How to Understand the Theme of Lu Xun's Medicine

Medicine, written in April of 19 19, is the third article of Lu Xun's Scream. Now it is selected by the fourth volume of high school Chinese textbook. However, the understanding of medical topics has always been controversial. For example, the People's Education Publishing House 1987 edition of the Chinese teaching reference book for senior high schools admits that "Yu Xia was killed by the reactionary ruling class, and the sacrifice made by Hua Laoshuan revealed the fatal weakness of the old democratic revolution's separation from the masses, showed the importance of awakening people from the spiritual poison of the feudal class, and inspired people to explore a good medicine to save China's morbid society." The 2004 edition of the teaching reference book quoted Lu Xun and Sun Fuyuan as the theme, that is, "medicine describes the ignorance of the masses and the sorrow of revolutionaries;" In other words, the sorrow of revolutionaries is caused by the ignorance of the masses; More directly, revolutionaries sacrifice for the ignorant masses. They don't know for whom this sacrifice is made, but they think that this sacrifice can be enjoyed because of their stupid opinions ... "The views of faculty and staff have determined the direction of Chinese teaching in senior high schools in the past 20 years.

In the two teaching reference books, great changes have taken place from the perspective of interpretation to the conclusion. The perspective has changed from "Yu Xia" to "the masses", and the conclusion has changed from "exposing the fatal weakness of the old democratic revolution's separation from the masses" to "the ignorance of the masses has caused the revolutionaries' sorrow". I think the version of 1987 is a bit biased, because there is nothing about revolutionaries divorced from the masses in the full text. On the contrary, Yu Xia's propaganda to prisoners in prison is more because tea drinkers don't understand Yu Xia's propaganda. The expression in the 2004 edition is too simple, which only summarizes the ideological content of medicine, but does not summarize its ideological reasons and significance. So how should the theme of medicine be summarized?

The hero of medicine

To accurately summarize the theme of medicine, we must first determine who is the hero who complements the theme.

About "Who is the hero?" There has always been disagreement on this issue. If someone thinks it's Hua Laoshuan; Some people think that this is a revolutionary Yu Xia; Some people think that there are two protagonists, Hua Laoshuan and Yu Xia; Others even think that there is no protagonist.

Because this paper uses Hua Laoshuan to buy medicine, boil medicine and let Hua Xiaoshuan take medicine to promote the development of the plot, which leads tea drinkers to talk about the plot and the effect of taking medicine. Although the plot of talking about medicine and the effect of taking medicine are not dominated by Hua Laoshuan, he is only the introduction for tea drinkers to talk about medicine, but his teahouse provides an occasion for tea drinkers to talk about medicine. After all, the novel begins with Hua Laoshuan's eagerness to buy medicine, and takes the medicine bought by Hua Laoshuan-human blood steamed bread as the intersection, organically combining China and summer. Hua Laoshuan is a hardworking, kind, thrifty and unconscious working people. He opened a small teahouse in the town, worked hard all day and refused to rest even if he stayed up late. He loves his son. In order to treat his son, he scrimped and saved, took out a pack of accumulated foreign money to buy medicine for his son, believed in the superstition and heresy that human blood steamed bread can cure diseases, and felt "refreshed" and "happy" for being able to buy this medicine. He only cares about his own son, but he doesn't care about the revolutionary's sacrifice, let alone understand it, showing his ignorance, numbness and ignorance. Hua Laoshuan seems to be an inducer and participant, but his actual behavior of buying and using drugs is more serious than that of tea drinkers talking about drugs. Lu Xun's original intention is not to write about a person's ignorance and backwardness, but to write about the ignorance and backwardness of the group and their incomprehension of the revolution.

Yu Xia was a revolutionary in the Revolution of 1911. He was determined to overthrow the Qing dynasty, unswervingly carry out the revolution, and was imprisoned until his death. In fact, he is the medicine that Hua Laoshuan wants to buy, which is closely related to Hua and Xia. Yu Xia has never appeared in novels. His deeds were told by tea drinkers because the old people in China bought medicine. Yu Xia's tragedy is that he tried to save the masses, but the masses didn't understand him, and instead took his blood steamed bread as medicine. His sacrifice set off the ignorance of the masses. He was born and died because of the ignorance of the masses.

-So, Hua Laoshuan's behavior plays an important role. Lu Xun, represented by Hua Laoshuan, highlighted the ignorance and backwardness of the masses and their incomprehension of the revolution. So we think the protagonist should be Hua Laoshuan.

Second, the theme and ideological content-the ignorance of the masses brings the sorrow of revolutionaries.

Once the hero is established, the theme is solved.

1987 version of the Chinese teaching reference book for senior high schools recognizes that this article "reveals the fatal weakness of the old democratic revolution's separation from the masses." I think this statement is biased. As a revolutionary in the Revolution of 1911, Yu Xia fought for the liberation of the masses, but was eventually "eaten" by the masses. Is it because he is "divorced from the masses"? Actually, it's not. From the only passage in the article that mentions Yu Xia, we can know that Yu Xia was blackmailed by Red-Eye Ayi in prison. Even so, he advised the prison master to rebel, saying that "this Qing Dynasty belongs to all of us". Therefore, Ayi beat him again, but he still refused to give in, saying Ayi was pitiful. Thus, Yu Xia is still doing the ideological work of the masses in prison, but the full text does not say that Yu Xia does not do ideological work, but that Ayi and tea drinkers do not know Yu Xia, and Hua Laoshuan uses his blood to treat diseases. This is "the sorrow of revolutionaries". However, this "sadness" is due to the ignorance of the masses. Hua Laoshuan foolishly thought that "human blood steamed bread" could cure diseases, while Ayi and tea drinkers foolishly thought that Yu Xia was stupid ... So what "crux" is hidden behind these stupid performances?

The 2004 edition objectively summarized the theme and ideological content of Medicine, but failed to summarize its ideological significance.

The Ideological Significance of the Three Themes —— Eliminating the feudal hierarchical concept

As we all know, Lu Xun's cry and hesitation run through the theme of complete anti-feudalism, but the concept of "feudalism" is wide in scope, rich in connotation and abstract, and the specific content of each novel is different, which makes it difficult for readers to read. Therefore, to interpret these novels is to find the connection between feudalism and specific novels, that is, what is the breakthrough point for Lu Xun to completely oppose feudalism. The supreme ruler of feudal society is the emperor, whose words are imperial edicts. If you resist the imperial edict, you will be beheaded. From top to bottom, the rule is maintained in strict accordance with the hierarchical order of "monarch, monarch, father and son", "monarch is minister, father is son, and husband is wife". From top to bottom, all people, including ordinary people, live a "regular" life according to the hierarchical system and feudal hierarchical concept. People's words and deeds, values, ethics, imperial examination system and so on are all dominated by the feudal hierarchy. Lu Xun clearly saw this feature of feudal thought with unique vision and thought, so he took the anti-feudal hierarchy as a breakthrough and put forward a thorough anti-feudal thought. In the novel, we can see that the feudal hierarchy covered people like a big net. Below, I will talk about the ideological significance of the clue that the old suppository buys medicine, the small suppository takes medicine, the tea shop talks about medicine, and the result of taking medicine.

(1) Buy medicine

When it comes to the plot of Hua Laoshuan buying medicine, first of all, he saw someone in front, "retreating", "bouncing" and "chills", all of which showed Lao Shuan's fear. What is old Shuan afraid of? There is an explanation in the article that "a big white circle in front of and behind the clothes can be seen clearly in the distance, and you can see the dark red edge of the clothes when you walk in front of them." Those are soldiers representing the government. Then, at the moment when Lao Shuan took the medicine, when Uncle Kang gave him the human blood steamed bread, he stabbed, he shrank, he trembled and he hesitated, which also showed Lao Shuan's fear, because Uncle Kang was an executioner and his status was higher than that of ordinary people. At the same time, I am also afraid of this kind of "medicine", which is dipped in human blood "bit by bit". "Human blood" is generally revered, and the "kindness" of a flower old bolt will not be taken, but in the end he still took this "bloody" steamed bread. The reason is that on the one hand, this steamed bread can cure Xiao Shuan's illness, on the other hand, this steamed bread is stained with the blood of the "prisoner", and the prisoner has no status at all. His blood is not to be feared. Old Shuan can feel at ease.

Hua Laoshuan bought medicine, which paved the way for the following tea drinkers to talk about medicine.

(2) Talking about medicine

After Hua Laoshuan bought medicine, Aunt Hua arranged Xiao Shuan to take it, and the number of customers in the tea shop gradually increased. At this time, Uncle Kang "rushed in" and shouted at the old bolt as soon as he entered the door. His fierce momentum is quite different from the tea guests present. When he spoke, "everyone in the room listened respectfully", "Hua Laoshuan held a teapot in one hand and hung it respectfully in the other, listening with a smile", "Aunt Hua also sent a tea bowl, with black eyes and a smile ..." Later, Aunt Hua heard that Uncle Kang said that Xiao Shuan was "septicemia" and made a taboo, so she "changed". Why people are so "respectful" to Uncle Kang, and why Aunt Hua deliberately hides her true feelings. After all, because he is the executioner and has a higher position than the civilians present, people can only listen respectfully when he speaks. Aunt Hua dared not show her face in front of him even if she was angry, and the topic of tea drinkers was naturally dominated by him.

As "White Beard" asked questions modestly, the topic of tea drinkers naturally talked about the source of this "medicine"-Yu Xia died. When the tea drinker learned that Yu Xia was in prison, but still tried to persuade the jailer to rebel, the young man in his twenties sitting behind looked "angry" and said, "Oh, that's not bad." Knowing that Yu Xia said "this Qing belongs to all of us", and hearing that Yu Xia was beaten, people thought that Yu Xia was "the itch on the tiger's head", and he sat in the "corner" happily and didn't talk to others. When Yu Xia said that his aunt was pitiful, people's eyes "stopped" and their words "paused", and then they suddenly realized: "Crazy talk is simply crazy." People have such an attitude, because Yu Xia is a prisoner, his position is even worse than that of a poor man, and he persuaded the gaotou to rebel with a sense of guilt. Besides this kind of "rebellion", after thousands of years of feudal rule, people have long been accustomed to the ruled lifestyle, thinking that the world belongs to the ruler, the son of heaven, and they are just civilians. This seems to be an eternal truth, just like the sentence in Diary of a Madman: "It has never been like this …". So a prisoner even dares to say rebellion. In their view, this is outrageous and crazy, which is tantamount to madness. It is these plots that highlight the people's incomprehension of the revolution, and at the same time reflect people's servile psychology caused by the long-term suppression of the feudal hierarchy. They are the real "poor people". What Lu Xun tried to prove was that the important task of China Revolution was to clear people's minds of feudal thoughts represented by hierarchy. "After that, the most important thing is to transform the national character. Otherwise, whether it is authoritarian or not, what is * * *, even if the signboard is changed, the goods will remain the same."

(3) efficacy

Xiao Shuan's illness was not cured by this medicine, but the result of taking medicine was death, not grave.

When we ponder the description of the cemetery, we will find that such an ordinary cemetery actually has boundaries. On the left side of the road, there are people sentenced to death and those killed by Yu, and on the right side of the road, there are graves of the poor. This boundary is "natural", but it is not "natural" in fact. It is not so much that "people who are greedy for sidewalks use soles" as that people "intentionally" use soles to go out. The poor have a low status in society, but those who are sentenced to death and killed by Yu are worse than them. Even after death, they will be separated. After all, this place is still an official land. It can be seen that the hierarchical concept in people's minds is very profound.

To sum up, we can know that by telling the story that Hua Laoshuan treated his son to death with "human blood steamed bread" stained with revolutionary blood, he revealed the ideological essence of the masses' ignorance of the revolution, revealed the evil and influence of the feudal hierarchy, and proposed to eradicate the ideological "hierarchy" disease of the masses, otherwise the China revolution would fail like the Revolution of 1911.