Zhuangzi Character Analysis

What do you normally think about when you hear the word ‘death’? The most common feelings and/or emotions that follow death’s path include a long list of words. A few of the words among this list include, but not limited to fear, anger, grief and depression. Is this really the way to reflect on someone’s life, though, after they have passed? In the book Zhuangzi, translated by Burton Watson, a man named Zhuangzi loses his wife and describes to the reader how someone’s death should be treated. When Zhuangzi did lose his wife, Zhuangzi’s friend Huizi went to Zhuangzi to express his condolences for his wife passing, but entered to hear Zhuangzi pounding on a tub and singing. Just as anyone else would, Huizi believed that what he had just entered to hear and see was an awkward way for someone to be grieving over a loved one just passing away. When Huizi asked Zhuangzi why he was grieving as he was, Zhuangzi stated “Its just like the progression of the four seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter” (Zhuangzi 115). Death should be treated the way Zhuangzi …show more content…
The fall phase described by Zhuangzi is a change where the being is born into a human, with a spirit and a body. Common stereotypes involved with fall include leaves falling, cool weather, and beautiful scenery. Zhuangzi more than likely included the fall season into the phases of death because being born is similar too fall in the fact the season of fall is beautiful, just as one being born is also a beautiful step for mankind. The fourth, and final, change takes place in the winter. Zhuangzi describes the season of Winter as the final change, death. The most common stereotypes conveyed towards winter include cold temperatures, sickness, and hibernation. Zhuangzi more than likely characterizes winter as the ‘death’ season since death and winter correlate perfectly. Both are cold, result in sickness or from sickness, and both death and winter make you want to go into