Laoshe’S Short Stories And The Sprit Of Chinese Civilians

Laoshe is one of the most famous writers in the early 19 century. The short story “Something” taking from “ Huo Che Ji” (Ð*Ѓ«Ð¸Ð...¦Ð¹›†) describes the lower class people in the old time of China. In his literature, Laoshe portrays several minor characters, and as everyone knows, these minor characters come from ordinary civilians. But why Laoshe pays such a big attention to these ordinary people? According to the comparison between two of his short stories, “Something (Ð'Ñ'њиҐÑ--)” and “The same idea (Ð'Ñ"Ñ"еÑ'Њж­¤ÐµÑ--Ñ")”, readers may find the answer to the question. One aspect, ordinary civilians presents the major population of one society, besides, compared with people in the first social class, ordinary civilians deserves more respect.

In the short story “Something”, Laoshe describes two people, Lu Shuxiang and Hao Fengming, who are definitely in the first social class. One of them studied in Britain, and the other one had the educational experience in Japan. They used each other for their own purpose, although they are relatives. Through the description of the thoughts of the two characters and their conversation, Laoshe betrays the dark side of human nature: Selfishness, dissimulation, unlimited desire, and unreasonable self-pride. For example, according to Hao Fengming’s thought, readers can find that he looks down on Lu, or maybe he looks down everything. He is so proud of himself, and the only reason is that he studied in Britain. The ridiculous attitude makes him hate Hao Fengming, however, his unlimited desire pushes him to follow Lu. In the story, the author states over and over that Hao Fengming is not a poor man, but Hao Fengming’s desire is unlimited. Because of his selfishness and unlimited desire, he has to follow Lu’s instruction and continuously flatter him. There is an interesting detail: Hao Fengming feels that Lu is definitely a traitor. If the time goes back 10 years, he would insult Lu’s traitorous behavior. However, now he has to be with smile and cooperate with this traitor. In one aspect, the detail shows the dissimulation of Hao Fengming, besides, this detail truly represents China’s political background at that time, and this point will be discussed later.

In comparison, “The same idea” portrays the lives in another social class. The characters appear in this story is not unit, but all of them can be seen as ordinary civilians. In this story, Laoshe praises the brave behaviors of these ordinary civilians. The main character is three students and an old lady. After their city is occupied by the Japanese enemy, the three students want to do something for their nation, and they decide to attack the enemy, although they need to take the risk of losing their lives. The old lady who is the typical Chinese traditional woman, doesn’t understand so many knowledge, but she knows that she hates the enemy, so she offers to give help to these three students. In this short story, Laoshe presents the brilliant side of people’s personality to readers: Braveness, patriotism, selflessness. At the end of this story, Laoshe writes, this brave behavior will encourage more and more ordinary civilians, and the national spirit will be permanent.

According to the comparison of these two stories, people can find the different moral character between people in the two social classes, and people can find that, ordinary civilians surely present higher moral standards. This thesis is one theme that the author wants to illustrate, and besides, there is another meaning involved in these two story.

It is significant to mention about the political background of China at

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