Camel Xiangzi is based on the life of Beijing citizens in the late 1920s.
Camel Xiangzi tells the tragic story of Xiangzi, a rickshaw driver in Beiping, old China. Xiangzi came from the countryside, and the declining countryside made him unable to survive. He came to this city, eager to create a new life with his honest work. He tried all kinds of jobs and finally chose a rickshaw. This career choice shows that although Xiangzi left the land, his way of thinking is still the way of thinking of farmers. He is used to individual labor, and he is also eager to have a car as reliable as land. Buy a car and be an independent worker. "This is his wish, hope and even religion." The city seems to have given Xiangzi a chance to realize his wish. Struggled for three years, bought a car, and was robbed in less than half a year. But Xiangzi still refused to give up his car dream. Although he doubted his pursuit and wavered several times, he kept pulling himself together and struggling again. It should be said that Xiangzi's tenacious character and stubborn attitude struggle with life, which constitutes the main plot content of the novel. The end of the struggle ended in Xiangzi's failure, and he finally failed to realize his dream of owning his own car. The realistic profundity of this novel lies in that it not only describes Xiangzi's material life deprived by the harsh living environment, but also describes Xiangzi's spiritual degeneration after his life ideal is destroyed. "He has no heart. His heart has been taken away." In this way, a hardworking and kind-hearted rural youth was transformed into a walking dead unemployed.
Xiangzi's tragedy is the product of his social life environment. By describing the characters and interpersonal relationships around Xiangzi, the novel truly shows the life of that dark society, the ugly faces of warlords, spies and car factory owners, and the distorted reflection of the oppression and oppressed relationship of Xiangzi by their ruling network.
The novel The Appearance of Camel is the representative work of Lao She (1899 ~ 1966), a famous modern writer in China. Lao She, whose original name was Shu Qingchun, was born in a poor family in Beijing and grew up in the living environment of the bottom citizens in Beijing. From 1924, Lao She worked as a Chinese teacher in Tian Xiang, England, until 1929. There, he read a lot of western European literary masterpieces and began to write novels. Early works, such as Lao Zhang's Philosophy, Zhao Ziyue, Ermayina, etc. There is irony in humor, which is quite close to that written by British writer Dickens, but exaggeration is sometimes out of proportion, and it is almost flashy. However, for Lao Hui, the initial creation is indispensable for practicing writing. In 1930s, his creation gradually matured, and finally his masterpiece Camel Xiangzi was released at 1936.
Camel Xiangzi tells the tragic story of Xiangzi, a rickshaw driver in Beiping, old China. Xiangzi came from the countryside, and the declining countryside made him unable to survive. He came to this city, eager to create a new life with his honest work. He tried all kinds of jobs and finally chose a rickshaw. This career choice shows that although Xiangzi left the land, his way of thinking is still the way of thinking of farmers. He is used to individual labor, and he is also eager to have a car as reliable as land. Buy a car and be an independent worker. "This is his wish, hope and even religion." The city seems to have given Xiangzi a chance to realize his wish. Struggled for three years, bought a car, and was robbed in less than half a year. But Xiangzi still refused to give up his car dream. Although he doubted his pursuit and wavered several times, he kept pulling himself together and struggling again. It should be said that Xiangzi's tenacious character and stubborn attitude struggle with life, which constitutes the main plot content of the novel. The end of the struggle ended in Xiangzi's failure, and he finally failed to realize his dream of owning his own car. The realistic profundity of this novel lies in that it not only describes Xiangzi's material life deprived by the harsh living environment, but also describes Xiangzi's spiritual degeneration after his life ideal is destroyed. "He has no heart. His heart has been taken away." In this way, a hardworking and kind-hearted rural youth was transformed into a walking dead unemployed.
Xiangzi's tragedy is the product of his social life environment. By describing the characters and interpersonal relationships around Xiangzi, the novel truly shows the life of that dark society, the ugly faces of warlords, spies and car factory owners, and the distorted reflection of the oppression and oppressed relationship of Xiangzi by their ruling network. The novel does not avoid the instinctive desire and a little attachment between Xiangzi and Tigress, but at the same time it profoundly describes that even this kind of love between men and women is based on the relationship between money and interests, so Tigress should always keep the money in her own hands. "The money is in her own hands, and the power is on her own." The combination of Tigress and Xiangzi undoubtedly aggravated Xiangzi's tragedy.
Camel Xiangzi occupies an important position in the history of modern literature in China. Most of the new literature after the May 4th Movement is good at describing the lives of intellectuals and peasants, but few works describe the urban poor. The appearance of Lao She broke this situation. With a number of works describing the life of the urban poor, especially the novel Camel Xiangzi, he expanded the expression range of new literature and made special contributions to the development of new literature.
Camel Xiangzi was first published in Cosmic Wind magazine (1936), and the new single was published by People's Literature Publishing House (1955+0). Lao She once made a revision, deleting the second half of Chapter 23 and the whole Chapter 24. The complete works of Lao She published by People's Literature Publishing House in 1980s, 1982, restored the original appearance of the old edition.
Although the book Camel Xiangzi is written around Xiangzi, it is interspersed with many other characters. It is these people with different backgrounds and levels that make a miserable old society more clearly presented to us.
Xiangzi, once such a strong first-class driver, did not struggle out of his tragic fate in the end. Life didn't give him too much because he was stronger, such as soldiers, camels, Cao Zhai, Inspector Sun, tigress, and joy ... All these didn't seem to let him escape the ultimate fate of the driver. He once didn't believe in life, but what's the use? His efforts, his first car, his car savings, did not attract anyone, nor angered anyone, just disappeared? Who can blame this? I can only blame my life. As a result, Xiangzi finally became no longer strong like other drivers, and developed things like alcohol and tobacco that he never refused to get contaminated in the past, which made people feel forgivable, and all the bad habits seemed to be unforgivable. But what a strong man Xiangzi used to be! He deducted every penny from his life in order to buy a car. He sacrificed his face and the strong seat of the inferior driver, pulled the car desperately and refused to drink a good cup of tea. Although it is normal for a senior driver like him to drink good tea, he regards himself as steel and desperately saves money ... Things are often unsatisfactory, and all accidents run counter to his wishes. Xiangzi's knowledge and experience honed him into a different person-a completely opposite person to Xiangzi in the past-who learned all the bad habits, played tricks on the patrolman, maintained himself and became a driver who muddied along. Sometimes he thinks he should live a good life, but when he thinks about his experience, he loses confidence. What if he's stronger? Wasn't he stronger before? Finally, like everyone else, he may be happier every day. Until the end, even his last hope, joy, left this world, and he was completely desperate. A simple, honest, kind and strong rural youth degenerated into a sympathetic gangster, and finally fell down on the street like a dog and never got up again. Xiangzi is the epitome of the poor working people in the old society, and he reflects the hardships and helplessness of the working people in the old society.
Tigress, a shrewish and calculating middle-aged woman, is born with a man's character. She is very good at taking care of things and managing people and parking lots in order. She tried her best to arrange a scam, but her father, Si Liu, found out earlier, but he still tricked Xiangzi into marrying her, but she didn't expect her father to leave her and sell the factory to other places. In the end, she died of dystocia caused by laziness. All her endings are of her own making, and she is counting her own life. The Tao is one foot high, and the devil is ten feet high. Like Tigress, she didn't get a good reputation and no one sympathized when she died. It seems better to be an honest man.
Grandpa Si Liu, the Paoge in the old society, improved and built a parking lot. He is an honest and frank man with a strong personality and never refuses to lose face in the outfield. The biggest regret in this life is that there is no son to take over. Although a daughter is capable, she is a daughter after all. Because my daughter is middle-aged and unmarried, I feel sorry for her, and I will let her go on weekdays, but I don't want my hard-earned property to be given to others with my daughter. So I broke up with my daughter, and finally I didn't even know where my daughter's grave was. Feudal thought made him forget his family, and when he woke up, it was too late. I believe Xiangzi really felt lonely when he kicked him out of the car and stood there alone for a long time. He really feels that he has nothing but money, and he can't even see his daughter's grave. Family ties are precious. I hope we don't know how to cherish after losing it. At that time, we could only stand in the same place for a long time like Si Liu, crying silently in the wind.
Appreciation of Xiangzi Camel
【 Combined with original analysis 】
Xiangzi used to be an honest laborer who loved life. The description of his appearance at the beginning of the novel and the description of his rickshaw pulling are all radiant, which has simply become a hymn of youth, health and labor. The novel uses more space to describe Xiangzi's beautiful inner world. When he was in a rickshaw in Caofula, he accidentally overturned, the car was damaged and the owner was injured. He resigned, willing to pay his master back as compensation, showing his sense of responsibility and honor as a laborer. In a small teahouse on a cold winter night, he bought mutton buns to satisfy his hunger for two generations of old horses and grandsons, and also devoted sincere care and deep sympathy to his suffering partners. These paragraphs describe Xiangzi's good qualities with plain pen and ink. The writer even used a strange metaphor to describe this character: "He seems to be a good ghost even in hell."
However, Xiangzi, who will be a ghost in this hell, has not always been a good person in this world. With the disillusionment of life wishes, he became a completely different person. "He eats, he drinks, he whores, he gambles, he is lazy, he is cunning", he scours, he fights, he takes advantage and sells his life for a few dollars. Pulling a cart used to be his only hope, but later he hated pulling a cart and was tired. Even his appearance became dirty. By the end of the novel, he had become a walking corpse without a job. Among the changes of Xiangzi, the most important thing is the change of life attitude. He has never been a conscious laborer, let alone a hero, but his desire to buy a car as an independent laborer, after all, expressed his resistance to fate and efforts to change his humble situation to a certain extent. He does not bow to fate, he is stronger, and he pursues his own ideals. In the end, he was completely satisfied with his fate. "Living is everything, don't think about anything." He gave in to life and endured all the insults and injuries without resentment.
Xiangzi was not only deprived of his car and savings, but also deprived of the virtue of workers, the will to make progress and the purpose of life. Here, the destruction of beautiful things is not manifested as the physical death of noble heroes, but the loss of noble character of characters, that is, spiritual destruction.
People's life in society is restricted by society. His path is determined by his social environment, his social status and his various connections with society. Xiangzi's image was highlighted in the life picture of that dark society at that time and in his complicated relationship with various social forces. His tragedy is mainly the product of the society in which he lives.
What bothers Xiangzi most is that he can't get rid of Tigress's entanglement. From the beginning, he was unwilling to accept this relationship imposed on him and tried to avoid her. Although compared with soldiers and spies, Tigress has no right to kill him at will; He took the arrangement of accepting Tigress as "surrender". In this case, he saw his incompetence and powerlessness more clearly: "Life is your own, but you teach others to take care of it." This has played a more serious role than before in eroding his will to survive and breaking his desire to survive, from striving for success to self-doubt and self-degradation.
Here, the oppression of class by class is not manifested as political persecution or economic exploitation, but as the destruction and torture of the characters' body and mind. Xiangzi can get what he wants, but he can't refuse what he hates. All these fully depict the complex content of life and Xiangzi's humble situation, which is the part that can best express Lao She's specialty in the book.
[opinion]
The success of Camel Xiangzi lies in the success of the characters. In the history of modern literature in China, writers such as Hu Shi, Liu Bannong and Lu Xun all wrote rickshaws in different ways, but all of them gave sympathy or praise to the lower-class workers based on the condescending observation and moral evaluation of an intellectual. Have not really penetrated into the real life and heart of a coachman. The coachman, a new profession in the process of modern urbanization in China, really stands in the literary world with a full image, which is due to Lao She. Xiangzi in Lao She's works comes from the countryside, and the background is the dilapidated countryside in China, where farmers are simple and stubborn. When he was allowed to pull a cart, he was bent on buying his own car. With hard work and perseverance, he spent three years scrimping and saving in the world, and finally realized this ideal and became a self-reliant first-class driver. However, the society at that time did not allow everyone to have any illusions. The car was stolen again and again, the dream was shattered again and again, and it was hit by life again and again. Xiangzi began to hate pulling carts. Life played a trick on him, and he began to play games, eat, drink, gamble and sell himself for money. Xiangzi completely degenerated into the garbage of the city and became a soulless walking corpse. Through this character, Lao She wrote the oppression of the unreasonable social system on the living space of the lower class workers. Another vivid character in the novel is Tigress. Her life is full of flavor, and her despicable and tragic fate is impressive. Lao She integrated China's traditional narrative method into the scene arrangement and psychological description of foreign literature, making Xiangzi and Tigress become household names.
Another feature of Camel Xiangzi is its rich ancient capital style and street flavor. Lao She's works with Beijing as the background all have such characteristics. Camel Xiangzi focuses on the life scenes of lower-class workers, especially the driver's circle and the life of a painting house. These Beijing accents and Beijing rhymes add irreplaceable artistic charm to the novel.
From time to time, similar whipping and denying individualism flashed in the novel: "He (Xiangzi) is a dead fool with food, and individualism is his soul", and "People who work for individuals also know how to destroy individuals, which are the two ends of individualism", thus showing a profound reflection on individualism. The complexity of Camel Xiangzi lies in. As a modern literary text, on the one hand, it was born out of China's modern culture, including the awakening of "individual" (personality liberation), on the other hand, it expressed deep doubts about this "individual" consciousness. It can be said that this novel embodies the situation of "individual" (concept) in China's 1930s and even the whole modern culture.
In Camel Xiangzi, Xiangzi, who "stands at the bottom of the world and waits for everyone to be defeated by all hardships", is gradually pushed into a dead end of fate after all hopes are dashed and all roads are blocked. At this time, he began to "surrender" until he was completely degraded. We found that the author showed a complicated attitude in the face of this contest between "individual" and fate: on the one hand, he seemed to think that in the strong traditional customs and social reality, the power of "individual" was so small that it was useless no matter how individuals struggled and struggled, and they could not escape the tragedy of destruction after all, so he let Xiangzi be completely knocked down by fate, thus reflecting a strong sense of fate. On the other hand, he can't completely agree with the ancient view of cause and effect. He borrowed his grandfather's words and said, "Even people made of iron can't escape from the tight encirclement. Good heart? What's the use! Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil. Without these eight things! ..... "Because the traditional expected karma didn't appear, Xiangzi finally understood in despair:" Mrs. Yang and Detective Sun-all because of his curse, they couldn't get what they deserved. " At the same time, in the struggle between "individual" and fate, the author still doesn't trust "individual": "He (Xiangzi) is strong, happy is strong, and ... once he gets a seat, he is buried in a chaotic prison, which is the end of his hard work." "He himself can't benefit from being strong." In this way, the author simply denies both the causal view and the "individual" efforts.
From this point of view, when dealing with the relationship between "individual" and fate, Camel Xiangzi shows an ambiguous atmosphere as a whole. The author can neither get rid of the sadness of fate, nor fully believe in the power of "individual". This is obviously closely related to the author Lao She's own concept of "individual"-his skeptical attitude towards "individual"; In addition, Lao She, deeply influenced by China's civic literature tradition, often has remnants of the traditional concept of "karma" in his works, which is also the reason why Camel Xiangzi can neither agree with fate nor clearly provide a way out for individuals. Camel Xiangzi shows that China's modern concept of "individual" has been severely challenged by a new determinism, which is due to the forced penetration of specific historical scenes into the writer's field of vision. That is the historical reality of troubled China in modern times, which hangs over writers like a supreme imperial edict, making it impossible for them to easily describe the joys and sorrows of "individuals". Even if there is, we should go beyond "individuals" to explore the fate of the country and the nation. It is the historical process of internal troubles and foreign invasion that constitutes the "fate" of modern writers in China, prompting writers to make choices in their hearts and even actions: anger or depression; Either positive or pessimistic; Or walk with a call sign, or avoid retreating, and so on. This has led to a profound contradiction: on the one hand, the mission of "individual liberation" has not been completed since the May 4th Movement, on the other hand, persistent worries have diluted the deepening of this mission. In this case, the concept of "individual" as the standard or center is unsustainable and has been in a curled state, which is also the general trend. Camel Xiangzi, which implies personal distress, is very representative in expressing personal dilemma.