Life of a Peasant in modern Chinese Fiction

Introduction

In this essay we will discuss the life of the Peasant in the modern Chinese fiction. By reviewing four literary works on this topic we will try to determine that how the image of the peasant changed over time in the modern Chinese fiction. The four works that we will include Lu Xun's "My old Home", Mao Dun's "spring Silkworm", Li rui's "Electing a Thief” and Mo Yans "THe Cure. The peasants were considered as the important part of the Chinese society. They were the pioneers of change and the revolution in China. Although the above mentioned four stories regarding the image of the peasants in the modern fiction are different from each other but overall there were some general characteristics of the Chinese peasants. Most of the peasants were poverty stricken, they were under the pressure of the lord lords and they were also not paid well. They were the most affected class of the Chinese society. The four stories define the image of the peasants, in different situations. In all the stories the Peasants are victimized by various persons in one way or another. They are either exploited by the Landlords, Creditors and the government officials.

Furthermore, they also have to do strict physical work in order to produce good results. They also have to face the natural disasters as well, which destroy their crops most of the times. Some of them also consider the modern machinery along with the western practices as their great adversaries. Moreover they also opposed the capitalist monopoly which affected them in many ways. Their products became were bought at lower prices and whenever they tried to buy anything from the market it cost them a lot. Due to this phenomenon their debt level rose and they suffered most of the times. Similarly, the stories reveal that however, the peasants suffered a lot but eventually they rose against all the cruelties and brought revolution in China.

Discussion

Lu Xun's "My old Home"

Lu Xun has defined inequality among the classes in My old home. He has explicitly defined that how the barriers emerge among different classes. He has defined the story of Jun-tu who was a peasant and met one of his friends Hsun who had shifted from the village some twenty years ago. On his arrival to village, he was astonished to see the miseries of the Jun-to who was peasant. Jun-to who was peasant, had not been in good physical form due to hectic work in the fields. The financial condition of this Peasant was also not very well. He was astonished to see his friend who was now much better financially; his friend has left the home for better earning some 20 years ago. Although his friend was richer but he did not let him feel that class difference and he was normal with him.

The story of peasant defined in this story is very sad; he had to face the strong wind of the oceans ...