Chapter 21 The fourth section breaks the traditional thinking and writing methods——Dream of Red Mansions

The author Cao Xueqin, named Zhan, styled Mengruan, named Xueqin, also named Qinpu or Qinxi Jushi.His ancestral home is Liaoyang.First of all, he was a Han nationality, and later he was a "coated" person in Zhengbai Banner, Manchuria. "Coating" means "slave" in Manchu.Great-grandmother Sun was Kangxi's wet nurse.Grandfather Cao Yinshao accompanied Kangxi to study.Later, he worked as Suzhou Weaving and Jiangning Weaving.During the Yongzheng period, the Cao family was hit repeatedly, and it has since declined.It contains some materials about the changes of the Cao family and some experiences of the author himself.

There are 120 chapters in total, the first 80 chapters are written by Cao Xueqin, and the last 40 chapters are continued by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E.Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E traced the plots of the first 80 chapters according to the hints of the original work, completed the love and marriage tragedies of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, and arranged the fate and ending of a series of other characters, making it a complete book, thus promoting the In the spread of society, the impact has been expanded.However, the last 40 chapters wrote about Baoyu Zhongju and the revival of the family business, which violated Cao Xueqin's original intention; there were some distortions and vulgar words in character description and plot conception, which were far from Cao Xueqin's original work.

It writes a tragedy in which love cannot be free and marriage cannot be independent, that is, the love and marriage tragedy of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai.The love and marriage between young men and women is an ancient theme. Its greatness lies in that it describes the profound social root cause of this tragedy with a true description, and describes the relationship between the tragic hero's thought and character and the tragedy. internal connection.The work takes the occurrence and development of this tragedy as the central event of the whole book, but the work is not limited to the description of the tragedy itself, but develops out to describe the broad social environment and the collapsing aristocratic society.Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu's ardent and persistent pursuit of free love, and Jia Baoyu's idea of ​​treating people equally, respecting individuality, and living according to one's own will, reflected the requirements of that era for individual liberation and equality of human rights, and sparkled with elementary democracy. Spirit.

Jia Baoyu is the central figure of the tragedy.He is dressed in fine food, surrounded by pearls and emeralds, and lives in a gentle and rich village.However, he is not satisfied with this kind of life, hates all kinds of spiritual shackles imposed by his family, and longs for an unfettered life.A group of innocent, clever girls live around him, their sincere enthusiasm, free and unrestrained character infects him, and their misfortunes and pains inspire him.The freedom-loving character made him doubt and deny a series of feudal dogmas.He denied the imperial examination path of studying and becoming an official, and despised fame and wealth.I would rather read books and classics than to read the Four Books and Five Classics, do not speak stereotyped essays, do not want to associate with the first-class famous and wealthy people in Jia Yucun, and do not like to listen to "bad talk" such as "official career economy".He slanders monks, slanders Taoism, praises loyalty and filial piety, and is incompatible with feudal education.In Yuanchun, she was made a noble concubine, and everyone in Jia's mansion rejoiced, but Baoyu ignored her and didn't mind.He boldly denies the feudal concept that men are superior to women, and sympathizes with insulted and damaged women.Jia Baoyu was also infected with the bad habits of some noble sons at the beginning.Once when he returned to Yihong Courtyard, Xiren opened the door a little late, and he kicked him.Later, after Qin Keqing's death, Lin Daiyu's lonely life experience, the inner pain of the imperial concubine's sister Yuanchun, the death of Jin Chuan, his father's beating of him, Qingwen's death and other events, he gradually became sober and mature.His attitude towards love is becoming more and more serious and single-minded.His understanding and love for Lin Daiyu are also deepening day by day.All the hopes of the Jia family rest on him, the "lifeblood", but he resolutely refuses to follow the life path prescribed by the feudal parents. This has become the greatest fear and sorrow of this noble family.This means that this noble family has no successors and no hope.Against the wishes of his parents, Jia Baoyu fell in love with Lin Daiyu who "never persuaded him to make a name for himself since he was a child".Jia Baoyu didn't think about the interests of the family or the future of the Jia family at all.Deep down in his heart, he was always alienated and alienated from Xue Baochai.Lin Daiyu's life experience and character made Jia Baoyu admire him very much.This rebellious love became Jia Baoyu's spiritual power to overcome his own weakness.However, Jia Baoyu resisted the family and the society by himself. His power was small and his resistance was weak.Jia Baoyu's heart is full of contradictions.He loves life but is pessimistic and weary of the world. He tries hard to resist but can't find a way out.His whole life was stained with a strong tragic color.

The image of Lin Daiyu is more tragic than that of Jia Baoyu.She was born in a scholarly family and was loved by her parents when she was a child.The early death of her mother caused her to lose her maternal love since she was a child.Her father hired a teacher from a private school to teach her how to read, and because she was physically weak, the class was not very strict.This kind of family environment made Lin Daiyu develop an aloof and lofty character, doing her own way.Later, her father passed away one after another, and Lin Daiyu lived in her grandmother's house at a young age, living a life of being dependent on others.Lin Daiyu, who is knowledgeable and talented, is not as easy-going as Xue Baochai, who is sophisticated and tactful, and always acts according to the face of her parents.She is so sentimental, melancholy and sensitive, shedding tears in the wind and hurting the moon.Her self-esteem is very strong, and she resists the contempt and offense of the outside world with her straightforwardness and innocence.Lin Daiyu reads a lot of books, loves to read, read and write, and yearns for sincere and passionate love deep in her heart.However, after all, she is a daughter of aristocratic background, feudal ethics and traditional concepts imperceptibly bound her.When love knocked on her heart, she didn't have enough courage to admit it.Whenever Jia Baoyu confessed his feelings directly to her, she always felt "angry" and "sad", which made the infatuated Jia Baoyu at a loss.Lin Daiyu, like Jia Baoyu, hates the "official career economy" of studying and becoming an official, and despises those mediocre people with fame and fortune.Therefore, she was cited by Jia Baoyu as a co-tune and bosom friend.Lin Daiyu regards love as the spiritual pillar for her to live in Jia's mansion.At first, they were childhood sweethearts and childhood sweethearts, but as they got older, they developed into a hazy first love.After countless gasps, misunderstandings and disputes, and repeated testing of each other, the two sides deepened their mutual understanding.Lin Daiyu's lonely life experience and aloof and self-respecting character require Jia Baoyu to develop mutual feelings on the premise of caring and single-mindedness.After being convinced of Baoyu's true feelings for her, Lin Daiyu's heart calmed down.Her love with Baoyu has entered a mature stage.However, this love was doomed to be a tragedy from the very beginning.Both her lonely life experience and Lin Daiyu's own way of doing things made her unacceptable to this declining aristocratic family.Lin Daiyu's marriage to Jia Baoyu will only encourage and strengthen Jia Baoyu's tendency to deviate from the orthodoxy, making Jia Baoyu more difficult to control.This is absolutely not allowed by feudal parents.The only choice is to sacrifice Lin Daiyu and hire Xue Baochai, who has a wealthy family, shrewd and orthodox thinking, as Jia Baoyu's spouse, so as to correct Jia Baoyu's unorthodox tendencies and save the family from decline.

Xue Baochai was born in an imperial merchant family, her mother was a young lady from the royal family of Jinling, and her uncle Wang Ziteng was a governor of nine provinces, rich and powerful.The businessman's habit of focusing on practicality, tact and tact, and the bureaucratic habit of adhering to ethics gave Xue Baochai a double influence.Like Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai has a beautiful appearance, outstanding talent, and good cultural accomplishment.Unlike Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai is well versed in the world and good at dealing with the world.She is slick in all directions and knows everything from right to left, and she is perfunctory in Jia's mansion like a duck to water.Known as the "cold beauty", this aristocratic lady tried her best to adapt to the living environment of Jia's mansion, pretending to be clumsy and showing a kind of calm reason.Xue Baochai is usually seldom talkative and doesn't like to dress up.She is open-minded and easy-going, and doesn't care much about what others say about her.Usually, he is good at giving small benefits, and he is deeply in the hearts of servants.Especially good at trying to figure out the hobbies and wishes of parents.Mother Jia asked her to order plays, and she ordered plays that Mother Jia liked.After Jin Chuaner committed suicide, Mrs. Wang was condemned by her conscience. Xue Baochai distorted the facts and comforted Mrs. Wang against her will, saying that Jin Chuaner fell into the well because of her own carelessness, not because of her anger.She gave her new clothes to Mrs. Wang as Jin Chuan'er's mortuary clothes. She was not shy at all, and solved Mrs. Wang's problem.She is scheming but not revealing, she is a perfect typical girl in the feudal society, and she is the most ideal spouse chosen by the feudal parents for Jia Baoyu.

Wang Xifeng is one of the most impressive characters in the novel.Wang Xifeng's natal family is rich and powerful, which is extraordinary.Her grandfather "is in charge of the tribute and congratulations of various countries".His uncle, Wang Ziteng, served as the Jiedu envoy of the Beijing camp, the control of the nine provinces, and the inspection of the capitals of the nine provinces.Her eldest aunt, Mrs. Wang, was Jia's mother's favorite daughter-in-law.The second aunt, Aunt Xue, is a respectable family of imperial merchants.Relying on these backgrounds and her intelligence, Wang Xifeng took charge of housework in Jia's mansion at the age of eighteen or nineteen.Wang Xifeng is "extremely beautiful in appearance, sharp in speech, and extremely scheming in mind", with radiant eyes, flexible wrists, day-to-day management and command.For Qin Keqing's funeral in Ningguo Mansion, she was specially invited to preside over it.As soon as she went there, she saw the five major drawbacks of Ningguo Mansion, and proposed a set of rectification measures.Wang Xifeng followed orders with authority and acted like no one else was around, creating a situation where "both women and men are intimidated, and none of them is capable".This Mrs. Wang's niece is competitive, pursuing vanity, and has a strong desire for power.Jia Yun begged Jia Lian to arrange an errand, but Sister Feng thought that he would not go her own way, so she deliberately assigned the position to Jia Qin.Later, Jia Yunwu went out to pay tribute and gifts to Sister Feng. Sister Feng laughed at Jia Yun and said, "Are you going to choose a long way to go! Tell me earlier, what a big idea, it's worth delaying until now!" She gave Jiedu envoy Yun Just one letter canceled Brother Zhang Jin's engagement.She forced Caixia to marry Laiwang's son.Jia's young and handsome woman, known as "Phoenix Spicy", has a sharp tongue, pleases Jia's mother and Mrs. Wang everywhere, flatters, gags, and does everything.She personally took care of everything related to Jiamu's basic necessities of life, eating, drinking, and entertainment. She was very attentive and never dared to neglect it.She is good at handling relationships in all directions.For Ping'er, she acts both soft and hard; for Yuanyang, she tries her best to win her over.Because the mandarin ducks are deeply trusted and favored by Jia's mother; she also tried her best to please Xiren, because Xiren was favored by Mrs. Wang and was appointed as Jia Baoyu's future concubine by default.Wang Xifeng loves money and spends her life. She actually deducted the monthly money of the maids to lend usury;Yuanyang stole a box of "gold and silver guys" from Jia Mu's room for her, and Wang Xifeng pawned a thousand taels of silver.She reduced the expenditure of slaves, but did not dare to reduce the expenditure of Jiamu and Mrs. Wang.Wang Xifeng is a complex image that is beautiful, smart, capable, greedy, and vicious.

Among Baoyu's brothers and sisters, Tanchun has the closest relationship with Baoyu.In fact, in terms of ideological orthodoxy, Tanchun is no different from Baochai.Although Tanchun didn't talk about the economics of official career to Baoyu, she herself said: "As long as I am a man, I can go out. I left early and started a career. At that time, it made sense." The so-called "career" is the career economy.Her biological mother, Aunt Zhao, came to ask for more funeral expenses for Zhao Guoji (Tanchun's uncle), while Tanchun strictly followed the patriarchal system, refuted her biological mother on the spot, and expressed her sadness at her status as a concubine: "Who is we?" Uncle? My uncle has already been promoted to the inspectorate of the nine provinces! Another uncle came out there? I used to be respectful, how did I honor these relatives!——That being said, why did you go out every day? Zhao Guoji stood up again? Going to school with him again? Why didn’t you take out my uncle’s money? I don’t know who’s going to shame anyone!” She didn’t recognize her biological mother Aunt Zhao, her uncle Zhao Guoji, only her master (Jia Zheng) and wife (Ms. "Uncle" Wang Ziteng, strictly draws the line between master and slave.In the section on Tanchun's house management, we saw that Tanchun was shrewd and decisive, dignified and orderly, and even Feng Lazi was afraid of her three points.When copying and inspecting the Grand View Garden section, she ordered "all the maids to open the door with candles and wait", and identified herself as the "house master", "ordered the maids to open the boxes together", and let her copy.She sarcastically said: "Don't be too busy, naturally you will have a day to copy! You didn't get up early today to talk about Zhen's family, but you were looking forward to a good copy of the house, and you really did it today! We are gradually coming! You know such a big family If people are killed from outside, they cannot be killed for a while. This is what the ancients said, "a centipede is dead but not stiff". You must first commit suicide at home before you can be defeated!" Tanchun said " A slap in the face of Wang Shanbao's family, who is "a dog against others", safeguarded his dignity.The image of Tanchun tortuously reflects the author's infinite nostalgia and regret for the centuries-old family, and reflects the author's fantasy of "repairing the sky".Only in this way can the author portray Tanchun as a complex image with orthodox thinking and "self-savvy and high-minded".

Lu Xun once pointed out: "In a word, after Ziyou came out, the traditional thinking and writing methods have been broken." Lu Xun's so-called "both have been broken" refers to "dare to describe truthfully, without concealment, completely different from the previous novels about good people." It is good, and the bad guys are completely bad, very different, so the characters described in it are all real characters.”The characters are not written as the incarnation of a certain thought or character, let alone used as a preaching tool.The author uses delicate pen and ink to show the inherent vividness, richness and complexity of life itself.Dozens of characters with more ink in the book, each of them lives in a kind of intricate relationship and environment, and each contains thoughts and characters closely related to the environment.The relationship between this ideological character and the environment is as real, natural and vivid as life itself, and there is no trace of artificial processing.

It breaks the single-line structure of traditional novels.It takes Baoyu, Daiyu, and Baochai's love and marriage relationship as the central clue, and at the same time describes other characters and events in the noble family.While firmly grasping the love and marriage tragedy of Baoyu, Daiyu and Baochai, it also develops a broad description of the social environment, thus writing the social root of this tragedy.The author sets up dozens of important characters around the central character, and these dozens of important characters involve more characters.Every important character has his own life trajectory and several stories.These characters and stories not only have their own independent meaning, but also echo and complement the description of the central character.This intricate and methodical structure reflects the richness and inner connection of life itself.More than 400 characters have been written, including a large number of auxiliary characters.According to the logic of life, the needs of expressing characters and elucidating the theme, the author carefully arranges many auxiliary characters, so that each auxiliary character not only has its own meaning, but also can reflect various meanings and functions.Grandma Liu's three visits to the Grand View Garden is an example of this.Grandma Liu's entry into the Grand View Garden is arranged in the sixth chapter of the novel. At that time, the plot has not yet been fully developed. The author uses the auxiliary character of Grandma Liu to describe the magnificence of Jia's mansion from the perspective of the lowest social class.Through the eyes of a poor old woman in the countryside like Grandma Liu, the arrogance and reservedness of Sister Feng are written.When Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden for the second time, the relationship between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai was at a delicate stage, and Jia's mansion was apparently in a blooming period.The author makes a clever comparison between two old ladies with disparity in status, Grandma Liu and Mother Jia.Jia's mother took this opportunity to greatly satisfy her sense of superiority; Liu's grandma, in order to get a little reward, was willing to show her ugly face and act as a joke for the master, wife, young master and miss.When Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden for the third time, the situation in Jia's house was over, and Grandma Liu rescued Qiaojie.In this way, Grandma Liu inadvertently became a witness of the prosperity and decline of the Jia family.

From Zhiguai in the Wei and Jin Dynasties to legends in the Tang Dynasty, from story books in the Song and Yuan Dynasties to hero legends, historical novels, and novels of gods and demons in the Ming Dynasty, they all attach great importance to the twists and turns of the storyline.However, what is described is the daily life of a large noble family.The characters are also ordinary people.The author of the book extracts the themes and characters with profound social significance and high aesthetic value from the complicated daily life.The novels born in the middle and late Ming Dynasty have also turned the perspective of description to daily family life. However, the description of daily family life still has the disadvantage of naturalism.Neither the ideological value nor the aesthetic value can be compared with it.Of course, as the beginning of human feelings novels, it has its own considerable status in the history of the development of ancient novels. His language is second to none in ancient Chinese novels.It is based on the oral language of the northern people, absorbs the vital elements of traditional classical Chinese, and integrates them to create a natural, smooth, concise and clear literary language.The personalization of character dialogue has reached the level of perfection. Soon after it came out, it won the favor of readers.In the Qing Dynasty, dream-crazy scholars said: "In the early years of Jiaqing, this book became popular. Afterwards, it spread all over the country, passed it around, and competed for it everywhere." ("Meng Chi Shuo Meng") was later translated into English, French, and French. Japanese, German and other national characters spread to many countries in the world.Due to the outstanding achievements and great influence of the Red Army, the research around it has become a special kind of knowledge - "Red Science".Now, "Redology" has become an international discipline.

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