How to face the "cold spring" in life?

"Slave" and "Freak" under the golden shackles

―― A probe into the tragic fate and roots of Cao Qiqiao

Summary: The Story of the Golden Lock portrays Cao Qiqiao as a female image with human nature variation, a demon woman who lashes at lust and is greedy for material desires, and a bloody sacrifice placed on the altar of feudal ethics and money worship. In her body, there is a serious lack of experience and lonely experience. From the perspective of Freud's psychiatry, the suppression of lust is the motivation of Cao Qiqiao's individual psychological variation. From the perspective of Maslow's humanistic psychology, the need for security is to make him a slave of money. At the same time, feudal ethics and money worship are the social factors of his psychopathy, so Cao Qiqiao's character image is a "slave" and "freak" generated by the mixture of ethics and money. Thus, it shows the image of a female with a lack of mind in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal background of Hong Kong and Shanghai, and profoundly reveals the causes of female mental loss and psychopathy under the fierce collision between Chinese and Western cultures. Her tragedy is a tragedy of that society and that era!

Key words: ethics, money → suppression of lust, security needs → slaves, freaks

John Husbitt pointed out in "Women's Megatrends": "Women need three things: self-esteem, economic ability and fertility." (1) Yes, turning over the bloody modern history of China, women in China have no economic ability, so they can only use sexual value to compensate, and become tools for bearing children, just dolls of men, accessories of men, and bloody sacrifices placed on the altar of feudal autocracy and traditional culture for thousands of years! Zhang Ailing, a legendary female writer who was very popular in Shanghai in the 194s, revealed the living conditions of women in China from the perspective of abnormal sexual relations and abnormal marriage, and described the vicissitudes of life and the human world among all sentient beings. Cao Qiqiao is a typical tragic figure portrayed in Zhang Ailing's masterpiece The Golden Lock. As a kind of sacrificial object of the alternation of old and new cultures, it has a strong practical significance in itself.

1. The tragic fate of Cao Qiqiao

The Golden Lock is a novel about women. In writing women's novels, I have never seen anyone who can render a woman's psychology to such a chilling degree like Zhang Ailing. Cao Qiqiao lost his lust because of his property, and turned around and used the lust of others and his children as compensation for his lack of lust. The horror and pity of this abnormal erotic flow are the source of the novel's shocking power; The construction of various images makes the movements, psychology, hints, feelings, props and colors of the characters integrated, and there is a tension and synaesthesia between the characters. (2) according to Freud's theory, the original desire is like a river. If it is hindered, it will overflow to other rivers, which will directly lead to sexual disorder and abnormal behavior. "Legend of Shanghai" and "The Golden Lock" This is a legend about the original desire of human nature, a thrilling story of abnormal and alienated human nature. Generally speaking, Zhang Ailing's novels are related to women and money. In order to survive or not be poor all her life, she regards her marriage as the only coordinate in the sky of life, while her youth is a bet, and money is the final destination. Gambling tomorrow with one's youth will result in a terrible loss, not only losing youth, losing love, but also losing personality, happiness and affection. You can only take one dollar in the arena of life, and nothing else. "Golden Lock" not only describes the ill-fated and miserable life, but also tells the helplessness of the times and the sadness of women: Cao Qiqiao, a beautiful young and energetic "beauty of sesame oil and beauty", married her husband with bone tuberculosis for a living and made a beautiful vase, and the result was that she entered the fortress of feudal ethics that ate people. What's more worth mentioning is that the work "The Golden Lock" also describes that people's lust has gradually changed into metamorphosis in the teasing of fate and the helplessness of life, and has gradually become abnormal, and the deformed fate of generations brewed by this abnormal personality. Husband is a pile of "lifeless bodies". Under the serious lack of erotic experience, Cao Qiqiao destroyed his fiery enthusiasm, and went crazy about material desires and money. Brother in law Jize refused first and then lured emotionally, and her elder brother and sister-in-law also regarded family as a pile. After selling it as a commodity, after the ore of lust was smelted by the fire of "money worship" in semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, a demon woman who lashed at lust and was greedy for money appeared, and a "freak" wearing a gold chain appeared.

So, this is a legendary story of revenge, a legendary story of revenge for lust with money; A story of imprisonment, a story that evolved into a more crazy materialistic desire after being imprisoned by lust! Cao Qiqiao used to run a sesame oil shop. When she was young, there were butcher boys who were very fond of her, and sworn brothers who were close to her brothers also took a fancy to her. Although Qiqiao was rude and pungent, she was full of youth, enthusiasm and longing for the future. But after Jiang became the second grandmother, she walked into this dark prison and became a beautiful canary in a cage! More precisely, it is a tiger and a wolf in a cage, fed with predatory and bloody meat and fed with bright gold that kills lust.

Of course, the fruit of love hangs high on the high branch of happiness, and Cao Qiqiao can't pick it, so he can only wait silently under the tree. However, even the lust can not be obtained. For her, it is undoubtedly a cold spring and a heavy snow in the spring of her life! What makes her feel suffocated even more is that anyone in Ginger can look down on her, and even a girl dares to sneer at her. The dignity of her second grandmother, which she bought with her youth, is gone. Coupled with the suppression of her humanity by feudal ethics, the thick frost of this ethics forced her to crush the fire of her own lust, and the volcano that began to blow out began to extinguish. "The bones and roots of the whole body are sour." As a result, her emotional field became a wasteland and desert in winter, dead silence. Therefore, she longed for the sunshine of the third young master Jize's love, hoping to comfort her injured heart and warm her long-lost frozen soil emotionally. But the ruthless reality, like the drizzly autumn rain, doused the only spark in Cao Qiqiao's heart; The romantic third young master, like a headless fly, dares to touch, provoke and sting anyone, but is unwilling to cross the threshold of uncle and sister-in-law's prevention! Let the seven clever flowers of youth fade slowly in the ruthless west wind, and the yellow flowers are all over the ground. After that, she was cold and bitter, and began her revenge journey: first, she was "loving her son", asking her son Changbai to accompany her all night to smoke a big cigarette, taking pleasure in snooping about her son and daughter-in-law, forcing her daughter-in-law to keep the air alone and finally committing suicide. Secondly, the "jealous woman" didn't get happiness, even her own daughter didn't want it. The design killed the pure love between Chang 'an and her boyfriend Tong Shifang. Finally, she also became a demon with no affection and only money.

Just like a wounded female wolf in a cage, grinning with bloody fangs, licking her wounds, howling in a low voice, and hurting the next person at any time ...

Of course, this is a story of a man-eater being eaten again. A story that harms others and harms oneself. The difference between Cao Qiqiao and Bai Liusu in Love in a Fallen City by Ge Weilong in Zhang Ailing's The First Stove of Agarwood Chips is that her marriage is not voluntary. She has her own pursuits and dreams. Her marriage was entirely out of "parents' orders and matchmakers' words". Therefore, from the beginning, she was destined to be a sad and pitiful victim and abused person, just an offering placed on the altar. However, when her spring water flows to the east, she will decline, sink, retaliate, and retaliate against people around her! And he has become a victim, an abuser, a cannibal and a demon!

"Notes on the History of Gan Er. Financial Marriage" says: "All marriages are about financial money, so it is not surprising to compete for more and compete for less." Cao Qiqiao's marriage is just a deal in her eyes. She just made a dirty deal with the devil at the expense of youth, happiness, love and affection, and lost her life in exchange for a dream of spring. All I got was a dollar. Therefore, in her life, Tianping should be inclined to money, not family, not affection. Because the price is too high! This money was bought back with her life, and she earned it too hard.

When the love with Ji Ze went up in smoke, especially when Ji Ze with ulterior motives came to the door to plot property and calculate her money, she was like a wounded beast, moaning lonely, despairing of all logics and the whole world. I don't know where to fly, I don't know where I am. I can't find the big dipper in the sky of my life, the habitat of my soul, and my own clear sky. The conclusion is that "people are unreliable, and only money is reliable" and "this is a crazy world." At this time, Pandora's box was opened in misery, helplessness, sadness and despair, and she gave her soul to the devil. In order to get money, she became an out-and-out "slave" wearing gold chains and a "freak" combining feudal ethics with capitalist money supremacy. Reading Zhang Ailing's novel The Story of the Golden Lock, Cao Qiqiao, who went from colorful to gloomy and ultimately exhausted, slowly disappeared into the long river of history with the dust ... < P > Second, the personal psychological factors that caused the tragedy of Qi Qiao < P > From a psychological point of view, Cao Qiqiao had a serious missing experience. Missing experience refers to the subject's experience of all kinds of missing (spiritual and material). (4) missing is not satisfied. At this time, in order to overcome the lack of experience and achieve psychological balance and satisfaction, the subject will mobilize and activate various mental forces. Therefore, the lack of experience includes not only emotional changes, but also changes in cognitive activities. Kant noticed the function of missing sexual experience, saying: "Because imagination is richer and more productive than senses in concept, if there is lust, the lack of an object can stimulate imagination more than having an object." ⑤ Please look at this section in The Story of the Golden Lock: "She went to the street to eat vegetables, wearing blue summer cloth shirts and trousers, and her mirror was inlaid with black silk. She saw Chaolu in the butcher shop through a row of copper hooks hanging from pork. Chaolu urged her to call Miss Cao. It's rare to scream Qiaojie, so she slapped the hook on the back, and countless hooks swung over to cone his eyes. Chaolu took a foot-wide piece of pig oil from the hook and threw it at the meat case, and a warm breeze rushed to her face, smelling of dead body ... She frowned. Her husband, who is asleep in bed, is a lifeless body ... "It is the lack of love experience and the unsatisfied erotic experience that will mobilize mental strength and stimulate cognitive vitality. Under this state of absence, Cao Qiqiao's cognitive activity is to" dispel "his own missing experience (that is, the lack of love and lust), but it does not always achieve his goal. In this case, Cao Qiqiao has a strange psychology. Have such hallucinations.

In addition, "psychologists also believe that many illusions and hallucinations are related to the desires in the individual. When the individual's strong self-employment can't be satisfied and is in a state of serious lack, the individual often fantasizes the image formed by the desire to listen to the heart to another real object." ⑥ In The Story of Golden Lock, because of the seven cleverness of marrying Jiang as the second grandma for a living, facing a soft, heavy and lifeless body, not talking about love, even lust can't be obtained, which makes the beautiful and enthusiastic Miss Cao only have to look at the vase and be a canary in a cage! In the cage of ginger, you will consume your youth little by little, and your humanity will be swallowed up little by little.

under this heavy lack of lust, Cao Qiqiao couldn't sit still, and turned her inner desire into "a strong young man with a round place, bright red cheeks, wet eyebrows and watery black eyes". On Ji Ze: "She tried to sit down next to Ji Ze, only taking a corner of his chair. She put her hand on his leg and said,' Have you touched his meat? It's soft and heavy, just like people's feet are numb sometimes, and it feels like that ... "Another example is:" She looked straight ahead with her eyes open, and the solid small gold pendant on her ear nailed her to the door like two copper nails. The butterfly specimen in the glass box was bright and sad. " From these descriptions, it can be seen that Cao Qiqiao has transformed the third young master into his love object, sowing the seeds of figs in this love on his emotional wasteland, in order to bring a little comfort to his mind. Soothe that fiery and unruly restless heart. Waiting for the bitter expectation, looking forward to the rain of love from the third young master to moisten this already dry land. However, "JiZe looked at her and moved in my heart. But that won't do. Play as much as you like. He has long been determined not to annoy his family. His temporary interest has passed, and he can't hide or kick. He is a burden in front of him all day. Besides, Qi Qiao's mouth is so open and his temper is so impetuous, how can he deceive people? Besides, her popularity is so bad, who will forgive her for her? She may be throwing caution to the wind, but she doesn't care if she gets caught. He is young, why should he take the risk? " Under such circumstances, the third young master did not want to cross the threshold of this uncle's defense and enter Cao Qiqiao's life. Kan Kan said, "Second sister-in-law, although I am young, I am not a fool." These words made Cao Qiqiao's eager sky covered with dark clouds and suddenly dimmed. When Cao Qiqiao's husband died, her mother-in-law also died and divided her fortune. When the third young master Ji Ze approached her again in order to calculate her money, "Ji Ze said,' Believe it or not! Anyway, half our lives have passed, and it's no use talking about it. I only ask you to forgive my heart. I've suffered for you, so I'm not wronged.' "Seven Qiao's serious lack of experience got a little comfort at this time, and her mind was filled with happiness and joy." She bowed her head, bathed in the light, listened to the music carefully, listened to the joy carefully ... Over the years, she played hide-and-seek with him, but it was just too close to her body. It turned out that there was still today! Yes, the rest of my life is over, and the age of flowers has passed. Life is so complicated and unreasonable. Why did she marry to the Jiang family in the first place? For money? No, in order to meet Jize, in order to be destined to fall in love with Jize. "

To sum up, Cao Qiqiao has never experienced love, and her lust is also seriously lacking. This lack of experience has become the main cause of her personality tragedy, which has become the driving force for her transformation, and she has gradually moved towards the cage of fate, nibbling away at her humanity, winding herself up with the silk of lust, and finally strangling humanity and losing her own life.

If the lack of sexual experience is the main cause of Qi Qiao's personality tragedy, the lonely experience existing in her is also an important factor that causes her tragic fate. Qiqiao's communication with the people around him belongs to the "expedient conformity" in psychology: "On the surface, he still maintains a certain degree with the people around him, but in his bones, he insists on and always experiences his differences with others." ⑦ Because she came to Jiang's family to be the second grandmother for a living, and because she only runs a sesame oil shop, she has no family background in society and is of humble origin, which makes her position in Jiang very low, and even the servants inside can sneer at her, for example, Xiao Shuangdao.