To be alive is better than not to be alive —— On the tragic beauty of To be alive

Living tells the hard life of Fu Gui, the black sheep of his family. He spent most of his life in poverty with his youth. After he turned over a new leaf, he watched his relatives die one by one, and then buried them one by one. The author concentrated the human suffering on Fu Gui's head, but when Fu Gui recalled the past in his later years, we only saw a peaceful old man living leisurely and relieved. From his shadow, we can easily see that "similar self", and the pain of reality gradually becomes an aesthetic "pleasure".

To analyze the beauty of tragedy, it is natural to define what tragedy is. In my opinion, the interpretation of tragedy should include three points. 1. What kind of person can be the protagonist of a tragedy? A total villain? Innocent good people? Zhu Guangqian summed up the characters in the tragedy in his book Psychology of Tragedy: the tragic characters can't be too good, otherwise his misfortune will disgust us; He shouldn't be too bad, otherwise he won't arouse our sympathy. The ideal tragic figure is a good man with a little white jade and a little flaw. Fu Gui is definitely the black sheep of his family, but he is not too bad. At least he can try to be a good husband and father after being abandoned by fate. Second, how should the tragic plot develop? Aristotle believes that good literary works should conform to both logical and moral standards, so good people should not turn from good to bad, and bad people should not turn from bad to good. Tragic works should not only satisfy readers' moral sense, but also arouse readers' pity and fear. It is not enough that the plot of "Alive" twists and turns, from "the foolish son of the landlord" to "the hillbilly" in debt overnight. Mother, Youqing, Xia Feng, Jia Zhen, Hill and Kugen, after plundering all the property of Fu Gui, killed all his relatives. When he really has nothing, we won't laugh at him for what he deserves. He really made up his mind to be a "good man", and fate played a joke on him. Good people are not rewarded. However, the fate here is absolutely different from the "mechanical lineage" in Greek drama. Fate is not your own control, but your own making. Therefore, Aristotle's explanation of "a good man turns from a blessing to a curse" is that the curse is not entirely self-inflicted, but some are self-inflicted. This sentence seems to be self-contradictory, but I think it is this kind of plot setting that successfully aroused the reader's fear. Slowly, I found that Fu Gui had the shadow of "I". I don't know which day, I, a "selfish good man", will "make a mistake and become a lifelong regret".

Third, how does tragedy give people aesthetic feeling? There is a sentence in the definition of tragedy in Shi Shuo that "arouses pity and fear, leading to the purification of these emotions". First of all, Zhu Guangqian understood Aristotle's "purification" as "painless pleasure". Through the destruction of the body, we see the indestructibility of our will, thus giving birth to pleasure and pleasure. Isn't this contradiction between destruction and indestructibility exactly what Nietzsche called "metaphysical comfort"? At a certain moment, Fu Gui really became a primitive individual and returned to the ontology of world life. In this way, I seem to understand what Yu Hua said, "People live for themselves, not for anything other than living." Secondly, does this pleasure also include "gloating"? It makes me happy to see other people's misfortunes, especially at the lowest point in my life. Reading Fu Gui's story will make me feel happy. It seems that I am not noble to say this, but in fact all pessimism stems from comparison. You will feel sad because others are better off than you, and naturally you will feel happy because others are not as lucky as you.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Ye Lang's Aesthetic Principles also understands the word "purification" as the sublimation of the spiritual quality of "tragic hero" to the spiritual realm of the audience. In fact, to some extent, I think Fu Gui really has all the qualities of a so-called "tragic hero"-facing the challenge of fate and facing life optimistically. I still remember the description of Fu Gui in the novel. "Fu Gui looked at me with a smile, and the setting sun shone on his face, which was particularly energetic. He said,' Jia Zhen died well, peacefully and cleanly ...' How "great" it was for him to accept the fact that his wife died after both his children died before him. Therefore, I think that even if Fu Gui is destined to be ordinary, he is not a survivor abandoned by fate, but a life home that enjoys pain.

Living is better than not living. Imagine that after Fu Gui sent away his grandson's bitter roots, he felt desperate and committed suicide. Can "alive" still be "alive"? "A person can be destroyed, but not defeated", dear Fu Gui, we sympathize with you, but if you give up, this sympathy will rot with your body, so you can only live and continue to endure this unfair fate.

Humans can't stand too much truth, but happiness is always accompanied by pain. Since you can't die, live! "To endure the responsibility given to us by life, to endure the happiness and pain, boredom and mediocrity given to us by reality."