A Short Essay on the True Story of Ah Q

A short story on The True Story of Ah Q

Two very important novels from Chinese literature were written in response to societies faults. Lu Hsun's short storie "The True Story of Ah Q" and Pa Chin's famous novel The Family, both commented on political and sociological problems that occurred in China in the early 1900s. Because of major events, like the revolution of 1911 and The May Fourth Movement, these novels address the situations during these time periods. Women's rights, individual freedom, apathy, each of these became a crisis that the people of China had to face. This is along with political crisis' that changed the way their government operated. The stories told through these two different pieces illustrated a world that was very common to people living at that time, and very different to those reading it now. By examining the messages that the authors try to convey, people can begin finally interpret the past.

One of the most important pieces of work of the time period, Lu Hsun's allegorical tale of a selfish and conceited man has proven to be a symbol for how people acted towards much of the problems in China during the twentieth century. Lu Hsun's portrayal of Al Q, the main character in his novel, demonstrates what Lu Hsun sees in the common man at the time. When this story was first released around the early 1920s, it followed a time period that included a lot of change for China. The Revolution of 1911 had proven to be unsuccessful at solving most of China's problems, whereas the May Fourth Movement supported many of Lu Hsun's beliefs and helped to introduce some very different and powerful new ideas. Along with these events, at the time that this story was written, the communist party in China was beginning to find it's footing. Because of the turmoil that occurred between the revolution of 1911 and the May Fourth Movement, the communist party found a warm welcome. [quote Spence here]. [more about problems before it was written.]

One of the points that Lu Hsun seems to try and make through his story was how women were treated at the time. Throughout the entire story Ah Q is constantly belittling women and his encounter with the nun in the story proves this. "All nuns must carry on in secret with monks. If a woman walks alone on the street, she must