Author: Ouyang Zi
The short story "Lonely Flower" can be said to be the author's metaphorical comment on the fate of mankind and the discussion on the root of human evil. The content and intention of the novel are dark, mysterious and confusing, so we can't analyze and demonstrate reasonably with intellectuality and rationality. In this novel, the author takes the underworld (or underground society) in the real world as a symbol, alluding to the darkest and most terrible corner of human nature. In other words, the author uses hell on earth to allude to the hell in people's hearts. Many of us may not have seen or touched the dirty society with our own eyes, but we all know that the "underworld" does exist. Similarly, many of us, after living all our lives, may never be fully aware of our dark and evil side, and malignancy may not necessarily break out in full swing. However, the author of Lonely Flowers obviously believes that under the cover of all rational cultivation and conscious control, there is indeed a dark and gloomy pit of sin in people's hearts, and when this "sin" unfortunately breaks out, it is an absolutely irresistible magic that drags people down and swallows them into this dark abyss.
The author adopts the first-person narrative method. The narrator is a middle-aged winemaker. She used to accompany guests in Shanghai Wanchun Building, but now she works as a "manager" in Taipei Mayflower, taking care of young winemakers, so she is nicknamed "Commander-in-Chief". She's obviously gay. When she was in Shanghai, she lived with a girl named Wubao, who was a prostitute in Wanchunlou. Later, Wubao was physically abused by Hua San, a gangster who smoked opium, and committed suicide in extreme pain. Before she died, she kept saying to the narrator, "I'm going to turn into a ghost to find him!" " Ten years later, in Taipei Mayflower, the narrator met another wine girl, Juanjuan, who sang a Taiwan Province minor, just like what Wubao had sung before. "This is also a sad expression." Their faces are very similar. "Both have such a degenerate fate."
The Commander-in-Chief brought Juanjuan back to her home to live with her. Later, she spent all her life savings, sold a pair of jade bracelets (five treasures relics) left by Jane, pieced together an apartment in Jinhua Street, and "married" Juanjuan, a rural resident of Suao. Her mother is a hopeless madman, chained to her neck by her husband and locked in a pigsty. When Juanjuan was a child, she accidentally learned that this madman was her mother one day, so she took a bowl of vegetable rice, climbed into the pigsty and handed it to her. Unexpectedly, as soon as the skin touched, the madman let out a scream, reached out his paw and grabbed Juanjuan, biting her throat. From then on, Juanjuan had a finger-thick red scar on his throat, as bright as an earthworm.
Juanjuan's thin body not only contains the madness inherited by her mother, but also bears the incest crime imposed on her by her father. Really full of sin. After living with the Commander-in-Chief for about a year, Juanjuan was entangled in Ke Laoxiong, the "black nest owner" who was addicted to morphine, so "his soul seemed to be taken away by him" and he was left to abuse it without resistance. However, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Juanjuan suddenly hit Ke Laoxiong's head with a black hammer, knocked open his crown, and spilled the gray brains like tofu residue all over the floor.
After killing Ke Laoxiong, Juanjuan went completely crazy and was put in an insane asylum by the sea in Hsinchu. At the end of the novel, the Commander-in-Chief, accompanied by Lin, went to Hsinchu to meet him. Lin is an old musician of Mayflower. He was quite famous during the Japanese occupation. He can write his own songs. He wrote the sad song Lonely Flowers.
Two people met Juanjuan. She wears handcuffs because she has become biting. She won't recognize anyone anymore. The commander-in-chief called her several times before she smiled. "That smile has no bleak meaning in the past, but it is a bit crazy and childish." After sitting for a while, there was nothing to say. They walked out of the madhouse. In the autumn evening when the sea breeze blows, along the long and lonely yellow mud road, the "Commander-in-Chief" helped Lin, who was almost completely blind, to walk home step by step.
In such a short story, which seems to win by sensational bizarre plot, the author's basic views and general comments on human destiny lurk. We can say that Bai Xianyong is a 100% fatalist. His various "superstitious" thoughts are completely in line with China's traditional social thoughts, but they surprise modern people who pay attention to scientific rationality. Bai Xianyong is not from our world today at all. He is a "past", and he thinks that the spirit of China's traditional culture is doomed to decline.
Let's see how he weaves the concept of "fate" into the plot of "Falling Flowers on Intention".
The narrator of the novel, after Mayflower became an improper drinking girl, met former Shanghai customers Lu Genrong and Lu Jiu one day.
He stamped his foot as soon as he saw me, as if he were sad about something;
"Six, why did you come to this place again?"
I smiled and answered him:
"Ninth Master, is that everyone's life?"
The narrator recalls that when he was in Shanghai, Wubao was abused by Hua San, and a row of charred bubbles as big as copper coins were printed on his snow-white arm, which was branded by Hua San with a smoking gun. But when the commentator suggested that she get rid of Hua San, Wubao sneered:
"This is fate, sister."
Later, Juanjuan was entangled in Ke Lao Xiong and abused by him, resulting in "seven tuberculosis and five injuries" all over his body. The commentator dissuaded her, Juanjuan gave a wry smile and said helplessly:
"No, commander in chief-"
Of course, the ideas of the characters in the novel are not necessarily the author's own ideas. However, repeating the same tune over and over again like this is like repeating one of the theme melodies in a symphony, which is obviously related to the theme, not just realism.
In addition, from the narrator's point of view, the author repeatedly emphasizes Juanjuan's "unfortunate fate" and her helplessness at the mercy of fate: her singing looks "sad" as if complaining. She didn't have a capacity for alcohol, but she was drunk by Japanese customers many times, but she "didn't refuse" and "didn't even say anything" The smile on her triangular face is even bleaker than crying. Her "waist is twisted and it will break at any time"; The sunset on the horizon, "dyed her pale triangular face red, as if full of blood." Ke Laoxiong's thick red and black arms "tightly clamped" Juanjuan's thin waist "twisted in half". "I don't know what Juanjuan finally hit, which attracted these demons." The narrator thinks that "this picture looks really ominous" and "Juanjuan's birthday has been approved several times, and it is said that she has committed a big crime".
Bai Xianyong seems to think that a person's "fate" is closely related to the blood inheritance of his ancestors. Juanjuan inherited her mother's madness, so when she was born, even when she was born, her tragic fate was doomed. The red scar on her throat bitten by her mother is a symbol of "evil". The commentator stroked her neck. "I feel that red scar is slippery and crawling like an earthworm." In this way, the author uses the peristalsis of the "evil mark" to predict that Juanjuan's "evil" will break out completely. On the basis of the innate "evil" from his mother, the crime of incest was added later, and Juanjuan's fierce life was completely cast here. There are two points worth noting: first, her incest is directed at her own father. The author once again implies that "evil" comes from the will of parents and ancestors. Second, the crime of incest was imposed on her, and she never chose it freely. Therefore, both her innate evil and her later great evil are "unjust" evils, which are completely beyond the scope of self-control. The author implies that people's fate is decided by heaven. All human resistance and struggle can't reverse the trajectory of changing fate.
The "evil" in the author's mind is absolutely inseparable from the body and lust. Human beings are both spiritual and animal; People can't live without "meat", which is obviously the author's greatest regret. In the author's mind, flesh and lust are "sins" imposed on mankind by heaven. Because of this "sin", human beings cannot become "immortals". Since Pangu created the world and human beings came into being, this kind of "evil" has been passed down from generation to generation and cannot be eliminated for thousands of years. Just like Juanjuan sings, she complains bitterly, "I don't know who she is singing to." The author of the novel "Lonely Flower" seems to represent all mankind, complaining to the sky: What crime have I committed, and I must suffer such a scourge!
In the novel, Hua San and Ke Lao Xiong are the symbols of human animal parts. That is the symbol of human injustice in the author's mind. These two people, it can be said, are the same person, both villains of the underworld, both drug addicts, sadists, lewd, cruel, nasty and barbaric. They are not people at all, but animals. See how the author adds the image of "beast" to the corner of Zhu Ke's old bear;
Ke Laoxiong took off his coat, revealing two thick red and black arms and two large clumps of black hair under the diaphragmatic fossa. The headband of his trousers is also loose, and the zipper on his trousers has fallen off by half. He shaved a flat head and the back of a big head, but overall he shrugged his bristles. He saw gills in the back of his head, and his teeth were bony and spread out like carp gills. A pair of pig eyes are bloodshot, thick black lips, upturned, shining with gold teeth. Sweat, sweat, haven't approached him, I have smelled a fishy smell.
Ke Lao Xiong smells like fish and fox. His teeth are like gills of carp, his hair is as stiff as a pig's mane, and he has bloodshot eyes. The author obviously thinks that among all animals, the pig can best represent the dirty body, that is, the "evil" of human beings, which is probably the reason why the author arranged Juanjuan's mother, the source of Juanjuan's "evil", in the pigsty.
Ke Laoxiong not only looks like an animal, but also behaves like an animal: "He yells in his mouth", "He sniffed around Juanjuan's neck when his nose was pointed, and his hand rubbed against her chest", "He stuck out his tongue and licked her armpit several times" and "He grabbed her hand and touched it under his stomach".
Poor Juanjuan was gripped by such a wild animal. Although she "struggled desperately" and her waist was "twisted in half", where is the possibility of escape? (Just like us humans, it is possible to escape from the "meat".) After being frightened for a period of time, Juanjuan "seems to have been taken away by him", letting Ke Laoxiong abuse and violence, and no longer struggling to resist. (Obviously, animality or sensuality, on the one hand, makes people hate it, on the other hand, has a confusing charm, which makes people lose their minds, get deeper and deeper, and finally can't extricate themselves. Juanjuan gradually became addicted to morphine, which was the author's suggestion. Animal nature paralyzed spirituality. It also implies that human beings are gradually anesthetized by sensual desires from birth to growth, and eventually lose their keen spirituality completely.
However, can people who are born as "the spirit of all things" be willing to die mentally? How can you accept such injustice? Therefore, Juanjuan always complains, humming some sad and sour cries. "The voice is empty, like a widow crying." However, she is obviously a masochist, who continues to suffer from the lewd laughter and physical abuse of Ke Laoxiong and sends out a "whine like a sick cat". However, just when we thought she was hopeless and imprisoned, she suddenly "screamed like a crazy wild cat" and slammed Ke Laoxiong's head with black iron, knocking his crown open and spilling his brains all over the floor.
Juanjuan's murder of Ke Laoxiong can be said to be her revenge for her "injustice". This "injustice" is, of course, on the one hand, the madness from the mother and incest from the father shown in the plot, and on the other hand, the harm implied by the author from the primitive ancestors of mankind. It is worth noting that Juanjuan knocked on the crown of Ke Lao Xiong and killed him. It is absolutely no accident that the author changed the word "skull" to "top of the head". As I said, in the author's mind, human's animality or carnal desire is the "evil" left by human ancestors. The role of Ke Lao Xiong is a symbol of animal nature. Therefore, killing Ke Laoxiong is to annihilate the animal nature, and only by annihilating the animal nature can we hope to regain natural spirituality. In this way, Juanjuan lashed out at Ke Lao Xiong's "natural spirit" and "cover" with "a pinch of bristles", because if the "cover" covered with animal hair is not knocked open first, there is no hope of realizing "natural spirit".
After killing Ke Laoxiong, it really seems to have achieved a kind of "heavenly spirit": when the Commander-in-Chief and Lin went to see her in the Hsinchu madhouse, they felt "strangely, her smile was not as bleak as before, but with a touch of madness and childishness". Juanjuan's sin seems to have been purified by ringing the crown of Ke Lao Xiong. It seems that she suddenly found her long-lost innocence and became as clean as a baby. But, of course, she is "completely crazy". In the end, she still can't escape the "evil" inherited by her mother. But who can escape the "evil" inherited by human primitive ancestors? Since people are bound by the body, the soul will never be freed. No wonder Juanjuan, although it seems that the top of the skull has been knocked open, he must be handcuffed in the end! In addition, Juanjuan's madness also implies that if a person wants to destroy the body and embrace spirituality alone, he will inevitably become a loser in the real world.
In this way, the novel Lonely Flowers, from the author's exploration of "fate", is interpreted as a story similar to the contradiction between soul and body in The Red Rhododendron. In fact, there are many similarities between the two novels, one of which is the narrative perspective of the novels.
These two articles are written in the first person. And the first-person narrators are all secondary characters in the story. Authors seldom observe the protagonist with their eyes and tell stories with their tone. Commander-in-Chief, the narrator of Falling Flowers, is more involved in the plot action than Master Biao, the narrator of Blood Red Rhododendron. Moreover, when telling a story, it involves a lot of one's own feelings and contains a lot of subjective opinions, far from being as objective and calm as a "young master". This is because "Commander-in-Chief" is different from "cousin" and has a very close relationship with the protagonist of the novel.
"Commander-in-Chief" and Wu Bao at first, and then Juanjuan, obviously have a homosexual relationship. The author didn't say it explicitly in the novel, but hinted everywhere. She belongs to the "masculine" type of lesbians; This can also be guessed from the fact that she is called "Commander-in-Chief". She "hangs out with men" and "is used to fighting with them". She hates men; In the same sentence, if "what men scold is dirtier". She said, "I know men can do anything dirty in bed." When she mentioned the wine girl in the Mayflower, she said "that little Cha Mou" and "those girls", as if they didn't belong to women.
Of course, the most obvious evidence is that she lived with Wubao and Juanjuan successively. And she served them to go to bed, hugged five treasures and kissed her twice, hugged Juanjuan's shoulder, touched her neck, took off her bra, combed her hair and so on. She described it like this:
Once upon a time, Wubao and I made a wish: when we save enough money in the future, we will buy a house to live together and get married. We also said that we would redeem a young man and come back to raise him.
And:
Five treasures died early, and our wish never came true. Wandering for half my life, I met Juanjuan and had the idea of starting a family again.
Although the author gives a lot of explicit hints, this same-sex love relationship is only used by the author as the background of the novel, which is not necessarily related to the theme of the novel. In other words, this same-sex love relationship has nothing to do with the injustice and evil of human nature in the author's mind. Moreover, if we really want to talk about it, their unusual love relationship, because it contains more feelings than the body, is opposite to the animal nature of Hua Sanhe and Ke Laoxiong, forming the author's more positive side of life.
The role of "Commander-in-Chief" and her homosexuality, apart from telling stories and providing the background for the novel, also have a very special role, that is, as an intermediary, to bring together two seemingly unrelated and never-met characters, namely Wubao and Juanjuan, in a mysterious way. As a result, these two unlucky women became one and two, two and one, confused and confused.
When "Commander-in-Chief" saw Juanjuan singing "Lonely Flowers" with grievances, she suddenly remembered that Wubao had the same sad expression when singing in Shanghai.
Once upon a time, when we were on business trips together, we always liked to shoot a play "Rebirth". When she went, Wubao sang Su, and she loved to frown like that, as if she had finished singing full of grievances.