Foundations and Transformation Literature & Language Essay

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Foundations and Transformation
In The New Year's Sacrifice (1924), Lu Xun portrays the plight of women in China whose rights are restricted and they are disrespected. Xianglin's or Hsiang Lin's wife/ widow is the main character in the story becomes a widow and the community looks down on her and she suffers emotionally, psychologically and spiritually because of her-ill treatment. The widow faces rejection and is prevented from participating in the New Year’s sacrifice as she is a widow and comes from a low social standing. The Chinese New Year is the most important traditional festival in China where the people perform sacrificial ceremonies in honor of gods and the ancestors. The author takes a take stance against traditional Chinese culture that marginalizes the downtrodden and the selective application of tradition. New Year's Sacrifice takes a total break with traditional philosophy (Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism).
The Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hrdaya) addresses important concepts of Buddhism, such as compassion, emptiness, detachment, and consciousness, and Xun’s story highlights that the people emphasized conformity, and yet they ignored important Buddhist ideals. For instance, Xianglin's wife no longer seemed to be lively and only occasional flicker in her eyes showed a sign of life and she had become a beggar (185-186). There has been the failure of traditional philosophy in the Chinese society, and yet there is pressure for the people to conform. Xianglin's wife is treated unfairly and is disrespected. In a society that clings to traditions and is slow to embrace changes. Buddhism emphasizes the awakening of consciousness, but the people in the story cannot achieve this as they only focus on few aspects of Buddhist traditions and ideal, and ignore the idea of doing good as being essential to achieving enlightenment.
There is the failure of Confucian tradition and those who rebel against tradition are treated differently with women expected to follow their husbands’ and family directions. Expectations that the people follow Confucianism when there is lack of righteousness reflect a breakdown in the society’s culture. Xianglin's wife later went to work in the narrator’s aunt’s and uncle’s house where the couple in ancestral spirits but even the aunt mistreated a fellow woman (Xun 217). Xianglin's wife is assumed to have a bad moral character as she is no longer married and Xianglin's family was expected to choose a husband for her regardless of whether they wanted to benefit alone and whether the husband was good for her. There is selective application of traditions, where individuals observe the New Year celebrations and respect the ancestral spirits, but do not follow the Confucian ideals.
Confucianism is a philosophy that emphasizes that people obey authority and has influenced Chinese society for more than a thousand years. Xun highlights that Confucianism is oppressive and lacks morality it was associated with the exploitation of the masses and conformity. However, the author also explores the Chinese feudal system that occurred when there was Confucianism and Confucianism had no answer to the people’s exploitation by t...