To Live By Yu Hua Analysis

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In Chinese culture and philosophy, it is commonly thought that for one to taste sweet one must eat bitter. What they most likely mean by this is that in life it is necessary for someone to pass through struggles and difficult times, to completely enjoy all aspects and virtues of life. Throughout the book, To Live by Yu Hua, this belief is emphasized by the many tragedies that befall Xu Fugui. Throughout the book, Fugui faces many depressing situations, that one could say turn his aspirations to live, bitter. In English culture a very common and similar saying would be that one must undergo through challenging hardships to be able to fully understand and appreciate the meaning and goodness of life.
What does eating bitter to taste sweet really mean? One translation of this philosophical statement is that even in the eye of the storm, one must still look for the rainbow at the end of it all. I believe this saying is very similar because what the Chinese mean is that for them to endure hardships is the only way to appreciate life. To me I have …show more content…

One of my instances was when I happened to lose my pet dog. It was sad because he had practically become a part of the family. We had even gotten to where we’d take him to get checked by the vet whenever he seemed to be in pain or not feeling well. When he died I felt I had lost a friend. Another example for me would be when my dad was in an accident at work in which he happened to injure his neck and break a leg. I didn’t lose him, but just the sadness that came from his accident brought me a huge feeling of appreciation that I still had him and that he was alive. It’s moments like these that give us a different perspective of life. This is one reason I believe the Chinese saying “One must eat bitter to taste sweet” because without sadness one would not be able to distinguish or identify true happiness in all aspects of

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