A brief analysis of Yang Zhizhong, the most ironic character in "The Scholars"

""The Scholars" is an ironic realistic novel. It contains many images of so-called literati who are corrupt, conceited and of low moral character. The author unabashedly ridiculed, "The scholar is a scholar with a sense of irony. "People" Yang Zhizhong is the most distinctive one among them.

In "The Scholars", the first master whom the Lou brothers, who were thirsty for talents, spent all their efforts to obtain was Yang Zhizhong. , in a conversation with Zou Jifu, the gravekeeper of his family, Zou Jifu only repeated a few simple complaints made by Yang Zhizhong, "The world of this dynasty must be as good as Confucius' Zhou Dynasty; in order to create a Yongle Master, it was broken. Is this possible? ” This made the Lou brothers conclude that Yang Zhizhong must be the extraordinary master they were looking for.

In the view of the Lou brothers, there is no one in the world who can say such a thing. The most shocking thing about this statement is that this person actually has the same argument as the Lou brothers. Since Yongle usurped the throne, the Ming Dynasty has been in ruins!" It is precisely because of this that the Lou brothers began to believe that this man named Yang Zhizhong must be here. He is a peerless expert who is hidden among the people.

And during the next three visits to Yang Zhizhong, he relied on subjective assumptions time and time again to constantly elevate Yang Zhizhong, "diluting his mind", "extremely high moral character" and "high moral character".

? As long as any opportunity arises, the Lou brothers can always connect this phenomenon with Yang Zhizhong's image of a "worldly master". Deep down in the hearts of the Lou brothers, they have completely determined that Yang Zhizhong is a master from this world.

? So, what kind of person is the worldly master Yang Zhizhong in the eyes of the Lou brothers? This "master" can be comprehensively analyzed from the following four perspectives.

1. Nothing has been achieved in his personal career

In reality, Yang Zhizhong was also a complete loser on the road to the imperial examination.

? The eleventh chapter writes: Yang Zhizhong said: "This happened three years ago when my little brother was not in trouble. It was just because I accidentally got a job and passed the rural examination sixteen or seventeen times. It doesn’t mean he will be at the bottom of the list.”

In the imperial examination, Yang Zhi only made it up to one level by accident after taking the exam for a lifetime. To be able to stay in Linsheng, even the poem that was praised repeatedly by the Lou brothers was copied.

The ninth chapter writes: The two young masters opened it and saw that it was a piece of plain paper with a seven-character quatrain poem written on it: "I dare not do anything rashly, just because I have read running script; Yan The frost and scorching sun have all passed by, and the spring breeze has reached the grass reeds one after another. "The following line reads, "The poor old man in the maple forest is Yang Yuncao." ’ After the two young masters looked at it, they sighed. Said: "This gentleman has an indifferent mind, which is actually respectable! But why are we so incompatible?"

? From the children in the town, the Lou brothers got a seven-character poem by Yang Zhizhong. After the two of them read the quatrains, they couldn't help but sigh that Yang Zhizhong was really indifferent and indifferent, which made people awe and admire him greatly. However, this seven-character quatrain was actually copied by Yang Zhizhong from a poem written by Lu Zhongshi, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty.

? The original poem originally had eight lines, but Yang Zhizhong copied the last four lines word for word. A copied poem made the Lou brothers extremely admire his talent, which must be said to be a huge irony.

? Yang Zhizhong, who had not achieved any academic success, became an accountant because he was also a scholar.

? The ninth chapter writes: Zou Jifu said: "Don't talk about it again! Although Mr. Yang comes from a business background, he refuses to take care of all the accounts carefully. Except for leisurely travels, when he is in the store, He was just reading books, so everyone in the store called him "Old Dumb."

Since he had never achieved anything in the imperial examination, Yang Zhizhong, who always had to support his family, took up the post of accountant. However, he doesn't care about accounting and is not willing to take care of it at all. Not only does he often sneak out to hang out at work, but even when he stays in the store, he refuses to work hard and chooses to read idle books to pass the time. With his work attitude, even if the boss doesn't fire him, problems will arise sooner or later.

? The ninth chapter writes: A few years ago, the owner entrusted him with the responsibility of taking charge because he was an upright man. Later, after hearing about these stupid things, the owner went to the store himself and calculated the accounts, but he lost more than 700 silver. . After asking, he had no place to spend money, so he kept talking and gesticulating in front of his boss. The boss was annoyed and sent a memorandum to Deqing County. The county boss saw that it was a matter of salt affairs, so he carried it out. He took Mr. Yang to prison and investigated it. Now he will be in prison for a year and a half. ”

? Yang Zhizhong treated the accounting matter so perfunctorily that something went wrong as expected. Seeing his behavior, the boss personally calculated the accounts of the store and found that it was not wrong. Knowing this, I was shocked. There was a loss of more than 700 taels of silver. When I asked Yang Zhizhong what was going on, Yang Zhizhong was very dissatisfied and unconvinced. > ? As a result, the store owner directly submitted a complaint to the county government. After the county magistrate found out the situation, he immediately arrested Yang Zhizhong and put him in jail. For this result, it can only be said that Yang Zhizhong brought it upon himself, as he was treated so seriously. In his accounting position, he was so perfunctory that he ultimately suffered a loss and had to suffer the consequences.

2. He failed extremely in educating his children

? As a junior student in feudal society, Yang Zhizhong was considered a well-educated person, but he did fail in educating his children.

The ninth chapter writes: "His family lives at the entrance of this village. More than four miles away, the two sons are stupid; they neither do business nor study, and they still rely on old officials to support themselves." The two stupid sons gamble in the town every day and don't come home in the middle of the night.

When the Lou brothers talked about the situation of Yang Zhizhong's family with Zou Jifu, the gravekeeper of their family, they could get a little idea of ??the situation of Yang Zhizhong's two sons. Both sons belonged to that kind of society. "Little gangsters" neither study nor go out to make a living. They just think about gambling all day long and stay home in the middle of the night from time to time. They rely entirely on their families to support themselves financially.

< p> ? Regarding Yang Laoliu, the second of Yang Zhizhong’s two sons, there are two wonderful direct descriptions in the original work. The first one appears in Chapter 11. The original text reads:

? I saw a drunken man barging in. He stumbled when he entered the door, picked himself up, touched his head, and ran straight inside. When Yang Zhizhong took a closer look, it was his second son, Yang Laoliu, who was in the town. After losing the bet, I heated up a few cups of soju and got very drunk. I thought about asking my mother for money before gambling again, so I kept running inside.

When Yang Laoliu lost money gambling outside. When I got home drunk, I was already dizzy and couldn't tell the difference between east, west, north and south. After I got home, I kept rushing in, thinking about asking my mother for money and going back to the house to continue gambling. When the meat smelled good, I kept opening the pot and eating it. I didn't stop until I heard that it was for the Lou brothers.

The second place appeared in the twelfth place. Reply, the original text reads:

? None of the five hundred coins was missing from the bedside room. There was no one else in the room, except Yang Zhizhong’s stupid son hanging around... Lao Liu said: "It's afternoon, I I took the money out to gamble and lost, but there were still about ten left in the money bag, leaving a little time to buy soju. Quan Wuyong said: "Lao Liu, this is strange. Why did you use my money to gamble and lose?" "Lao Liu said, "Uncle, you and I are one person. What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours. How can we distinguish between us? "After that, he dropped his head and walked out in a few steps.

? Yang Zhizhong's friend Quan Wuyong hid five hundred coins on his bedside, but he didn't expect that someone would give him money if he wasn't careful. Stolen. When asked if the drunk Yang Laoliu had seen the five hundred coins, Yang Laoliu said very readily that he took it and spent it on gambling and drinking. There were still more than a dozen coins left in his pocket to buy soju.

Not only did Yang Laoliu not feel any guilt at all for stealing other people's money, he felt that it was something he should take for granted, and even caused trouble. He is proud of it. And there are a lot of fallacies to justify his stealing money. It can be said that Yang Laoliu, who is addicted to drinking and gambling, has reached a point of hopelessness.

? As a father, Yang Zhizhong, the youngest son Yang Laoliu educated by him can be said to be a cancer in society.

However, both of his sons are like this. It can be seen from this that Yang Zhizhong failed as a father.

3. In making friends, there is no deep friendship

? Quan Wuyong is a typical one among Yang Zhizhong’s friends. When he recommended "Sage" to the Lou brothers ”, the first thing that comes to mind is don’t use it.

The twelfth chapter writes: Yang Zhizhong said to the two young masters: "The third and fourth gentlemen are such good scholars, they are like the younger brother's carriage capacity, so why is it important? I have a friend named Quan , the name is not used, the courtesy name is Qianzhai, he is from Xiaoshan County, and he lives in the mountains. If he comes here and talks with the two gentlemen, he will see his knowledge of Guan and Yue, and this is what he learned. He is the first-class person in the world."

In Yang Zhizhong's eyes, his friend Quan Wuyong is a peerless master who lives in seclusion in the mountains. Not only is he knowledgeable about astronomy and geography, but he is also familiar with all ancient and modern secrets and Confucian classics. He can be said to be the first-class master in the world today.

After listening to Yang Zhizhong's narration and recommendation, the Lou brothers admired him extremely, and finally recruited this master into his family. For Quan Wuyong to be able to enter the Lou Mansion and have a respected position, Yang Zhizhong's recommendation contributed a lot. However, because Yang Laoliu, Yang Laoliu, Yang Zhizhong's youngest son, stole his 500 coins, Quan Wuyong broke off relations with Yang Zhizhong.

? The twelfth chapter writes: It is really unspeakable suffering to open your eyes with anger and dare not speak out. From then on, Quan Wuyong and Yang Zhizhong were at odds with each other. Quan Wuyong said that Yang Zhizhong was an idiot, and Yang Zhizhong said that Quan Wuyong was a madman.

? Ever since Yang Laoliu stole Quan Wuyong's 500 coins, Quan Wuyong had no choice but to take out Yang Laoliu, so he took all his anger out on Yang Zhizhong, and Quan Wuyong could be said to have the slightest Regardless of Yang Zhizhong's contribution to his introduction, he resolutely broke off relations with Yang Zhizhong. Since then, the two have been at odds with each other and have broken off their friendship.

After the disagreement with Quan Wuyong, Yang Zhizhong also added fuel to the fire and added insult to injury to this old friend when he encountered a crisis.

? The thirteenth chapter writes: Yang Zhizhong said: "Mr. Three and Mr. Four have always said: 'If a bee flies into someone's arms, take off your clothes and chase it away.' Since he did such a thing, gentlemen It’s too late to protect him. Now I go to him and tell him to hand him over to the police and wait for him to take care of himself.” When the Lou Mansion arrested him, Yang Zhizhong at this time only wanted to add insult to injury. The old friendship had long since disappeared, and Yang Zhizhong did not miss his old friend's feelings at all. In the end, under his encouragement, the Lou brothers also gave up their power and allowed the Yamen to lock up their power.

4. There is a serious disharmony in the relationship between master and servant

Although Yang Zhizhong’s family is poor, there is still an old servant. The ninth chapter writes: When I got home, my old wife came to meet me, and I was overjoyed from the sky; my two stupid sons gambled money in the town every day and didn't come home in the middle of the night. There was only an old woman, who was both stupid and deaf, cooking at home and waiting for the door.

? From the description of Yang Zhizhong’s family situation after he was rescued from the Yamen by the Lou brothers with money, we can clearly know that Yang Zhizhong’s family members include an old wife, an old woman, Two sons, plus Yang Zhizhong's family of five. Among them, this old woman is an old servant of the Yang family. Because the Yang family itself is impoverished and destitute, the old servant she has is also "stupid and deaf."

? It was precisely because the old servant was very deaf that the joke happened when the Lou brothers came to visit Yang Zhizhong at Yang's house. As a result, Yang Zhizhong became angry.

? The ninth chapter writes: Because he scolded the old woman a few times and said: "You old fool, you old idiot! If a person like this comes to look for me, you just reply that I am not at home, and call him again." Why don't you come here another day? It's no use to you! The old woman refused and responded. Yang Zhizhong got angry and hit the old woman several times.

? When he came to visit Yang Zhizhong, the old servant came out and opened the door. During the conversation with the Lou brothers, the old servant mistakenly heard "Lou's surname" as "Liu's surname" and "big scholar Lou's family" as "Zhao". At Dajue Temple." In the end, this series of mistakes led Yang Zhizhong to believe that the visiting person was a policeman named Liu who came to ask for money from him.

? Just because the old servant asked the visitor to come back tomorrow, Yang Zhizhong became angry and not only scolded the old servant severely. The scolding can be described as very unpleasant. He is an old fool and an old idiot. The old servant was just dissatisfied and replied a few words. Yang Zhizhong became furious, slapped the old servant hard several times, and kicked him several times frantically.

? Yang Zhizhong's family was originally very poor, and Yang Zhizhong should also be very aware of the "idiotic and deaf" situation of his old servant. Unexpectedly, Yang Zhizhong thought that the old servant had said something wrong, so he scolded and beat the old servant. He did not regard the old servant as a human being at all. He was really ashamed of being a man who had read poetry and books.

In Yang Zhizhong's view, although his family is very poor, he is still the master of the Yang family, and the old servant is still just a servant. When treating servants, people who are well-educated in poetry and books should have considerable respect; however, Yang Zhizhong's behavior towards the old servant can be called crazy and shows no respect at all.