The Biography of Lu Hsun
The book begins with a brief biography of the great Chinese writer-intellectual Lu Hsun. The autobiography describes the author's early life, the numerous hardships he faced, including a decade of mental depression, and how he eventually made it and achieved a prestigious place in the literary world. "Diary of a Crazy Man," one of his major works, follows, demonstrating his command of literary language. According to Lu Hsun, the diary belonged to an old acquaintance who had temporarily gone insane. Yet, the diary is bright, witty, and demonstrates tremendous proficiency in both language and comprehension. The readers can deduce that the diary is going to take a critical position from its opening entry. The narrator starts with an apparently informed paranoia. He deduces that he has a reason to fear and starts building up a conspiracy over the recent events. He queries “why did the dog in Chao’s store bark at me?” thereby justifying his fear (Hsun 2). From this paragraph, one can tell that the persona is not in his right mind. Nevertheless, it shows that it is not just any other madman writing the diary but an informed one. Oddly, the characteristic the humor in the piece is introduced as this juncture to the reader’s surprise.
The Connection with Lu Hsun’s Life
It is almost certain that Lu Hsun is retelling his story in “Diary of a Mad Man.” Having struggled with the vice for about a decade, he is presumably acquainted with the internal turmoil that those people with mental disorders undergo. Further, the age of the character is close to that of the author. He writes that he has been unable to see the moon for nearly thirty years. It means that he is either over thirty years considering that there was a time he could not tell what the moon was and what its light meant to his life. Therefore, the age coincides with that of Lu Hsu, who was 37 years when he wrote “Diary of a Mad Man" in 1918. Moreover, the story is the first success of the author ever since he started his literary character. From this, the readers can perceive the light referred to the story as the success he has yearned for, for so long.
The Wit and Humor in the Story
Readers of the text find it interesting. The humor, language, and connection between events demonstrate the wit employed in writing the story. The character writes of his suspicions that people are planning to murder him starting with Chao Kuei-wing, whose dog has already barked at him. He further sees that the people in the streets including the children that play in the streets stare at him with blue smiles. While he does not recognize that they are looking at him since he is mad, he reckons that they are conspiring to murder him. Later on, he figures out that everybody including his brother is a man-eater. All of them have colluded to eat him up. The wittiest deduction he makes is the relationship between the man-eaters and Chao Kuei-wing's dog. He remembers the story where the hyena is mentioned as an animal that devours dead flesh and also gnaws at bones. "But the hyena is related to the wolf, which is related to the dog. And day before last, Chao's dog stared at me (Hsun 7)" The statement shows that indeed, there is a conspiracy between the dog and the man-eaters hence its' barking at him.
The Critique of Society
Although, the story is highly entertaining it takes a critical position of the society. The act of man-eating refers to the rot in the society where all the world puts forth a force that eliminates an individual’s chance of succeeding. The moonlight that the character writes about in numerous instances in the story represents the pathway to success. Lu Hsun is so critical of the Chinese society that he includes Chinese emperor's including Yi Ya and Chia and Chou of Hsia and Shang dynasties respectively. They were all ruthless emperors who started the inconsiderate and unrelenting society that characterizes China as constituted at the time of time that the story was written. It shows that the work is also "Intelligible," as described by Lu Hsun in his opening remarks before posting the diary entries (Hsun 1). To emphasize the issue, the author ensures that the act of man-eating goes back to creation. He also notes that he is most likely a man-eater and that the only innocent people in the country are the children who need to be saved from the vice.
Conclusion
Thus, despite its title, "Diary of a Mad Man" is not about insanity per se. It is about relaying the ills that characterize the Chinese society. It takes a critical perspective on the ills that people perpetrate against each other. Lu Hsun chooses the persona of a mad man since the insane do not mince words and state things as they see them. The author uses a clear sense of humor, wit, knowledge, language and comprehension to ensure that the message intended goes through unabated. It is such mystery in his writing that makes Lu Hsun the literary giant in Chinese literature of modern times.
Works Cited
Hsun, Lu. "The Diary of a Mad Man." Lu Hsun (1881-1939), pp. 1-13.
