“Kong Yiji” and Ah-Q- The Real Story: A Study in Comparison

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Zhou Shuren, better known by the pen name Lu Xun is generally regarded as the father of modern Chinese literature and was thought by many to have his finger on the pulse of the nation’s conscience. His early notoriety was achieved as a result of his short works of fiction which were often satirical, sometimes humorous, and at times very gloomy (“Lu Xun”). Lu Xun was a mindful of his art and labored over his stories to eliminate unnecessary detail, yet they are filled with rich characters, interesting plot lines, vivid imagery, and strong themes. “It can be argued that in the overall output of Lu Xun’s writings his twenty-five short stories constitute a rather slim volume. But is should also be noted that, given the relatively brief time span (eight years), Lu Xun was able to demonstrate an unparalleled range and diversity of technical experimentation. (Lee 57) “Kong Yiji” and Ah-Q-The Real Story are exceptional examples of his talent and contain numerous similarities in terms of, characterization, , plot, and theme.

“Kong Yiji,” which was published in 1919 bears the title of protagonist: yi and ji are the first characters in a child’s calligraphy primer, and Kong is the English translation of the surname of Confucius. Thus the name translates loosely to “Confucius ABC” (“Lu Xun”). Ah-Q- The Real Story also bears the title of its main character whose name is also symbolic. His name is written with the Latin letter Q possibility suggesting a pun on the English word queue, or to suggest the image of the typical head of Chinese man during the Qing era with is pigtail or queue on top of his head (“Lu Xun”). A possible explanation of the translation of Kong Yiji’s name indicates he was unsuccessful, he has the typical ideolog...

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...ith Chinese symbolism, this point in the story seems to be the “end” of Kong Yiji. With the loss of his legs, he has ultimately lost his life. And in fact, we don’t really know what became of him and no one seems to care. Although falsely accused, the crowd is satisfied when Ah-Q is executed, “Everyone agreed that Ah-Q had indeed been an evil man, the clear proof of which could be found in the fact that he had in truth been executed. If he hadn’t been, then how could he have gotten himself executed (Lu Xun 172)?

Works Cited
Lee, Leo Ou-fan. Voices from the Iron House. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

1987.

"Lu Xun." Chinese Fiction Writers, 1900-1949. Ed. Thomas Moran. Dictionary of

Literary Biography Vol. 328. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. DISCUS. 24 Mar. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do? p=LitRG&u=scschools>.

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