Madman's Diary by Lu Xun

Madman's Diary by Lu Xun

Symbolizing oppressive societal traditionalism, deceptions, and conformity as cannibalism, the “Diary of a Madman” is a social critique that criticizes the oppressive and ignorant culture of pre-revolution China. The culture of pre-revolution China was so inhumane that it was “eating man” and depriving man of his soul and sanity. Traditional Confucian principles were toppling people's individuality; the only thing left was conformity--everyone was like each other. Lu Xun characterizes the protagonist as “madman” to emphasize the real madness—the society, in which the madman is a courageous rebel whose madness is the real sanity. The madman’s ideas represent the ideas of Revolution of 1911, which were considered mad by the status quo of China during that time. The ending “Save the children!” demonstrates Lu Xun’s poignant hope that the future generation of China would be more enlightened and make society brighter.

“The Real Story of Ah Q” is similar to “Diary of a Madman” in that it also shows aspects of Chinese society during the era of Revolution. Lu Xun names the protagonist “Ah Q,” which are western letters and pronunciations, instead of Chinese words, in order to allude to the Revolution’s aspect of adoption of Western ideas, or change of cultural trend. A bully to the less fortunate but a coward when facing those who are wealthier and more powerful, Ah Q is a symbol that represents the despicable and pathetic aspect of pre-revolution Chinese society where social ignorance and moral inequity prevailed; he is the emblem of the Chinese national character of that time. His personal “spiritual victories,” Lu Xun's euphemism for self-deception and self-denial, represent the societal “spiritual victories”—there were in fact no victories, but pathetic self-denial and retrograde state of the country itself. The ending of the story—when Ah Q is executed for a minor crime—reinforce the pathetic nature of that society by showing the reader the societal injustice and ignorance.

Both of these two works illustrate Lu Xun’s activism in critiquing his contemporary society and desire to make his contemporaries more aware of their societal state. A pioneer writer in early 20th century, Lu Xun’s greatest objective was to spread socially conscious messages to his

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