Applications of Diary of a Madman in Our Society Essay -- Diary Madman

Applications of Diary of a madcap in Our SocietyLike any piece of good literature, Diary of a Madman does not just apply to the time it was written. It can also be chew the fatn as a critique on the world today. However, the relation between the stratum and the modern world is not easily visible on the surface. One must dig deeper in order to see the parallels. Once unity examines the symbolization that is used, it is clear that the story is relevant to todays world just as much as it was to the world in which Lu Xun wrote it. There ar many parallels between the story and our society, so many that this story could just as easily be a critique of our society as a critique of China in 1918.On the surface, Diary of a Madman is about a crazy man and his belief that everyone around him is a cannibal. non only this, but he believes that they intend to eat him. This causes him to become paranoid and he does not trust anyone, even the animals. By the end of the story, he is re signed to the circumstance that he will be a victim of cannibalism, and he knows that there is nothing that he can do to protect himself. His only hope is that someplace there are children who have not yet become cannibals and that these children can somehow be saved from what appears to be their fate.Although this is the literal reading of the text, when one looks deeper one is able to see that this is not all that Lu Xun intended to say with his story. Cannibalism is used simply because it is the most blatant way of taking advantage of opposite people, which is what it symbolizes. Unfortunately, the madman is the only one who notices that other people are constantly being taken advantage of. He is the only one who can see what is really going on in his societ... ...There are many similarities between the society that Lu Xun wrote his Diary of a Madman for and the society that we live in today. Both societies practice cannibalism through their blatant disregard of others. Both societies are guilty of relatively the same crimes, and the cure for both societies is the same. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that a change will ever be made in either society, because the only people who could bring this change about, the children, will be indoctrinated into the culture sooner they are old enough to make a difference.Works CitedVoltaire, Candide, Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, ed. Maynard Mack, Expanded Edition (New York W. W. Norton, 1995), pp. 548-554.Xun, Lu, Diary of a Madman, Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, ed. Maynard Mack, Expanded Edition (New York W. W. Norton, 1995), pp. 1684-1693.