What does "moral coward" mean?

In the preface of Fortress Besieged, the author bluntly said: "In this book, I want to write about a certain part of society and a certain kind of characters in modern China." As the protagonist of Fortress Besieged, Fang Hung-chien undoubtedly has the basic roots of a hairless biped. In him, we can peep into the weakness of human nature and feel a lot of helplessness and pain as human beings.

Fang Hung-chien is a man who lives for himself. He is confused. There is not much glitter on him, or he is just a person, not a "bared teeth" beast. He is a poor "nobody" and a "redundant person" who wants to get rid of the secular but is unable to do so. His wife said, "You don't hate it, but it's useless." "I have no skill, but I have a big temper." "Moral coward." These three sentences can roughly sum up all the characters of Fang Hung-chien. Fang Hung-chien is a "morbid child of morbid civilization", and his image is the leader of the last batch of gray intellectuals who have appeared repeatedly since the May 4th Movement, a typical petty-bourgeois intellectual.

The novel used a lot of space to express Fang Hung-chien's character in love. It should be said that Fang Hung-chien is serious about love, eager to pursue true love between men and women, without any utilitarian color. He doesn't want to be an emotional liar at all, deceiving others' feelings or deceiving himself. However, due to cowardice and indecision, although there was a "peach blossom luck", the result was a mess, but it was hurt by love.

Fang Hung-chien is still in high school. He is engaged to his family. At this time, his love is still ignorant. He is just his father's lovely son. When I entered the university and watched my classmates fall in love, I was so jealous that I wanted to get rid of the old-fashioned marriage. At this time, Fang Hung-chien had a sense of self and wanted to follow the fashion. Unexpectedly, he got some "righteous words" from his father. His gentleness made him no longer wishful thinking, so he had to comfort himself with Schopenhauer's words: "Where can there be love in the world?" This is completely a reproductive impulse. "But the fire of his inner desire has not been extinguished. In college, girls call him "thermometer" behind his back, because his face goes up and down, which shows the distance between him and girls. Fang Hung-chien longed for women, but he dared not approach them.

Although Fang Hung-chien was engaged early, he had no training in love, so the first woman he really contacted was Miss Bao. Is there anything else? His wife Miss Tang once said she didn't know. On the ship that has not (yet) completed its studies and returned to China, it may be hot and dry, it may be emotional hunger, or it may be sensual impulse. Brother Hung-chien couldn't help but be tempted by Miss Bao's words when he saw that Miss Bao, who was "half true and half false", was delicious. Fang Hung-chien also made love to Miss Bao in a naive and funny way: "Can I make it up to you now?" I didn't wake up from a dream until I got off the boat and saw Miss Bao's half-bald fiance. It turned out that I was "played". Fang Hung-chien, who was "abandoned" by others, had to comfort himself again: "It's not necessarily a loss, maybe it's cheap, and there's nothing to complain about." But the lust of being cheated and the pride of being hurt, no matter how he appeases, are of no help. Miss Bao's body and mind can be "tidy", and Fang Hung-chien is a piece of paper stained with ink, which can't be washed away.

Fang Hung-chien was very lucky, which actually laid the foundation for true love later. Once a person has committed a peach blossom, he can't do anything. When Fang Hung-chien got off the boat, he got into Miss Su's "thief boat" and could not refuse Miss Su's kindness. "Miss Sue is the ideal girlfriend. She has brains, status, attitude and looks, which makes her a good family. Going to restaurants and theaters with her won't lose her face. " In principle, Fang Hung-chien had no reason not to pursue her, including Sun Roujia, who later became his wife. However, Fang Hung-chien just didn't "feel" about her, and thought that the development with her could only be two parallel lines that didn't intersect. Fang Hung-chien knew he wouldn't fall in love with her, but he couldn't help looking for her. "Just like a person who can't sleep, he doesn't care about the harm of sleeping pills. The first thing he wants is to be comfortable in front of him." As a result, Miss Su got stuck, and she got stuck in the mud. Miss Su's kindness and kindness are one, but Fang Hung-chien is riding a tiger. Because at this time, Fang Hung-chien already had a lover-Miss Tang. For the sake of his true love, Fang had to refuse Miss Su's wishful thinking. Fang Hung-chien did the right thing, but it was too late. His indecision ruined his beautiful and short-lived love.

Fang Hung-chien fell in love with Miss Tang at first sight, and when they met for the first time, they wanted to lay the groundwork for future development. In Fang Hung-chien's view, Miss Tang is a wonderful flower of modern civilized society-a real girl. Compared with Miss Su, Miss Tang is pure and lovely, which won Hung-chien's favor. Because of his love, Fang Hung-chien is radiant and humorous, and his love letter is even more radiant, which probably won Miss Tang's heart. Tang Fang's love is going well. Seeing that Fang Hung-chien is about to catch the Happiness Express, we readers can't bear to be jealous. We hope that they will have a lover, but Mr. Qian prefers Miss Tang himself and refuses to let her marry Fang Hung-chien. Fang Hung-chien's love died unfortunately. In fact, this is understandable. Miss Su's painstaking love went bankrupt. How can Fang Hung-chien get what he wants? Miss Su, out of a woman's revenge, exposed all the scandals such as Fang Hung-chien buying a fake diploma and having a one-night stand with Miss Bao. Miss Tang was very angry because she was partial to the letter. Although Fang Hung-chien has iron teeth and copper teeth, he is full of arguments. How can this be made clear? In the reader's view, the love between them has not really died, and there is still room for manoeuvre. But Miss Tang has a stubborn temper and would rather endure the pain. Fang Hung-chien felt that Miss Tang had seen through him and was ashamed to see anyone again. I once imagined that if Fang Hung-chien had the cheek to put down his worthless self-esteem and seek Miss Tang's understanding, he would not be able to save his love. But he didn't. He just hates and resents. He just "swallowed the whole piece of pain". Unfortunately, he dared not look for her (Miss Tang), but dreamed of meeting her. Is this weakness or self-deception?

"The dog lost the bone in his mouth in pursuit of the shadow of the bone in the water!" Generally speaking, Miss Su is like a bone and Miss Tang is like a shadow. What can't be pursued is the most precious, promising and valuable, but ironically, the ultimate pursuit is only a mirage. What can Fang Hung-chien do if he really marries Miss Tang? Unfortunately, he didn't know that Schopenhauer also said another sentence: "People who marry for love must live in pain."

"In the past, sea water was hard to turn into water." Fang Hung-chien never dared to make love again, but he still had a hard time with Miss Tang, who was always a pain in his heart. However, men can't stand loneliness, regardless of gender, it is an exception after all. Fang Hung-chien is an emotional person. He once said frankly, "He is always too soft-hearted and always caters to women." His good friend Zhao Ceng laughed at him: "As soon as you think of tenderness, you have planted love in your heart." Sun Roujia, an ordinary girl with a plain face, also lost her due vigilance. Hsin-mei's joke haunted him, and as a result, he easily fell into a gentle trap and could not escape.

Sun Roujia is a very calculating girl. When she first met her, she was shy. "She dared not say a word, and her face flushed." . Actually, she is mature, sophisticated and far-sighted. In her body, there are feminine gentleness and charm, as well as feminine cunning and fierceness. Compared with her, Fang Hung-chien can only show off his wife's ability and his incompetence.

Mr. Jiang Yang said: "Sun Roujia's greatest success was to marry Fang Hung-chien, and his greatest failure was to marry Fang Hung-chien." Sun Roujia's success is nothing more than that her "one thousand ways" were not in vain, and she married Fang Hung-chien as she wished. But Fang Hung-chien was ungrateful. Instead, he felt as if he had been fooled again, unwilling. So after marriage, I often regard my wife as a "vent bucket"-it is convenient to have a wife when I feel angry. To borrow a common saying: "Men, there are no good things." Not only will you not cherish what you get easily, but you will even look down on it at all. Fang Hung-chien may be a little conceited and forget what he is. "What else but two mouths?" Useless but pretentious, pedantic and hot-headed. I want to be stupid, but my mouth is hard and my heart is soft. I can't change my personality. Fang Hung-chien's married life was simply terrible, and the final result was separation.

Looking at Fang Hung-chien's love and marriage, we can see that his character is flawed, but he is kind and honest in essence. To some extent, he is still an emotional person. Compared with Cao Yuanlang, Li and Gu Erqian, he still has some "popularity" and has not lost his "aura". He is useless, but not annoying.

Mr Qian said frankly: Fortress Besieged is a novel that satirizes the literati unofficial history. Satire is aimed at the weakness of human nature, especially human vanity. Philosopher Bergson said: "There is nothing more impetuous and profound than vanity ... It is a product of society, more natural and more common than human selfishness, and it is a congenital defect." Almost everyone in Fortress Besieged has vanity. Fang Hung-chien is no exception. He is often dominated by vanity. It is a shame to buy a fake diploma, and the result is shameful; In order to be "decent", I couldn't bear to refuse Miss Su's "opportunity", so I got a louse crawling on me. University professors recalled the glories before the war, such as Wang Chuhou's obsession with Nanjing real estate, Li's fabrication of castles in the air, Lu Zixiao's saying that many women rushed to marry him, and Brother Hung-chien also expanded his former residence in the enemy-occupied area several times without modesty, which was essentially the same as Lu Xun's Ah Q boasting that he was richer than before. There are many details showing Fang Hung-chien's vanity. For example, when Hsin-mei first asked him what he was doing, he said, "I'm working in a small bank for the time being." There is quite a deep meaning that "the dragon is not a thing in the pool"; On the way to Hunan, I was punished for leaving Naihe Bridge. I was frightened and said shamelessly, "Miss Sun led me across the bridge." Satisfied his little vanity. Fang Hung-chien has his own vanity, and he has to think about his wife Sun Roujia. For example, he lied about Sun's dowry, but the result was still self-defeating.

Fang Hung-chien's vanity comes from human nature, not deliberately. To borrow Mr. Qian's words, "this is human nature, not surprising." Fang Hung-chien really doesn't have any bright spots in him, but he still likes reality, and what he doesn't like most is "tacky". He believes that "being a news figure is the ultimate evil custom, and readers have to hold their noses"; Self-proclaimed "modern girls who hate small cities, outdated fashions and rural urbanization most in life." "I didn't want to associate with such vulgar things as Zhang comprador. It was purely his cynicism to please miss' I, you, him'." It is also tacky for Hung-chien to miss "I miss you and him". I guess the reason why Fang Hung-chien didn't fall in love with Miss Su may be that Miss Su is "elegant" and tacky. For example, he treated Hung-chien with "ice cream" on the boat, pretended to be naive when he was close to Hung-chien on the shore, watched several men be jealous of themselves, and showed people his fans for writing poems, and so on. Fang Hung-chien felt vulgar. Another example is to sneer at Cao Yuanlang's masterpiece Assorted Dishes and kill the young politician Gu Kaier with a stick. Fang Hung-chien dislikes vulgarity and vanity, which makes his character more lovely.

Fang Hung-chien doesn't want to go with the flow, but he has to go with the flow and find various reasons. When encountering setbacks, it is easy to belittle yourself, or comfort yourself and seek satisfaction. He bought a fake diploma to hide his shame and ugliness, knowing that it was self-deception, but he also argued that "lying and cheating are not immoral sometimes" and "showing off the lintel is also the courtesy of a dutiful son and a good husband." And "is he a liar in Ireland?" This is a good reason. It seems that buying fake diplomas is purely forced prostitution in the old society. I am tempted by Miss Bao, but I still feel that "it may have taken advantage, and I have nothing to complain about." "Comfort yourself with all kinds of clever words and precise calculations." Going to Zhang comprador's house for blind date is also a big deal. He "didn't want to associate with such vulgar things", but on second thought, "I can go alone." Whether you get married or not depends on whether you like that girl or not. " Another example is to find Miss Su, "I know there may be many things, but life is too boring and ready-made girlfriends are too scarce." Therefore, he can always find various reasons.

Fang Hung-chien is so useless that even Mrs. Zhou said, "Hung-chien is too honest to find a girlfriend." And the result? Did a woman come to him? Is this a man's glory or an embarrassment? Fang Hung-chien also realized that he was useless, so he also had a deep sense of inferiority. Judging from Zhao's swaggering manner, "Miss Su doesn't talk to him, and Hung-chien really thinks that he is nothing, like a ghost when the cock crows in the fifth watch, or the Taoist principle of' be there or leave'." When I told Miss Tang one by one, I felt contemptible and despicable. After being frustrated in love, his career was also frustrated. He worked hard and transferred to San Lv University. But Gao Songnian broke his word and hired him as an associate professor, giving him an embarrassment: "What class does your teacher have?" It's really a problem! " He compared himself to a beggar. "What you can find can only be eaten, not ordered." I was so angry that I wanted to find Gao Songnian's theory, but when I came out, I only felt that I was an abandoned child taken in by Gao Songnian's mercy.

Fang Hung-chien's "abandonment" is obviously pitiful and despicable, and the fundamental reason is his weakness in character. The so-called "moral coward". Our readers' feelings for him are complicated: they like his cleverness, appreciate his humor, and even like his "fallacies"; However, he despised his pedantry, rigidity and cowardice. Ironically, when he lies, he should tell the truth of his conscience, not knowing hypocrisy and fraud, and not being satisfied with his cynicism and vanity. I sympathize with his situation and want to help him, but I hate his disappointment and want to slap him. Fang Hung-chien is a contradiction. Although he was only a typical petty-bourgeois intellectual in the 1930s, he didn't get old. His voice is still alive and his figure can be seen everywhere. Calm down and think about it. Is he a bit like Fang Hung-chien in some ways?

The character Fang Hung-chien is of course fictional, but there are also fictional reasons. Mr. Jiang Yang once revealed that Fang Hung-chien was drawn from two relatives: one was ambitious but ignorant, always complaining; An arrogant singer. But the image of Fang Hung-chien is definitely not a simple synthesis of these two characters. His image obviously projected the author's shadow and injected the author's emotional experience. Fang Hung-chien's personality has its own characteristics, but he clearly shows many "human" characteristics, which may be the real significance of Mr. Qian's shaping Fang Hung-chien.