In the last paragraph of Lu Xun's novel "Medicine", it is written: "I saw the crow spreading its wings, fluttering its body, straight towards the distant sky, and flying away like an arrow.

If the "crow" really symbolizes a dark society, then doesn't the "crow" "flying away like an arrow" mean that the dark society is about to pass? However, judging from the overall content of the work, the rulers are cruel, the people are ignorant and numb, and there is no trace of "the dark society is about to pass" at all.

Let’s talk about “crow”. The ending of “Medicine” focuses on the detail of “crow”, which is quite meaningful. First, exaggerate the atmosphere. In the cemetery that was deathly quiet all around, "the crow was also standing among the straight branches, with its head shrunk, as if made of iron." "They couldn't walk twenty or thirty steps away, and suddenly they heard a mute sound behind them - With a loud cry, both of them turned around suddenly, and saw the crow spread its wings, fluttered, and flew away like an arrow, looking dark and cold. His standing posture, a sudden and frightening cry, and a movement of spreading his wings and fluttering his body to fly quickly made people feel desolate, cold, and creepy. Moreover, this crow is an ominous thing. Second, highlight the theme. As a revolutionary mother, Grandma Xia Si has never understood the death of her son. She believed that people have souls after death, and thought that the wreath was the "appearance" of her son's ghost, and hoped to be verified by the crow's movements. She never expected that , the crow did not fly to the grave as she intended, but "flyed away". This essentially hints at the bankruptcy of fans’ thoughts such as the karma that Grandma Xia Si believes in and the appearance of crows, thus more clearly showing the theme of awakening the people. If we replace the crow with a magpie, it is obvious that the auspicious and festive magpie appears here, which is neither fish nor fowl, which not only destroys the deserted and gloomy atmosphere of the novel as a whole (especially the cemetery), but also dilutes the theme expression of the novel.