After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Ba Jin devoted himself to anti-Japanese cultural activities and edited newspapers and periodicals such as Shout and Wang Jiu Daily. He has written Home, the sequel of Spring and Autumn Annals, the trilogy of anti-Japanese war novels (also known as Fire), etc., and published short story collections, such as Rejuvenation Grass, Little People and Little Things, Prose Collection, Hatred and Dragon, Tiger and Dog, etc. In the late period and after the Anti-Japanese War, Ba Jin's creation turned to criticize the dark reality in the Kuomintang-controlled areas and strongly criticized and attacked the old system that was about to collapse. The novella "The Garden of Resting", "The Fourth Ward" and the novel "Cold Night" with artistic characteristics are representative works in this respect.
In the history of modern literature, exposing the evils of feudal system is an important theme that many writers pay attention to. However, there are not many writers like Ba Jin who insist on expressing this theme for a long time, and it is even more rare to see such a large-scale work as the Riptide Trilogy, which focuses on the feudal family from the inside. It is Ba Jin's outstanding contribution to China's modern literature and the most prominent ideological significance of Riptide Trilogy to tear open the false veil of feudal family system, reveal its cannibalism essence and clearly reveal its dead end.
brief Introduction of the content
However, the contradiction between the old and the new in this family has already occurred in the May 4th Movement. The May 4th wave aroused the enthusiasm and ideals of the younger generation and deepened their hatred of the old system and old life. Chueh-hui, an important figure in Home, is the representative of this new democratic force which is impacted by the new ideological trend. He resolutely opposed the "philosophy of bowing down" and "non-resistance" of the eldest brother Chueh-hsin, with simple beliefs and "fearless and uncompromising" to the old forces. He is really "naive" and can't make a scientific analysis of everything around him. He even thinks that "everything in this ancient family is simply a complicated knot, and his frank and enthusiastic heart can't untie it." But based on the spirit of doubting and denying everything during the May 4th Movement, he knew that this family was "hopeless". He doesn't want to place any hope on his "home", but he is keen on making new friends, discussing social issues, editing publications, starting newspapers and other social activities, and "exaggerating the responsibility of improving society and liberating the people." Even when he was madly in love with Ming-feng, he "really forgot Ming-feng" outside, and only when he returned to his desert-like lonely home could he "worry about missing Ming-feng". Finally, Chueh-hui left home without any scruples. Through Chueh-hui, the author wrote about the agitation of revolutionary thoughts among young people and the growth of new forces contained in old families, and also criticized Chueh-hsin's "bowing down" and other people's cowardly character through Chueh-hui. In "Spring" and "Autumn", we can see the great influence of Chueh-hui's actions on this family from the growth of Shuying and Shu Hua. This character really inspired readers and brought "fresh air". Chueh-hui went to Shanghai, longing for "unknown new activities" there, "the masses and the new culture movement"; The works do not specifically describe Chueh-hui's road after leaving home, but rebellion against feudal families is often the starting point for intellectuals to embark on the road of democratic revolution. According to the logical development of Chueh-hui's personality, under the specific historical conditions in China, he may find the mainstream and leading force of the people's revolution through long-term exploration. Although the torrent trilogy did not fully show the environmental atmosphere and the spirit of the times, people could not really feel the connection between that family and various social relations at that time, but the work was written about the influence of the May Fourth Revolution, the harassment of the people by the warlords in Sichuan, the struggle between students petitioning the military and political supervision bureau and the striking class, and the landlord sent people to the countryside to collect rent. All these show that this is an era when the people's revolutionary forces are struggling and growing, and this background provides a realistic basis for Chueh-hui's rebellious character and way out. Chueh-hsin and Chueh-min are the figures throughout the torrent trilogy, especially Chueh-hsin, which is the main part of the layout of the whole work. This is a young man who lost his rebellious character because of the old system. Although there is a boundary between right and wrong in his heart, he also knows that "the whole ethics, the whole tradition and the whole superstition" have taken away his happiness and future, and taken away his favorite Mei and Jui-chueh. However, he was unable to struggle, and he could only cry and bear mental pain. He was a victim of the old ethical code system, but at the same time he unconsciously played the role of defender. The author criticized him a little (through Chueh-hui, repeatedly criticized his cowardice), but more was sympathy and forgiveness. If readers regard him as a victim, they can only feel a little sorry; This kind of emotion is often denied by the characters' own actions. Chueh-min is calm and rigid; The author arranged a relatively smooth encounter for him, which enabled him to win love and overcome his struggle to escape marriage. He is also changing and developing, but all along the same road. He is confident that he can control his own destiny. In "Spring" and "Autumn", he has been at the forefront of the struggle, arguing face to face with those elders without compromise, and defending the growth of Shuying and Shuhua. In a letter to Chueh-hui, he said, "I am too radical now. You are the first radical in our family, and I am the second radical. I want to do a lot of things that make them hate, and I want to create a third' radical'. " The third is Shu Ying. Shuying's growth and departure is the main thread running through Spring, and Chueh-min's activities prepared the conditions for the development of this matter. Among young women, in addition to some of the victims mentioned above, the author also wrote about Qin and Xu Qianru in Home, which is the bud of positive power, although Xu Qianru is only a shadow, and Qin is still in the process of awakening. In "Spring", this positive force has grown, not only the character Qin has been further developed, but also Shu Ying has appeared. Her departure from Chueh-hui caused a wave in her heart, and she deeply felt the immediate crisis from what happened to Chueh-hui. With the encouragement of Chueh-min, Qin and others, she gradually strengthened, finally embarked on the road of Chueh-hui and understood the meaning of the sentence "Spring is ours". What happened in spring and autumn is more contradictory than what happened at home. With the hypocrisy and depravity of elders as the background, Spring mainly describes the activities of some young men and women with pure hearts, which provides conditions for the growth and awakening of Shuying's character. The plot is slower than Home, but the spirit is consistent. Shu Hua's activities are mainly in autumn. This is a simple and cheerful girl. Her frank and happy voice often relieves the melancholy mood in some scenes and brings some clear atmosphere to her works. Finally, she grew up, had a "desire to fight" and had a face-to-face argument with the old forces. In stark contrast to her, Shu Zhen's fate, when Shuhua got the opportunity to enter this school, Shu Zhen committed suicide by jumping into a well. This is a heartless girl, living in the midst of stupidity and stupidity, and never happy. Through her own experience, she exposed the hypocrisy and ugliness of those elders and explained to people the serious destruction of feudalism on people's spirit and body. The activities of these girls, including Qixia, Qianer and Cuihuan, are an important part of the work. For those hypocrisy, debauchery and ignorance of the older generation, the author did not caricature, but still cast a deep hatred and ruthless curse. From Mr. Gao and Ke Ming who died in autumn, the essence of the seemingly hypocritical and stubborn defender of the old system was revealed. In "Spring", the author sketched the decadent activities of Ke 'an, Ding Ke and others. Their behavior of stealing property, hoarding prostitutes and playing with the maid's wet nurse was unsightly. Under their connivance and influence, the inferiority of the younger generation such as Juequn and Shi Jue gradually formed, which just shows that this system and education are decadent, barbaric and cruel. The scope of autumn writing has expanded, not only to the gaos thought, but also to Zhou and Zheng. Through the descriptions of Zhou Botao, Zheng Guoguang, Feng Leshan, Chen Kejia and other different figures, the hypocrisy, depravity and shamelessness of the so-called scholarly family are exposed from more aspects. This not only supplements the exposure of the spiritual degeneration of those "Ke" characters in the Gao family, but also shows that this is the product of a system, which fully shows the social significance of these images. Other vulgar, provocative and stupid women's activities, such as Mrs. Chen, Wang and Shen Shi. , has caused people to deeply dislike its ugly image. Through the sacrifices of some well-intentioned people, such as the death and burial of Hui, the death of Mei and the fate of some unfortunate maids, the "cannibalism" of the feudal ruling class and the author's extremely hateful feelings are more vividly displayed. At the end of autumn, Chueh-min said, "There is no eternal autumn, and autumn may soon pass." The author once said that he "planned a gray ending for autumn, and wanted to end it with Chueh-hsin's suicide and Chueh-min's arrest", but inspired by his friendship, he decided to "wash away the color of the novel". This predetermined plan is closer to his repeated artistic arrangements in the trilogy of love or the works of extinction and rebirth; However, under the control of optimism and the encouragement of desire, he finally changed his predetermined plan and added healthy and bright colors to his works. The ideological influence of anarchism revealed in early works is hard to find here. Although the novel is still vague about the new forces and the new road, it is still inspiring and can attract readers to hate the decadent system and fight for a better future. The feudal society in China experienced a particularly long historical period. In modern times, under the continuous blow of the stormy people's revolution, its disintegration was still extremely slow; On the one hand, they continue to abuse, destroy and kill people from all walks of life, including members of the feudal class themselves. Therefore, the theme of "Riptide Trilogy" is to accuse the feudal family and feudal system of evil, which has a strong fighting significance and has excited the hearts of several generations of young readers.