Cultural Analysis of The Broken Soul Gun

Soul Breaker is known as one of the most characteristic short stories of Lao She, which is not too much to think about. Small characters, big background, the story is not complex, but the characters are full of flesh and blood; do not use a large psychological monologue, white description techniques, a few strokes, social ecology, character characterization on the call ...... This is not enough to call it Lao She's characteristics. Broken Soul Gun" is Lao She conceptualized a long martial arts novel "two boxer" part, like a folded opera, take out the essence. According to Shu B (Lao She's son) recalled that every morning, Lao She's first thing is to play boxing, rain and snow without hindrance, and later also purchased knives, guns, swords and halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks and forks, such as eighteen kinds of weapons, displayed in the home. Because it is a family, Lao She on traditional culture, especially martial culture, feelings are complex. In "Broken Soul Gun", he borrowed the character of Sandy Long to intermingle his excitement, confusion and lamentation about martial culture, presenting a profound theme and a diversity of levels.

Zi Long is clearly not a character who fights head-on against the changes of the times; he seems to be quite aware of the times and able to move with them. Since the gods that his ancestors believed in are no longer valid, and since "there is no more food for the darts", he no longer loves the old business of the bodyguards, and not only did he change the dart board into an inn in time, but also abandoned his martial arts skills, including his self-created masterpiece, "Five Tigers' Broken Soul Gun", and even the old dart board. Even the disciples of the old dart board came to ask for guidance, he also refused to teach.

The core plot of Spirit Breaker is that Wang Sansheng, who is known as Sandy Long's great disciple, is humiliated on the selling field and Sandy Long is indifferent. The old man Sun, who defeated Wang Sansheng, then came to the door to ask Shazilong to teach him his skills, but Shazilong never mentioned his martial arts skills or his spearmanship. From then on, the reputation of the former god of the gun Sandy Long fell to pieces, and even the disciples who honored him no longer pay attention to him, but he did not have half a bit of anger. In fact, his heart is like burning lava. The novel is twice written about the scene of Sandy Dragon stabbing 64 shots in the face of the stars in the sky when the night is quiet, the first time is a brief narration, which is padding, while the second time is a sound description, and placed in the end, which shows Sandy Dragon's helplessness and grief, and makes the structure of the novel produce a kind of tension, which can be called a finishing touch.

If "The Broken Soul Gun" had been written only about Shazilong, the novel would have become an elegy for the death of traditional Chinese skills and spirituality. But "Broken Soul Gun" also features an elder Sun. He is clearly a martial arts master in terms of the skills he reveals in the selling arena and the performance he gives to Shazi Long. His deep-rooted character is quite close to that of Sandy Long. However, he is very different from Shazilong in that he is optimistic, tough, and travels the world in order to learn traditional martial arts techniques. In Lao She's artistic conception, Sun may only be a companion of Shazilong or a factor to promote the development of the novel's plot, but the appearance of Sun adds a tragic mood to the sad atmosphere of The Broken Soul Gun, which makes the image of Shazilong supplemented and questioned, and also makes the novel turn from a mono-part narrative to a polyphonic one. It also changes the novel from a "monophonic" narrative to a "polyphonic" narrative. This kind of narrative feature should not be intentionally operated by Lao She, but naturally grows out of his mind.

The novel utilizes the techniques of contrasting and accentuating in its characterization. Wang Sansheng's recklessness is contrasted with Shazilong's deep-rootedness; Sun Laojie's uprightness and sharpness is mirrored by Shazilong's conservatism and stupidity. In the depiction of the same character, contrasts are used, or the character traits are portrayed with the techniques of first raising and then lowering. For the complex psychological activities of the characters, the work does not use much dialog and direct psychological analysis, but through the precise depiction of the character's appearance and movements to disclose.