To Live By Yu Hua
According to Chinese culture, the forces that determine order are yin and yang. The basis of this concept is that everything has its opposite which maintains balance. One of the most well known yin and yang pairings is life and death. Yu Hua in the novel To Live, recognized this relationship and integrated the concept into the plot. Life and death constantly check each other by taking and giving lives. Which is the price, one has to pay in order to keep stability. The character Fugui is significant in this process as he lives life and sees death around him.
Out of all the powers of balance, Life and death natures have a thin barrier which causes people to quickly cross the threshold of balance. As one person dies, another lives, and also, …show more content…
When Fugui was conscripted, he saw “so many people [die]” including Old Quan, “but somehow [he] survived” (148). Not only did he live, but he “survived” which implies that hardship has been overcome. Old Quan teaches him the value of living while death surrounds them and how to overcome it. This is a critical point that establishes Fugui’s resilience in future situations, but also the reader can see the forces of life and death working at once. The massive amount of soldiers’ deaths from the war propels Fugui’s longevity to counteract the shift in the scales. Later, after “[escaping] with [his] life from the battlefield,” Long Er saves Fugui’s life by being the “fall guy” (84). He has already been established as the one whose life was exchanged for Fugui’s by Hua. The word “escaped” illustrates that Fugui narrowly missed death or avoided it. Because of this, he extends his life which further contributes to his vitality. Because death occurs “three times” more, Fugui goes to the “small room where the dead lay” (220) for Youqing, Fengxia and Erxi. In addition, his wife Jiazhen, friend Chunsheng and grandson Kugen die before him. Many die before their time, which suggests that that extra time went to Fugui. Yu Hua creates the characters, so Fugui can live longer. The injustice of their deaths is balanced by the main character’s continued
Out of all the powers of balance, Life and death natures have a thin barrier which causes people to quickly cross the threshold of balance. As one person dies, another lives, and also, …show more content…
When Fugui was conscripted, he saw “so many people [die]” including Old Quan, “but somehow [he] survived” (148). Not only did he live, but he “survived” which implies that hardship has been overcome. Old Quan teaches him the value of living while death surrounds them and how to overcome it. This is a critical point that establishes Fugui’s resilience in future situations, but also the reader can see the forces of life and death working at once. The massive amount of soldiers’ deaths from the war propels Fugui’s longevity to counteract the shift in the scales. Later, after “[escaping] with [his] life from the battlefield,” Long Er saves Fugui’s life by being the “fall guy” (84). He has already been established as the one whose life was exchanged for Fugui’s by Hua. The word “escaped” illustrates that Fugui narrowly missed death or avoided it. Because of this, he extends his life which further contributes to his vitality. Because death occurs “three times” more, Fugui goes to the “small room where the dead lay” (220) for Youqing, Fengxia and Erxi. In addition, his wife Jiazhen, friend Chunsheng and grandson Kugen die before him. Many die before their time, which suggests that that extra time went to Fugui. Yu Hua creates the characters, so Fugui can live longer. The injustice of their deaths is balanced by the main character’s continued