The author further exposed the hypocrisy of the imperial examination system. For example, according to the imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty, the qualification of excellent tribute should be determined by the so-called excellent conduct. But there are two "wonderful tributes" in the book, which makes people dare not compliment. Yan is one of them. He runs rampant in the countryside, bullies the weak, is treacherous and scoundrel, and shamelessly exploits the lower classes. It can be said that all evils are committed, but such a shameless person was chosen as "excellent" and "got a tribute". The other is Kuang Superman, who not only took all the lawsuits, forged documents and took exams under an alias, but also reduced himself to making profits by tapping in casinos. What's more, he is ungrateful to those who have helped him and belittles the benefactor to raise himself. Such a scholar is a mean person, but he "gave him an excellent line and made a contribution to the cause of imperial academy". You see, the author links these two notorious scum of Confucian scholars with "excellent tribute", which is actually an exposure and irony of the hypocrisy of the imperial examination system!
In this book, the author wrote all kinds of characters, including Hanlin, Jinshi, Juren, Gong Sheng, scholars and celebrities from all directions, as well as officials, squires, chiefs, booksellers and rich slaves, as well as landlords, salt merchants, artists, doctors, chivalrous men, Taoist priests and virtuous women, and staged scenes of "human tragicomedy". It seems that the characters can't be simply summarized by the concepts of "good guys" and "bad guys", but are characterized by distinguishing positive characters from negative characters, thus expressing the author's observation of human nature, enthusiastically praising honest and kind people and mercilessly lashing ugly people and things. For example, the author focuses on describing some ideal figures in the book, such as Wang Mian, who doesn't want fame and fortune, is not vulgar, despises fame and fortune, leads an honest and clean life, and Zhuang Shaoguang, a true Confucian who is kind to others and refuses to be an official behind closed doors, Du, who is informal and generous, and the four "strange people" in the market at the end. The author gives these ideal figures of "remoulding people by virtue". It is particularly worth pointing out that the author also described the lower class people with a hearty pen and ink, praising their mutual help and friendship and the true feelings of the world. For example, Niu Fu and Bu Fu, who helped each other, as well as Monk Kanluoji, took good care of Niu Bu Yi, treated him with sincerity, and his feelings were mellow, sincere, unpretentious and touching. In contrast, the author also gave bitter satire and ruthless ridicule to the ugly faces of those little people. For example, the aforementioned Superman Kuang and Yan, Pan San, snobs, butchers, scholars without real talents, Niu Pulang, impostors and so on. Positive characters and negative characters are mixed and set against each other, which highlights the good and evil of the characters and strongly expresses the author's attitude towards them.
The Scholars is an outstanding realistic satirical novel in the history of China literature. The use of satirical art has always been praised by critics. Or use strong contrast to show the contradiction before and after the character's behavior, and give a bitter ridicule. For example, before and after the action, butcher Hu stepped on the faces of different philistines to worship; Or carefully depict the details of the characters' activities by drawing lines, thus revealing their ridiculous and despicable inner world, like Yan Jiansheng's stingy nature of sticking out two fingers before his death; Or through the words and deeds of the characters, Pi Ri Yang Qiu reveals the contradictions of the characters in a comedy way, thus achieving the effect of irony. For example, Yan claimed to be "honest" and "never knew how to use people", but he was exposed by the page on the spot. The author laughed and cursed, and did his best to be sarcastic. Or explicit sarcasm, or innuendo, or gnashing of teeth, all of which are sharp and profound, and the language is just right. However, the author "satirizes the world with public interests" and criticizes the disadvantages of Confucian scholars, with little personal abuse, and deserves the reputation of "satirical book".
In The Scholars, the author depicts the tragic fate of many literati under the stereotyped writing system with compassion, and then unfolds a picture of social customs in the feudal imperial examination era, attacking the decay of the system and the darkness of society, making The Scholars a sacred object in China's classical satirical novels.