In this blog post, we will examine Lu Xun’s depression and enlightenment as revealed in “Diary of a Madman” and reflect on its meaning from today’s perspective.
Depression is a product of knowledge. The more we know, the more we suffer. This is because we come to know what is good, what is bad, and even what is wrong. If you are someone who wants to change what you have learned for the better, the pain will be even greater. This is because people tend to dismiss the act of overturning the status quo as “madness.” It is as if you are calling someone crazy for saying that what is currently taken for granted is not necessarily right and needs to be changed.
The madman in “The Madman” is in a similar situation. He is not a “madman,” but a depressed person who has realized that Chinese society at the time was wrong. This is also the depression of Lu Xun, who stood between the modern and contemporary eras. Lu Xun’s depression leads to enlightenment.
The short story “The Madman,” published in the May 1918 issue of New Youth, is a representative work that shows that if society and people do not change, even correct thinking will be buried in madness. “The Madman” is the first modern novel in China to harshly criticize feudal ethics, and it is written from the first-person perspective of the protagonist, rather than the third-person narrator format that was common in traditional Chinese literature. This reveals Lu Xun’s intention to change society and the spirit through literary creation. The novel is written in the form of a prologue by the translator and the narration of the protagonist, a madman (hereinafter referred to as the protagonist) who writes a diary. The protagonist, who shares Lu Xun’s perspective, perceives feudal society as a “cannibalistic society.” It is an abnormal society where people must prove their filial piety by cutting off their own thigh meat in the relationship between parents and children, where people bow down to the emperor and even boil their own children to offer them as a sacrifice, and where such acts are praised as filial piety and loyalty. In such a society, the fact that the protagonist’s illness is diagnosed as “paranoia” and that he is treated as a “madman” is bound to have many meanings.
The protagonist is the only human being. He is the only one who realizes how much what has been taken for granted until now has been contrary to human morality. He thinks that it may have been wrong to kick away Mr. Kuju’s old sales ledger, but he insists that the 4,000-year history of cannibalism, which has been accepted simply because it has been the norm, is abnormal and must be changed. He lashes out at his brother, asking him why he thinks such inhumane behavior is acceptable. However, the only human being is branded as insane by a society that refuses to accept change, and he is locked in a study and gradually becomes isolated.
Isolated humans naturally go mad because no one around them understands them. Finally, when his last cry is brutally ignored and he realizes that he himself has been a member of an abnormal feudal society for 4,000 years, the protagonist can only go mad. The story clearly shows Lu Xun’s intention to advocate change and transform people. However, the ending is not clear-cut.
As a thinker and writer, Lu Xun boldly abandoned modernity and embraced a new era, but the protagonist, who shares a similar melancholy, remains bound to modernity and exits the stage with a cry to save the children. His future in the novel is simply that of a “candidate waiting for a government post,” as mentioned by the translator in the prologue. However, this seemingly open ending encourages readers to imagine the protagonist’s future. The Braille next to the last sentence, “Let’s save the children,” further amplifies this ambiguity. Was the protagonist frustrated at not being able to meet a true friend and, exhausted, decided to save the children? Or did he return to reality with the determination to save at least the children, realizing the difficulty of his situation? Or perhaps he gave up everything and is now just waiting for a government position.
In this way, Lu Xun clearly points out the flaws of traditional feudal society, but also gives readers the opportunity to realize this for themselves, just like the protagonist. It is enlightenment through literature, not through declarations. In that case, as readers, how about we interpret Lu Xun’s melancholy and his enlightenment consciousness in our own way and try to predict the ending? Depending on the ending, we will be able to achieve our own enlightenment by searching for our own thoughts and values through this process.
