosperity of the commodity economy, the handmade workshops specialized in the production and exchange of commodities had begun to take shape. With the rapid development of the commodity economy, money and interests were gaining more and more status in social life. Traditional values were seriously challenged, and the deep-rooted feudal clans finally began to falter in the face of money and interests, and the relationship between people had changed from patriarchal ethics to profit-driven. This background is explained in the novel Du Shuniang: as the ancient saying goes: 'Those who make friends with profit are alienated when profit is exhausted', and as the common saying goes: 'When it comes to money, there is no relationship, and in today's world, there is no regard for the word "slow and easy". In such social relationships, Bustard and Du Shuniang, Three Kindred and Four Friends and Li Jia, Li Buzheng and Du Shuniang, Sun Fu and Li Jia, and even Li Jia and Du Shuniang, are all built on the basis of money and profit. of. This is exactly why Du Shinniang accumulates the Hundred Treasure Chest, which she fantasizes about using to exchange for Li Jia's love.
2. The treasure chest is the symbol of Du Shinniang's value and hope. Du Shinniang in the novel is a smart, beautiful and passionate woman, but because of the fate is not eternity, fell into the dust and sleepy, full of physical torture and mental ravages, living a life of hell on earth. She longed to get rid of this inhuman situation, to be a truly valuable person, and thus long had the will to go to Liang. However, it is not easy for a woman, especially a prostitute at the bottom of society, to change her fate. What's more, what Du Shinniang seeks is not a momentary love and general marriage, she wants to pursue a kind of true love on earth. That's why Du Shinniang saved up the Hundred Treasure Chest, hoping to use it to prove her value and exchange it for true love. It is also for this reason that Du Shinniang refuses to tell Li Jia the secret of the treasure chest when she chooses Li Jia to commit to her life. However, Du Shinniang is too na?ve. In a society full of greed and lust, and in human relationships full of the stench of copper, there is no true love to speak of! Her hopes are doomed to be dashed, her tragedy is doomed to happen.
3. The Treasure Chest is a symbol of the fierce conflict between society and human nature, and is the real cause of Du Shinniang's tragedy. The environment in which Du Shinniang lives is a society where feudalism is dominant and at the same time intertwined with interests. In such a society, there is no soil for the growth of true love; in such a society, true love is like a tender shoot, without nourishment and moisture, only withering and death. Du Shinniang is too dignified and believes too much in the power of human nature; she even mistakenly thinks that money can buy true love. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. Originally, even if Li A negative righteousness, Du Shinniang could not have thrown herself into the water, she has youth, beauty, and money, she can still find another love, even if alone can survive. But the cannibalistic feudalism and self-serving relationships made Du Shinniang completely disappointed. A person who was once grateful to herself, a person she truly loved, only for a thousand taels, for personal gain, she would not hesitate to betray her trust, categorically betrayed herself, and still have a happy face, heart without shame. Try to ask what place under the sky can accommodate such a weak woman, can accommodate her pursuit of a fulfilling life Try to ask and what medicine can cure her broken heart, can soothe the wounds of her soul Du Shuniang, she only cursed to express the great indignation of the heart, only to use death to resist this dark society, to save their dignity and innocence! Du Shinniang sank down the river is not the treasure chest, is human nature, is moral justice, is conscience, is the human heart, because at that time the society can not tolerate these things, Du Shinniang has never been able to escape from the net of etiquette and become a money and interests of the victims. Du Shiniang, not Li A, but can not see through the feudal system and rituals on the human nature of the poison and destruction, can not see through the money and interests on the human heart of the trampling and killing thief. And Li Jia, Sun Fu's generation, just became an indirect murderer!
Pathetic Du Shuniang, a lamentable song of society and human nature.
Why Du Shiniang sank the treasure chest
Beauty and money are men's favorites, but because they were let down, they had to be destroyed together. Their fall together carries a negative and poignant air.
Behind this, there is obviously a value judgment, prostitutes are goods, but in terms of personality, she is not lowly, she is smart and consciously choose their own path, a lifetime of choosing to lean on the door to sell their careers are quite horrible, in Zhang Dai's "Taoanmengyi" written in the aging and colorful crooked prostitutes (prostitutes in general) just a few words have been poignant and bone-chilling: "More than Five or six hundred people, ...... people without the right color ...... speech and laughter mute voice in the dark with bleak", the career of the goddess is a dream, of course, the best ending is from the good, but we must be clear-eyed and bright, once entrusted to the wrong person will be a lifetime of mistakes. Her object of the small open Li Jia gentle and generous, curtsy is a superficial phenomenon, that is because he admires the object is a generation of famous prostitutes, figure a night of fun prices, many men are not to be rewarded, the exclusive possession of the flower of the mentality of the leader so that there is a great deal of fulfillment, but unfortunately, he is also therefore squandered bed head of the gold exhausted into the style, (if prostitutes shrewd such as Li Yaxian lied to the Zheng Yuan and the son of the money rolled up immediately run away or, at least, there is money in the evening body) (If prostitutes as shrewd as Li Yaxian lied to Zheng Yuanhe Gongzi immediately rolled money to run away, at least have the money in the body, not to be reduced to goods bought and sold by people), ten niang, on the contrary, feel that he is honest and reliable (to say that the woman is really stupid) ten niang wrong in the ransom to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to float home, living a life outside the world. She did not like the average virtuous woman to encourage this small open examination, and their own by the way when the ennobled wife to enhance the social status, she is more simple, this simple ideal of life unfortunately conflicts with the traditional values.
Literati are not guilty of visiting prostitutes, because in the legend of Tang Dynasty to the late Ming Dynasty and the career of the artists, prostitutes, especially famous prostitutes (Kabuki) status is important, such as Red Brush, Liu Ruyi, Li Xiangjun, they are inseparable from the topic of literature, elegance, the fate of the country, and temperament, and so on, and they are in the goods at the same time, also act as a role of moral counselor, asking the literati to take the orthodox way: either to seek fame and fortune, or to take the world, or to save the life of the late Qing Dynasty. or to gain the world, or to preserve their integrity. In general, they would be able to have a good end because their good end depended on the male's recognition of their value, which was precious if taken. So it is not difficult to appreciate will Zheng Yuanhe play in the palm of the stock, causing him to be reduced to singing funeral songs of beggars and finally lying in the snow in the stiff Miss Li Yaxian, once the conscience of Mr. Zheng at the same time feel as if the potential stock can be invested in exchange for the corresponding social value, and immediately funded his quest for fame and fortune, discerning prostitutes Miss Li actually get a speech when the wife of the State, in front of her heartlessness and ruthlessness of the write-off.
But if we get rid of this road contrary to orthodoxy, just emphasize love, really like Mr. Engels said that the two sides of the principle of equality and mutual love, then her end will lead to a tragedy, which is not allowed for the traditional values, like the "Three Words and Two Beats" in the same for the scholar-whore novels, the talented Wang Hsien-lung for the prostitute Yutang Chun sad, a friend advised a paragraph: I must know that the reputation of the bitch than the important, even if the bitch has love in the end! Important, even if the bitch has love in the end is still a bitch, and the career is not to be delayed, the emergence of the bitch is just for the scholar obsessed with fireworks to create a desperate situation, for the back to make a counterpoint to the pursuit of success, once the success of the hands of the symbol of the return of the lost. But if the bitch can be like a good woman to persuade the scholar to seek the right way, the bitch's personality will be enhanced, on the contrary, she only asked for a love, she can only lead to abandonment or death of the end, the scholar is the attitude of the bitch, not based on the value of the morality itself.
Du Shiniang's lowly status and lowly employment were not tolerated by Li Jia's family, which was from a prestigious family, and Li Jia, who was cowardly (either because of his father's order or because of the world's situation), finally sold her to a salt merchant for 1,000 taels after thinking it over. If this transaction from the end of the final point of view, Li A absolutely did a loss of money, Du Shiniang sold more than a thousand taels of money, she can only lament: Concubine belly with jade, hate Lang eyes no pearl. She will not resign herself to her fate, so she can only throw herself into the river. The fiery Du Shuniang not only wants to destroy her own body, but also to destroy the idealized love in her consciousness, which she can control and handle by herself, just as Bianjia (Walter Benjamin) said: Let's explore the sexualization of spirituality, which is the morality of the prostitute, who embodies the culture with her sexuality, and sexuality is the fiercest individualism. In addition to the spiritualization of sex, she has to destroy the money she earns from her career as a prostitute. The treasures in the treasure chest represent the great value that she trades in her body, and by relying on this value, she is able to choose her own person and seek a new life to some extent. If she had merely placed all her hopes on marrying a good man without any financial backing, her situation would have been even more miserable. This valuable treasure chest actually represents a new moral outlook in opposition to the literati class - the value of economic independence for the rising civic class, which the so-called higher class has not taken into consideration. Perhaps if Li Jia had known that Du Shuniang was rich, he would not have changed her hands so easily; money would have expanded the room for the derivation of feelings to some extent.
But it is at the end of the day that Shinniang reveals this principle, or inwardly her past experience tells her that there is an extreme limit to the trust she can place in a man, a limit that needs to be examined over a certain period of time with relevant conditions. But her examination proves that she has been entrusted with the wrong man. This was not without regret, and deep despair eventually led to her death.
This emerging morality casts a shadow on Li A's heart, and he loses his beauty, and more importantly, the money he valued, a double blow that causes him to become depressed and ill.
The double devastation at the end of the book is shocking, but it is also a metaphor for the bleakness of all classical love stories (with a few exceptions), which are tied to traditional male-centered values, and which cannot stand on their own once they are divorced from this metaphorical premise.