Mao Dun's Midnight depicts a broad picture of China society in 1930s-workers' strikes, peasant riots, the suppression and destruction of the people's revolutionary movement by reactionary authorities, the activities of imperialist brokers, the annexation of small and medium-sized ethnic industries, the thrilling struggle in the public debt market, the actions of various landlords, and various contradictions within capitalist families ..., thus reflecting on a large scale the complex class contradictions at that time. One of the most important clues is the contradiction between Wu Sunfu and the comprador Zhao, which is written most fully and profoundly. Wu Sunfu is an ambitious, powerful and skilled capitalist. He wants to be an honest industrialist and entrepreneur and realize the grand plan of developing capitalism in China, so he looks down on people like Zhao. But as soon as he took the first step, he encountered difficulties. First, the factory economy declined, and China silk was squeezed out by Japanese silk in Paris and new york; When he had to pass on the loss to the workers, it aroused the resistance of the workers. Second, with the rise of the peasant movement, Shuangqiao Town, his hometown, was in an emergency, and the capitalists from big landlords lost an important source of funds. Third, Zhao came to the door and proposed to jointly set up a multi-head company. In fact, he is ready to annex his assets at any time. In this case, he had to try his best to deal with all kinds of thorny problems, showing his determination and iron fist, and became a phoenix figure in Shanghai for a while. But he is in danger now. Zhao can cope with all kinds of fetters and women, but Wu Sunfu has to devote all his energy to his career. "He lives like a war." Because of years of warlord scuffles, the people have lost everything and their purchasing power has dropped sharply. Coupled with the impassable traffic and the difficulty in selling goods, Wu Sunfu's career was severely hit. On the other hand, the bankruptcy of rural areas has caused a large amount of rural funds to flow into cities. For example, Feng Yunqing, the old landlord who let his daughter sell herself, came to Shanghai with a large sum of money. The crumbling national industry can't attract these funds, so it soon flows into the financial speculation market, Zhao, financial trust, in the world. In order to defeat this mortal enemy, and out of the greedy nature of the bourgeoisie, Wu Sunfu also invested his own money in this risky speculation and embarked on a road that he did not want to take at first. As a result, he was defeated and his ideals were all dashed. In order to play a joke on Zhao and let him run into a nail in front of the American boss, he sold the industry to British and Japanese imperialism. Wu Sun-fu dreamed a vain dream and finally had to throw himself into the arms of foreigners. These descriptions are dense and close, which is a major feature of social analysis novels, showing the writer's profound understanding and analysis of semi-colonial society.

In 1930s, a famous economist once said that to understand the economic situation in China, we should read Midnight. The evil of money is an old theme written by critical realism writers, from Balzac and Zola to Dickens. Mao Dun's Midnight seems to describe the evil of money, but it does not regard money as the root of evil, but reveals the inevitable law of social development through the analysis and description of social class dynamics, so it contains far more historical content than criticism of the evil of money. But Wu Sunfu is not a puppet of theory. He has his own distinct personality characteristics. He is a living person with flesh and blood. On the one hand, it is the calmness and sobriety cultivated by courage and insight, on the other hand, it is the irritability caused by the combination of cruelty and weakness, which forms Wu Sunfu's unique psychological state. When he plans to develop his own career, he knows that he must have two accounts in his hand, one is the vision and the other is the first step. He does have a realistic attitude. However, after all, a leopard cannot change his spots. In the face of difficulties, he rebelled against the scientific spirit, believed in "God disposes", and even condescended to visit the front line of the bond market and fainted in the booth of the securities firm. Even if the car breaks down, it can make him panic and lose his normal state. When he is absorbed in his career, he seems serious. After all, there is no need to hide. From frequenting "secret dens" to raping old ladies, many dirty and shameless things have been done. It seems contradictory, but this kind of personality contradiction is caused by the contradictory situation of the national bourgeoisie. Moreover, Midnight also shows Wu Sunfu's ideological reactiveness under the specific conditions of 1930, such as scolding the * * * production party and hiring soldiers to suppress peasant riots, which makes the characters' ideological character more characteristic of the times. Other characters, such as Zhao, Tu Zhuzhai, Tu, Lin, Zhu Yinqiu, Zhou Zhongwei and Feng Yunqing, also have their own personality characteristics. Although these characters have been illuminated by the light of scientific theory, they still act according to their own personalities. Midnight is a huge picture of Shanghai society in an adventurer's paradise, with many characters and clues, which is incomparable to any previous novels (including Mao Dun's own works). Therefore, the writer's ability to organize and arrange complex events structurally is also impressive. Chapter one: Mr. Wu went to Shanghai to let Wu Sunfu's relatives nest and try their best in the turmoil of the family, thus forming a secondary line running through the book. In the second chapter, taking Mr. Wu's funeral as a clue, the important figures in the book are reviewed, and based on this clue, three main lines are laid: the workers' movement, the agricultural movement and the public debt struggle. These three lines are intertwined to form the main line of this book. In the fourth chapter, Zeng and his son were infiltrated by rural riots. This line ends here, and the rural struggle only becomes the background against the urban struggle. This contraction is completely correct. It enables writers to concentrate on describing urban life without affecting the structural integrity. Because Midnight has a vast scene and diverse characters, it also helps to develop the versatility of the characters. A Wu Sunfu is manifested in his relations with workers, peasants, petty capitalists, comprador and other figures, in prosperity, adversity, joy, depression, success and failure. The writer led the reader through the heaven and hell of his soul.