TUBICE, LEIRYLLE H.

12-ABM10A
21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

The short story The Madman's Diary, also known as The Madman's Diary, was written
by Chinese author Lu Xun and first published in 1918. According to the diary, the man
developed a "persecution complex" and became suspicious of everything he did, including
barking dogs, visiting doctors, the behavior of his siblings, and staring at passers-by, came to
believe that the inhabitants of his city were cannibals plotting revenge against him and intending
to devour him. Like many other writers of the era, Lu Xun had come to think of China as an
"iron house", a place from which citizens could never escape. Through Lu Xun's critical eye, the
so-called "Chinese iron bar" is in fact representative of traditional Chinese values, and its
entrapment in the human mind has caused conflict among citizens. It is easy to see that The
Madman's Diary is Lu Xun's critique of ancient Chinese ideals, calling for revolution, social
change, and the development of a more modern China. The diary represents the right to free
speech. He uses it as a platform to speak his mind. The Diary also uses various tropes that
modern critics might consider corny. The third section of the story contains one such metaphor.
It's about women "biting a little bit out of you", the laughter of green-faced, long-toothed people,
and the tenants of the other day. Clearly a hidden character. I recognize every poison in her
speech, every dagger in her laughter. Your teeth are white and shiny:
They are all cannibals” (Lou). Here's how the author sees a person who is obsessed with
paranoia and madness. The diary shows the loneliness associated with madness, probably
because the "madman" felt the need to record everything, perhaps to alleviate his loneliness. In
this chapter, we read The Madman's Diary, one of Lu Xun's first and most famous short stories.
The moral of the story is the lesson it teaches about how to behave in society. Morality comes
from the Latin word meaning habit. Designed to help you become a better person. When moral is
used as an adjective, it means goodness or ethics. The poor portrayal of Lu Xun's Diary of a
Madman depicts a society that respects established rules and conventions. Lu Xun struggles with
the idea that society is constantly exploited and controlled by masses who are forced to cling to
tradition. In one of his stories, "The Madman's Diary," he depicts a failed civilization, but
humans tend to corrupt themselves over and over again and eat that corruption due to their
propensity for cannibalism.