The death of peach(táo zhī yāo yāo)

The death of peach

Tao Zhiyao is a novel written by Wang Anyi, a contemporary writer. It was published in the fifth issue of harvest in 2003 and was first published in December 2003.

The novel tells the fate of two generations of Shanghai women: Xiao Mingming, an old artist, and Yu Xiaoqiu, his daughter. With its plain, soft and resolute style, the novel interprets the exuberant vitality of ordinary people who are suffering but standing forever, and reveals a unique spiritual world.

content validity

Xiao Mingming always yearns for romantic emotional life, and breaks her son Yu Zihan's infatuation with her, so that she does not care about the real interests, and finally pays a heavy price for this frivolous husband, casting a tragic fate that can not be escaped all her life. After her divorce from her husband, she took on the responsibility of raising her children. Later, she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, named Yu Xiaoqiu. Yu Xiaoqiu has been suffering all kinds of devastation and humiliation in his hard life. Her mother never showed her any intimacy and tenderness. In this family like an ice cellar, her brother and sister always treat her as strangers. When she was just an innocent child, once she appeared in the street, it immediately caused the whispers of the neighbors. Although she conquered the girl's heart with her excellent gymnastic performance, her companions still looked at her lowly and refused to associate with her. When she was in middle school, the school organized the waist drum team. As the commander of the waist drum team, she held two cymbals and became a very important role. Soon after, in the rectification and management of the waist drum team, the publicity team cleaned Yu Xiaoqiu out. Even when planning a parade to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China, she was disqualified from participating in the activities together with several students with bad behavior records. During the cultural revolution, she actively organized a literature and art propaganda team. She not only showed her talent in dance on stage, but also was willing to support everyone in her daily life. Even so, she was treated coldly and disgusted by people. Yu Xiaoqiu has been living in this embarrassing atmosphere of public opinion. As she grows older and more experienced, she can gradually realize the viciousness and meanness hidden in it. This kind of stale moral concept finally strangles her love with her lover. She and he Minwei once formed a deep friendship in the hard days of working in the countryside. Even so, he Minwei followed the secular vision and ended his love affair with Yu Xiaoqiu in a decisive attitude. however, in a thorough showdown, she did not make it difficult for each other, let alone threaten the people she once loved by having a relationship. When her sister died due to dystocia, she took care of her children. She and her brother-in-law did not love each other. The reason why she took over her elder sister's position later was that she could not bear to leave her elder sister's children because of a woman's natural motherhood, and that she saw her brother-in-law's love for her elder sister. It is people's true feelings that moved Yu Xiaoqiu and made her make a lifelong decision at the expense of herself. In the face of the ensuing suffering, Yu Xiaoqiu has a calm mind to bear down, unexpectedly out of a difficult but pure life path, in the struggle with suffering to appreciate the world.

Catalogue of works

Creative background

Tao Zhiyao is a novel written by Wang Anyi at the invitation of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. Wang Anyi said that the title of each chapter of the novel describing flowers in ancient poems was found by her heart. In addition, Wang Anyi arranged for Yu Xiaoqiu to be an illegitimate daughter. She said that in the early 1950s, there were many illegitimate children. They were born next to a normal family, which was an infidelity in a conservative environment. In Wang Anyi's eyes, she places her hope on Yu Xiaoqiu. She wants to make Yu Xiaoqiu a "Guanyin of the marketplace" to save others and herself.

Personage introduction

Yu Xiaoqiu: Xiao Mingming's daughter, the hero of the story. She is an illegitimate daughter without a father. As a child, she suffered from the coldness of her mother, the hatred of her brothers and sisters, and the contempt of her neighbors. Since her youth, she has been criticized for her lively enthusiasm, precocious body, and natural appeal. Boys are obviously attracted by her, but they want to do it like disdain her; girls want to do what she can't do, they disdain to be with her. However, growing up in frustration and unfair treatment, she did not become dark and sensitive. She seems to have a natural trust in life, and this happy energy makes her chaos bright rather than dark. Her natural enchantment and charm did not push her into the turbulent and brilliant world. In the unfortunate times, she did not drift and fall, but offset the absurdity of years with a calm and substantial way of growth. Xiao Mingming: Xiao Mingming left his family at the age of three to sing in the Shanghai world civilization troupe. When I was 17 or 18 years old, I was in love with one of her onlookers. During the Anti Japanese War, she was reduced to Hong Kong and met "big brother" again. She bought a ticket to Shanghai for her. From then on, they formed a long-term friendship. Because of Yu Zihan's infatuation with her, he gave up his stable Guangdong staff and resolutely chose Yu Zihan. Later, Yu Zihan was jailed for other women. After divorce from her husband, Xiao Mingming took the responsibility of raising her children and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Yu Xiaoqiu. He has a hearty nature and is indifferent to Yu Xiaoqiu at home. Yu Zihan: Xiao Mingming's ex husband. He was born in a broken family and had never seen the outside world. Because he liked xiaomingming, he abandoned his family and property to follow her. Xiao Mingming was moved by his infatuation and offered money and relationships to send him to school. However, he could not bear the hardships of school life and spent all his living expenses on eating, drinking and playing. When he reappeared in front of xiaomingming after the war, he was poor and had nowhere to live. After getting married, Yu Zihan was happy to enjoy himself and didn't even care about his children. Eventually, he was attracted by the female colleague who stole public money because of his desire, and was put in prison after the affair was revealed.

Appreciation of works

Theme of the work

In the novel, Yu Xiaoqiu's optimism and randomness in the face of life's suffering is not a conscious consciousness, nor is it due to the support of rational spirit, but comes from the exuberant vitality. What Wang Anyi focuses on is the nature and beauty of the female life noumenon which contains vitality, as well as the illumination of this nature and beauty on the real life. After her sister died, Yu Xiaoqiu took care of her children and gave them maternal love. Because of her participation, her sister's parents in law's home did not appear lonely and desolate. The combination with his brother-in-law made a man who suffered from the loss of his wife return to life. Even for the mother whose son was imprisoned and the eldest daughter died early, she had a new hope for life because of the outcome of her younger daughter. Yu Xiaoqiu grew up in a despised and indifferent environment, and her body is full of vitality. Almost all people think that she is an improper woman, but this is the kind of person who gets much less than the average person in terms of emotion and sex. Wang Anyi, with the anatomical technique of a surgeon, has carved out the texture of social life layer by layer, trying to reveal how the distortion, repression and variation of human nature caused by living environment complement each other and are difficult to get rid of. On the other hand, the novel also describes the vitality, integrity, kindness and love that Yu Xiaoqiu can never forget. In this girl's plain life, there is also a "peach of the young, brilliant" like color. the novel blends history and individual life. On the one hand, it leaves traces of historical erosion in individual life; on the other hand, history also depends on the interpretation of individual life to present and unfold. The author describes the trivial and fragmentary living landscape of the citizens tactfully and delicately, and quietly conveys the detailed footstep of history. Through the fate of Xiao Mingming and Yu Xiaoqiu's mother and daughter in the long 40 years, readers can easily appreciate the changes of the times. When the individual and history meet, history becomes an important part of the existence of individual life. It highlights every tiny detail in the individual life and presents the life state of the integration of individual life and history. Although Xiao Mingming is a vagrant artist far away from politics, in her seemingly accidental tragedy, there are manipulation and manipulation from historical destiny. If it wasn't for the turbulence of the war, maybe her life would be unfolded in another form. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, her husband was put in prison for corruption and playing with women. This change locked her in tragedy, and she gradually became a cruel and cruel mother. All these fully show the distortion and transformation of individual life by history.

artistic characteristics

In the novel, Wang Anyi intends to show the history from the details of the city's food life and women's clothing. She captures the details of daily life with delicate brushwork. A pen gently knocks on every door of Shanghai to wake up the trivial details of life forgotten by busy people. The display of these details is enough to support the regional culture of Shanghai. Yu Xiaoqiu, a child growing up in a lane, can eat all kinds of food with twenty cents for dinner. The food is not limited to satiety, but richness. "Along the way, she ate popsicles, Preserved Peaches, and zongzi candy. Those with pine nuts cost two cents a piece, which is more expensive. She didn't often eat them. She also had tiger's paws, chuckles, melon seeds, and even a small bag of shrimps. She also invented some unprecedented eating methods: chewing a fudge while throwing peanuts into her mouth to produce the effect of peanut butter candy. " On the basis of satisfying her appetite, Yu Xiaoqiu also brought her creativity to the extreme. When cutting in line, she didn't have a snack, so she went to the field to pick up soybeans and threw them into the stove to eat. Yu Xiaoqiu studied, created and practiced eating, and poured the wisdom of ordinary life into this kind of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. On the daily necessities, Wang Anyi directly put them in front of readers.

Chinese PinYin : táo zhī yāo yāo