The Tragic Life of Kong Yiji from the Perspective of a Little Fellow at the Salty Hotel

Abstract

Kong Yiji, an article included in secondary school textbooks, is one of the representative works of China's modern literary giant Mr Lu Xun, and one of the classic short stories in the history of modern Chinese literature in the 20th century. Mr Lu Xun's unique perspective is from the point of view of a teenage child -- hotel mate, with a twelve-year-old "little fellow" who has not yet experienced the world of youth as a narrative perspective, using a child to describe the facts to ensure that the "Kong Yiji" image of justice, objectivity and truthfulness. The use of a child to describe the facts can ensure the fairness, objectivity and truthfulness of the image of "Kong Yiji". Through what "I" heard and saw, the ups and downs of feelings cleverly conceived, vividly and imaginatively portrayed Kong Yiji, a traditional bookworm who was cruelly abandoned at the bottom of the society by the traditional feudal rites and rituals, with no food, no clothes, no food, and ultimately helplessly engulfed by the reality of the powerful forces of darkness. In the article "Kong Yiji", the background of the Xianheng Hotel is always used as the perspective of the humble shopkeeper, who is both a bystander and a participant as well as a spectator and a besieger, and Lu Xun has seen the picture of Kong Yiji's life in the Xianheng Hotel several times through the viewpoint of the shopkeeper and heard the legend of Kong Yiji to unfold the story. The story unfolds through the images of Kong Yiji's life as he visits the Xianheng Hotel several times from the perspective of "I", the shopkeeper, and the legends he hears about him. Through the words and deeds of Kong Yiji and other people in the shop, the story reflects the social status quo at that time, reproducing the dilemma of the poor intellectuals in the society and the living environment of the people at the bottom of the society, so as to criticise the feudal system of the feudal society and the feudal education system, which is a thought-provoking story.