Character Analysis of Lu Xun's The Passerby

(1) The Passerby

This is the image of a tenacious fighter who is bravely going forward, broken in his clothes, and stubborn in his predicament. He knows that behind him is an abyss of darkness and suffering, and thus there is no way out of going backwards. At the same time, he also knows that his front is neither what the little girl said is full of blooming flowers, nor what the old man said are all graves, he always believed that there is always a way ahead, but not a straight road full of flowers, but need to step out of the thorny place from the road to a road. Therefore, he endured fatigue, hunger and thirst, with a body full of wounds, do not want any charity and comfort, day and night, not afraid of difficulties and obstacles, and defiantly "staggered into the wilderness", never go back.

(2) The Old Man

This is a pessimistic image of a man who had fought against the forces of darkness, but was subjugated by the barbaric rule of the imperialists, the Northern Warlords, and their lackeys, and completely lost the will to fight, and lived a life of passive retreat.

(3) The little girl

This is the new force that is growing up, symbolizing the third generation that aspires to the light, innocent and lively, possessing a curious heart.

The image connotation of the three characters in Lu Xun's The Passerby, the young girl and the old man, can be said to be the symbols of Lu Xun's three inner selves in a way. The spiritual connotation of those characters with strong subjective feelings in Lu Xun's novels is undoubtedly connected with Lu Xun's spiritual connotation, and they generally reflect Lu Xun's ideological development and change, and reflect Lu Xun's spiritual temperament, character traits, and even life experiences at different times. The characters with strong subjectivity in Lu Xun's writings are categorized into three types: passer-by, passer-by - old man, and young girl - passer-by - old man. Focusing on the spiritual connotation of the passer-by, the first two types of characters are discussed, and their way of living and philosophy of life of resisting despair are explained, knowing that the road ahead is a grave.

2. Introduction to The Passer-by:

The Passer-by is a poetic drama written by Lu Xun, a modern literary scholar, in 1925. Through the image of "Passerby", this text truly reflects the author Lu Xun's spirit of fighting in the pursuit of the world without fear of hardship and danger, without fear of sacrifice, and courageous. The Passerby and the Old Man are two opposing artistic images, and through their dialogues, they criticize the mediocre thinking of the Old Man, who represents the kind of people who retreat halfway in the exploration and who are decadent and depressed, and summarize the different paths and destinies of the revolutionary explorers since the Xinhai Revolution.

3. Appreciation:

A month or so after the writing and publication of The Passerby, the author Lu Xun had a very clear self-explanatory paragraph in a letter to a friend, in which he talked about the theme of The Passerby: The meaning of The Passerby is nothing but what is said in the letter, that is, to go on the way although one knows that the way ahead is a grave is to rebel against despair because the author, Lu Xun, thought that those who rebel against despair are harder and more courageous than those who fight out of hope. Lu Xun thought that those who resisted out of despair were more courageous and tragic than those who fought out of hope. However, this kind of resistance is easy to fall into "love" - gratitude is also included - so that the passer-by can hardly move forward even if he gets a piece of rags from the little girl. That is to say, the author Lu Xun himself has already explained the theme of The Passer-by, which is: "Resisting Despair", "Knowing that the road ahead is a grave and yet you have to walk", and it is a kind of "more courageous and more tragic" resistance. It is a "more courageous and tragic" kind of resistance. This spirit is fully embodied in the behavior, language and character of the character "Passerby".

4. Evaluation:

The "Passerby", who walks forward without stopping with a lonely attitude of almost pathos, is the character image that best represents the world of "Weeds".

5. Author:

Lu Xun (1881~1936) is the founder of modern Chinese literature. Originally named Zhou Shuren, Yushan, Yuting, and later renamed Yucai, he was a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and in May 1918, for the first time, he used "Lu Xun" as his pen name and published the first vernacular novel in the history of Chinese literature, "Diary of a Madman". His writings mainly consist of novels and essays, and his masterpieces include the novels Scream, Indecision, and New Series of Stories; the essay collection Asahi Yushu; the literary treatise A Brief History of the Chinese Novel; the prose poem collection Weeds; and the essay collections Grave, Hot Winds, and Huagai, among 18 other works. Chairman Mao Zedong evaluated him as a great proletarian writer, thinker and revolutionary, the main general of China's cultural revolution, also known as the "soul of the nation".