Victoria A Pagano
20th Century World Literature
GS 340
Marshall Lloyd
March 2, 2012
20th Century World Literature
A Madman's Diary
In this paper we will research the Chinese Revolution of 1911. Talk about how is Lu Xun’s A Madman's Diary a reflection of China’s revolutionary history, explain how In Diary, who the madman was and what he represented. Also we will look at and explain what cannibalism represented. And then we will discuss how this can be applied to our lives.
The Revolution of 1911 was a period of time during Chinese history which overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, and established the Republic of China. It was made up of many fights and uprisings. What changed it all was the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911, which was the result of the Railway Protection Movement. This ended with the resignation of the “Last Emperor” on February 12, 1912, which marked the end of the Imperial rule and set up the China's Republican era.
A Madman's Diary promoted China's education and progress similar to the style of Western civilization thorough first-person fiction that is obscenitively satirical. At the end of the piece, the madman says,” Perhaps there are still children and future generations who have not yet fully adopted Confucian values are the likely candidates for social change. The have not yet read the history books pounding in the ideas of age-old morality and piety and social cannibalism. Their parents have not yet corrupted their belief system. Save the children, and save China.
The exact words from the book says that the madman: was one of two brothers: Two brothers, whose names I need not mention here, were both good friends of mine in high school; but after a separation of many years we gradually lost touch. Some time ago I happened to hear that one of them was seriously ill. pg. 131 The Longman Anthology World Literature 2nd Ed The brother that was seriously