The Diary of a Madman, written by Lu Xun, is about a man overcome with a horrible sickness and changes his way of seeing the world. This story was published in 1918 and takes place in China. One confusing element of this story is who the true author is. Since this is a story from a diary written by a madman, is the madman the author or the one who published it. Since numerous people would consider this story fiction would that indicated that in fact the author is not mad and cannot be taken at face value. This can create some conflict between the author and the reader since it is uncertain of what to believe and if the information is true. The author is writing this story to show how far behind, technology wise, China was from the rest of
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The brother, who is the author of the story, who suffers from some sort of illness that is affecting his brain, is getting no real treatment and doctors do not know what to do to help him. This shows how far behind the times china was at this point.
Another historical context brought to light is cannibalism. Cannibalism is a major topic throughout the book and is a part of the history of China. During the famines it is thought that cannibalism was practiced as a means of survival. The madman writes that he feels the people around him look at him like something to eat and the books he reads all say cannibalism is the answer when one reads between the lines. These two things helped to strengthen my knowledge of China and its history since it shows how behind in times they were. It also shows they lengths at which people are willing to do to survive.
Travel is a minor topic covered, but they do talk about getting word from other villages by messenger and the author was forced to travel out of his way to meet with the brother only to find out that the one who was sick had recovered. There is little advancement in technology along with medicine that creates prevalent issues throughout this
The brother, who is the author of the story, who suffers from some sort of illness that is affecting his brain, is getting no real treatment and doctors do not know what to do to help him. This shows how far behind the times china was at this point.
Another historical context brought to light is cannibalism. Cannibalism is a major topic throughout the book and is a part of the history of China. During the famines it is thought that cannibalism was practiced as a means of survival. The madman writes that he feels the people around him look at him like something to eat and the books he reads all say cannibalism is the answer when one reads between the lines. These two things helped to strengthen my knowledge of China and its history since it shows how behind in times they were. It also shows they lengths at which people are willing to do to survive.
Travel is a minor topic covered, but they do talk about getting word from other villages by messenger and the author was forced to travel out of his way to meet with the brother only to find out that the one who was sick had recovered. There is little advancement in technology along with medicine that creates prevalent issues throughout this