Introduction and details of chicken feathers in one place

The novel describes the extremely mediocre and trivial life state of a small clerk in contemporary life. Kobayashi, the protagonist, is a hesitant college student, with a higher heart than others and a high taste pursuit. He was assigned to work in the national ministries and commissions and was honed by the social environment.

Kobayashi missed the bus to buy tofu, and because he forgot to put tofu in the freezer to catch the bus, the tofu turned sour. Therefore, he quarreled with his wife Xiao Li. When the quarrel was about to escalate, the lame old man who checked the water meter came to warn them that they had been reported stealing water at night. Kobayashi and his wife immediately thought of a woman who claimed to look like an Indian across the hall. Xiao Li thought of the recent job transfer in the evening. Kobayashi had already entrusted someone, but because of impatience, the head of the personnel department knew that the transfer work had been put on hold. Kobayashi's hometown is in the countryside, and everyone who comes to Beijing comes to Kobayashi's home. After a long time, it caused Xiao Li's dissatisfaction. Xiao Lin's child caught a cold. Xiao Li saved a lot of money because he didn't finish the medicine prescribed by the company. Therefore, the family is very happy. In the evening, they also discussed the resignation of the nanny after the children entered the nursery in September. In September, Xiao Li's company opened a shuttle bus. Xiao Li didn't have to transfer the company, but because her sister-in-law moved and added this shuttle bus, she felt a little uncomfortable, but she was happy to think that she didn't have to transfer her job. However, children are facing difficulties in entering kindergartens, and good kindergartens can't go. At this time, the nanny resigned again, and the family was in chaos. But at this time, the husband of the Indian woman opposite gave them a good kindergarten place. Later, I learned that I wanted my children to accompany me. Xiao Lin met Xiao Li Bai, a college classmate who sells ducks in the vegetable market. Xiao Li Bai asked Xiao Lin to help him sell ducks for ten days. At 20 yuan a day, Kobayashi was a little worried at first, but he got 200 yuan a day and felt much better. When his classmates came back, he still couldn't bear to leave. After New Year's Day, because she didn't give a gift to the kindergarten teacher, her daughter made a hullabaloo about and refused to go, so Xiaolin ran all over the city and bought the charcoal fire designated by her daughter at a high price. At night, Xiao Lin dreamed that he was sleeping under a pile of chicken feathers.

Role introduction Kobayashi

Xiaolin is 29 years old this year. 1984 graduated from university and assigned to the company. It's been four years. He feels that he has learned more in the unit in these four years than in the last four years of college. When he first came to the company, he was still a college student, and he took care of everything like a child. Now he dare not do that. Can you live in the house? If you want a house, you have to be promoted. If you want to be promoted, you have to get along well in the unit, you have to join the party hard, you have to go to work on time, you have to take the initiative to turn on the water and sweep the floor, you have to be serious, and you have to report your thoughts to the party leaders regularly. The leader of the party group in Kobayashi's office is Lao Qiao, a 54-year-old woman with an unpleasant body odor. Recently, there is something wrong with my uterus and my temper is not very good. However, in order to join the party, Kobayashi had to put up with body odor and had a close heart-to-heart conversation with Lao Qiao. He also had to buy a preserved fruit with the money from the May Day children's milk order and visit Old Joe with the sesame oil sent by his mother.

Xiao Lin Lao po

Xiao Lin's wife is Xiao Li. Before marriage, she was a quiet girl with beautiful eyes. Don't look small, it looks small and exquisite, and small eyes look very focused, which makes people like it from the heart. At that time, she didn't talk much and dressed unfashionably, but she was clean and had long hair. Through the introduction of classmates, Xiaolin fell in love with her. She is a little shy. Being alone with her makes people feel relaxed, quiet and even poetic. At this time, even Xiao Lin began to pay attention to words and hygiene. Who would have thought that in a few years, this quiet and poetic girl would become a housewife who loves nagging, doesn't comb her hair and learns to steal water at night? Both of them are college students, and neither of them is without dedication. Everyone has struggled, worked hard, studied all night and had great ideals. The director of the unit and the organs in society, large and small, are all ignored. Who would have thought that a few years later, they, like everyone else, would soon be submerged in the dark and uniform crowd.

The lame old man who checked the water meter

The old man who checks the water meter is a cripple. He comes to check the water meter once a month. The old man is lame, so it is inconvenient to climb the stairs. When I arrived at everyone's house, I was so tired that I was sweating. He took a deep breath and then checked the water meter. But the old people are very enthusiastic about their work, and sometimes they shouldn't check the water meter. Let's see if the water meter works properly. But as soon as the old man sits in someone else's house, he only talks about his youth. He said that when he was young, he once fed horses to a dead leader. Xiao Lin listened to him for the first time, but he was still very interested. Ask him some details and see that he is lame. When he was young, he even had contact with big leaders. But I get impatient after listening to it too much. But because he checks the water meter, you can't offend him yet. When he is unhappy, he dares to cut off water for your whole door. The old man controls the sluice with a wrench in his hand. Look at the wrench in his hand, and we have to listen to him about feeding the horse.

Zhang (surname)

Lao Zhang, the deputy director of Xiaolin's unit, is Xiaolin's classmate. Xiao Lin helped Lao Zhang move, which was very hard. Lao Zhang is very fond of Xiao Lin. Lao Zhang has been a man with his tail between his legs since he had a style problem with Lao Qiao. He is particularly concerned about the comrades below and is willing to help others. As long as he has something to ask him, he will help him seriously.

Nvlao bridge

The leader of the party group in Kobayashi's office is Lao Qiao, a 54-year-old woman with an unpleasant body odor. Recently, there is something wrong with my uterus and my temper is not very good. However, in order to join the party, Kobayashi had to put up with body odor and had a close heart-to-heart conversation with the old woman Joe. On May Day, he had to buy a preserved fruit with the money from the children's milk order and bring sesame oil from his mother's hometown to visit the old lady Joe. Fortunately, the efforts have not been in vain, and the old lady Joe has promised to develop him to join the party.

Creation background The development of market economy since the reform and opening up has brought about comprehensive and profound changes from material life to spiritual life. Intellectuals in this period were in a similar situation of "besieged city". They envy material life, but they can't give up their pursuit of spiritual world. They struggle in life and are drowned in the secular world. They gave up their sense of responsibility and hardship, hopelessly integrated into the people and became secular ordinary citizens. The new realistic novels produced under the background of this overall pattern reflect the people's living conditions and the pursuit of life value, especially the struggle and sinking of intellectuals in reality. Among them, the most representative work is Liu Zhenyun's A Chicken Feather. ? When writing A Chicken Feather, the author was only in his twenties, and he was a pure-hearted young man, so the author recorded everything he saw and faithfully recorded people's daily life from the perspective of human body. ? Liu Zhenyun's writing grew up in criticism and criticism. When writing chicken feathers in a place, many old-timers taught the author, "A novel has a story and a plot. How can it be written like this?" ?

The theme of works appreciation is the dilemma of human existence.

The writer mainly reveals the theme of human survival dilemma through two images of "rotten tofu" and "chicken feathers in one place" The beginning of the novel is "a catty of tofu in Xiaolin's family is bad." Tofu is an ordinary and inseparable daily food, and the author made it worse, which opened the whole tedious prelude of vulgarity, gloom and breathlessness. Xiao Lin's unhappiness at being late for work, the rebuttal of the babysitter's shirking responsibility, and Xiao Li's accusation and nagging aroused uncontrollable resentment, and the heavy burden borne by the individual turned into a harsh aversion to others. It is not the introspection and mediation of the characters themselves, but the intervention of the other-the old man with tea. The solution of the family war is because of the cover-up of the external problem of stealing water, and Kobayashi's self-consolation is gratitude to the old man. It's not over yet. "Stinky tofu" is the fuse that affects the family atmosphere. If you don't throw it for a moment, Xiao Lin will be unstable. Until he went to bed at night, Kobayashi still found it as disturbing as a time bomb. Even though the tangible "rotten tofu" disappeared, the intangible "rotten tofu" surfaced one after another. The wife's hard work at work, the anxiety of children's illness, the loss of drying cabbage, and the psychological loss of dealing with nannies are all the continuation of the original intention of "rotten tofu". Buying tofu every morning is the beginning of Kobayashi's stylized life. The "tofu" here not only refers to the indispensable food level for human survival, but also refers to all kinds of daily chores. Kobayashi's day begins with "buying tofu" to worry about going to bed early tomorrow. This unchangeable boring life is the existence of Kobayashi. The deterioration of tofu reflects people's overwhelming sense of anxiety and powerlessness under mundane trifles, as well as the tense and conflicting relationship between people, thus truly reflecting the humble and lonely living status of contemporary people. Another image, "a chicken feather in one place", gives people an ugly and humble sense of disgust. The title of the novel is A Chicken Feather, but there is no close-up on it. It was not until the end of the article that the image of "a chicken feather in one place" appeared. "I had a dream in the middle of the night, dreaming that I was sleeping, covered with a pile of chicken feathers and covered with many people's dander. It was soft and comfortable."

In his dream, Kobayashi expressed his understanding of the complex contradiction of life through the cover of Chicken Feather: that is, people are suffering from endless troubles of one kind or another, while enjoying the soothing comfort given by life itself. Of course, "the long is bitter, and the short is life." People can only seek psychological satisfaction of helplessness and self-mockery in the predicament with humble wishes. Although the image of "chicken feathers in one place" only appears once, the whole work is full of messy and unpleasant tension like chicken feathers. The characteristics of chicken feathers are upside down, irrelevant and disturbing, which complement the flea image in Zhang Ailing's genius dream. "Life is a gorgeous robe full of fleas." Their tiny and inextricable commonness conveys a kind of recognition that life can't get rid of the troubles and grievances under secular control. The difference is that Zhang Ailing expresses a sense of desolation that the real life is not perfect by "flea", while Liu Zhenyun highlights the humble feeling that the secular destroys people's self-esteem and pride and is willing to be vulgar. Even though political factors such as unclear national policies and the imprisonment of planned economy are one of the factors that cause Kobayashi's embarrassing life, the fundamental reason is the contradiction of survival itself. Even if there is no time-consuming and crowded queue to buy tofu, there will be quarrels between husband and wife caused by "rotten tofu"; Even without the nanny's repeated dereliction of duty, there will be all kinds of dissatisfaction with her by Kobayashi and his wife; Even if there is no psychological loss of drying Chinese cabbage, there will be greedy and cheap behavior; Even if there is no heavy responsibility of pulling honeycomb briquette, there will be other reasons why you can't watch the ball. In the face of powerful reality, Kobayashi constantly changes and adapts, at the expense of losing his personality and lofty digestion, in exchange for survival chips. In the end, the condescension and ugliness of human nature caused by this increase the gray and bleak existence of contemporary people.

Through the above interpretation of the two main images of "rotten tofu" and "chicken feathers in one place", people can appreciate the passivity and powerlessness of modern people in the cruel objective environment, especially the writer's concern about the loss of individual subjectivity and freedom in this situation, which is in line with the western existentialism's emphasis on "people", and the existential philosophy represented by Sartre is also called "human study". He believes that freedom is the foundation of individual existence, freedom is everything and the essential attribute of human beings. To deny human freedom is to deny human existence. This freedom is manifested in arbitrariness, plasticity, infinity, initiative and imagination of activities. In the real world, the pain of "not being free" and the constant conflict between people of "others are hell" profoundly reflect the absurdity and oppression of secular life. By presenting the embarrassing situation of contemporary people, the author expresses his deep concern about the living conditions of individuals and explores the possible ways of human freedom. The great contrast between the free man and the ruthless real world intensifies people's inability to grasp the tragic color of their own lives, which makes people feel desperate for the tragic world, but the most desperate thing is the complete acceptance of the subject's unwillingness and inability to resist. Although Kobayashi's self-reproach and self-reproach for his ruthlessness, meanness, selfishness and philistinism are mentioned from time to time in his works, at this moment, the return of human nature was swallowed up by a huge secular storm, and Kobayashi turned to a uniform assimilation torrent, as Moro said: "It is not fooling yourself, but the people's recognition and tolerance for fooling." This psychological acceptance and recognition of the subject destroys the last hope of freedom and makes people feel hopeless and nihilistic. Through the original indifferent tone of the new realistic writers, readers can still feel the strong "critical consciousness" hidden under the intervention of "zero emotion"?

Artistic irony, structural irony

The title of a chicken feather is ironic and humorous. At the beginning, a catty of tofu in Kobayashi's family turned sour, which triggered a family quarrel between Kobayashi and his wife, and then launched a series of family chores, frictions and disputes for readers. As an important representative writer of new realistic novels, Liu Zhenyun penetrated the misfortunes of those closest to people into people's souls. A Chicken Feather not only has its profound artistic charm in real life, but also has its touching and unique narrative. Liu Zhenyun used irony to connect the mundane details in the lives of small staff naturally, and the constantly emerging problems were unexpectedly solved. As Borges said: "A real artist should observe the world in all directions, describe the atmosphere and people and things on the internet, and break the pattern of describing novel stories by relying on causality and personality." In A Chicken Feather, Liu Zhenyun created an image of a little intellectual struggling in real life. Through the narration of trivial matters in life, he shows that real life is not antagonistic under the dual pressure of official power and material. Liu Zhenyun used irony to dig deep into reality and humanity. "Irony is a verbal phenomenon in which what is said is opposite to what is referred to, which is formed by the inversion of meaning caused by the pressure of context."

Situational satire

In the psychological activities of the characters in A Chicken Feather, "free indirect speech" is used, that is, "the discourse way of describing the characters' language, feelings and thoughts from the perspective of the third person". It presents an objective narrative form, which is expressed by the narrator's description, but what is aroused in the reader's mind is the voice, action and emotion of the characters. "With a calm and objective narrative attitude, Liu Zhenyun does not make direct subjective intervention, but only presents the event in an artistic way, so that readers can understand the mystery. There are many typical social phenomena in chicken feathers in one place, and "giving gifts" and "going through the back door" have become an essential procedure for clients to handle affairs. China is a country with a long history of "official standard", and the feudal autocracy in 2000 pushed power to the highest position. In 1980s, China was in the stage of reform and opening up. Social transformation centered on market economy will inevitably lead to changes in people's spiritual culture, values and social culture, which will also have an important impact on literary concepts and literary creation. The old man, nanny and kindergarten teacher in A Chicken Feather all have their own tragedies, but they are all flesh-and-blood people in life, bearing the brand of the society in which people live. These "little people" have no consciousness of resisting the vulgarization of power at all, and even unconsciously act as secular accomplices of power, because the operation of power can not be resisted at all, and it may occur at every point of everyone's life. People consciously identify with power, not only psychologically, but also succumb to power. Once they have mastered the power, they will consciously use it and abuse power for personal gain. The insertion of these characters seems to be casual, but in fact it hides the writer's deep meaning. Liu Zhenyun tells readers the truth of life, presents the joys and sorrows of little people's stumbling life with unpretentious brushstrokes, and outlines all kinds of ugly faces of society.

Irony of character

Liu Zhenyun did not choose the hero of the times as the protagonist when he exposed the social malpractice and anti-vulgarity, but turned his attention to the little people at the bottom of society. There are college students assigned to government agencies, little nannies who go out to work as teenagers, and old people who live in officialdom. Liu Zhenyun writes "big" with "small" and "big times" and "big background" with ironic narration. Mr. Lu Xun once mentioned that "these ordinary or simple tragedies are like silent words, which are not easy to detect unless the poet draws its image." However, there are very few people who perished from the special tragedy of heroes, and there are many people who kill time in the ordinary, or there are many people who are as simple as nothing. "It is through the sadness of" little people who have almost nothing to do "that Liu Zhenyun stabbed the soul of society. It reveals the national inferiority of cowardice, vanity and resignation under the influence of material and power, thus realizing the criticism of "anti-vulgarity". Finally, Kobayashi no longer yearns for anything. His only desire is that "my wife roasted half a chicken for herself in the microwave oven and drank a bottle of beer", so he "has nothing to be dissatisfied with." A few seemingly insignificant strokes outline an intellectual image who is content with the status quo and takes "mixed times" as his attitude towards life. This is the genius of the author, hidden but not revealed. Only by grasping the artistic technique of irony can we see the profound irony and criticism hidden by the author. If it is China's tragedy that Kobayashi and other small people struggle with the system until they yield and eventually become a part of the system, then the "official standard" position is the product of a complex combination of wanton trampling on individual rights and worship and fear of power. ?

The plain narrative "A Chicken Feather" can be regarded as an honest record of Kobayashi's personality change process. When describing these trivial life events, Liu Zhenyun always describes the trivial things that Xiaolin encountered in a calm and objective tone, just like the real life itself: greasy, trivial, dull and boring. In full accordance with the real logic of daily life, various events, large and small, are presented in turn. However, there are few subjective comments in the narrative of long and short heads, needles and brains at home, and the communication of the subject's emotions has also weakened to a passing degree. The content described by the author comes entirely from the real life experience of ordinary people: Kobayashi experienced some of the most common events in China's social life in the 1980s and 1990s, which almost every ordinary family has encountered. And these events will be repeated in readers' lives or appear in other forms. In this way, Liu Zhenyun wrote a social life phenomenon that everyone would agree with and feel helpless.

This is the aesthetic value of a chicken feather-reflecting the objective and real social life through trivial real life. At the same time, it is also a unique reading and aesthetic experience created by the author to write about life with a writing attitude close to zero. The reason why the works can achieve this effect is inseparable from the author's understanding and thinking of reality and his objective and calm creative style. Liu Zhenyun is one of the important writers of new realistic novels. Facing the real life, he holds an understanding, sympathetic and close attitude. He dived into the bottom of life and examined and expressed ordinary people struggling to survive in the real life environment with a broader vision and more rational understanding than traditional realism. Even the vulgarity and ugliness in real life, as well as those phenomena in human nature that must belong to the devil, will become the focus of his attention. But the author only bears the responsibility of telling stories honestly and never comments on life phenomena in the original ecology. What life looks like is described according to its appearance. It can be said that the author adopts a more cold, objective and true "zero degree" narrative attitude. In this way, the details of life that most people encounter in daily life, such as trivial matters and parents' shortcomings, are described objectively, delicately and accurately by an indifferent and expressionless narrator. This calm, objective and rational "zero degree" narrative attitude endows new realistic novels with more realistic artistic charm and unique aesthetic character. Although the vulgarity, triviality and haggle over every ounce of Kobayashi and his wife make people feel ugly and disgusted, people realize the author's serious and ruthless critical attitude towards the ugly side of human nature and sympathy for ordinary people's daily tragedies from these seemingly insignificant original ecology of life. A chicken feather is really trivial, and the relationship between people is extremely simple, but it is really sensible and intriguing. Ordinary little people, some small things that are common in life and can't even leave any impression. Although there is no great truth behind the little things, the author has left a lot of imagination for people with his unique techniques and style. This is the plain and trivial beauty of a chicken feather. ?

This paper evaluates Liu Zhenyun's novel A Chicken Feather in One Place, shows the difficult and trivial life scene of the protagonist Kobayashi from several levels in the form of life slices, and reproduces the gray original ecological life of the bottom people in contemporary society. This outlook of life reflects the life picture of small people in modern society. The creation shows the writer's helpless pursuit and deep expectation for the poetry of real life. -Liu Bin, lecturer of Chinese Department of Jiaozuo Teachers College?

Liu Zhenyun intends to make Kobayashi in A Chicken Feather a symbol of this dilemma. He used trivial daily life to describe a man who once had the Confucian thought of "cultivating self-cultivation and keeping the family in peace with the world" and was immersed in the weak position under authoritarian discourse. Strictly speaking, Kobayashi, the protagonist of the novel, and his behavior have become the symbol of this condemnatory discourse. The characters in Liu Zhenyun's works are only symbols of "self", and criticism of authority is more important than stories. -Xu Shangrao Electronic Industry School teacher?

Author brief introduction Liu Zhenyun, 1958 was born in Yanjin County, Xinxiang, Henan Province in May, a famous writer and a professor at the College of Literature of China Renmin University. Military service ranges from 1973 to 1978. 1978 to 1982 studied in the Chinese Department of Peking University. 1982 graduated and went to work in Farmers Daily. 1988- 199 1, graduate student of Beijing Normal University and Luxun College of Literature. He is currently a member of the National Committee of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Beijing Youth Federation and a first-class writer. On August 20th, 20 1 1, the work "One sentence is worth ten thousand sentences" won the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize. 1October 20th1165438+21day, "The Sixth Rich List of Chinese Writers 20 1 1" was released, and Liu Zhenyun paid a royalty of 1.6 million yuan. 2016 65438+1October 29th, Liu Zhenyun won the Egyptian Cultural Honor Award.