Comparison of Life and Death Views in To Be Alive and Disgraced on Earth

Living tells the story of Fugui, the protagonist, who changed from a rich dude who ate, drank, gambled and gambled to a poor and impoverished farmer in simple words. During this period, Fugui experienced the unfortunate death of his mother, his son who bled to death, his daughter who died in childbirth, his wife who died sadly, and his son-in-law who died unexpectedly, and finally left him alone with the old cow. In this work, we can feel the heavy tragic atmosphere, and at the same time, we can also feel the strong will of the protagonist to survive after so many hardships, which reflects the author Yu Hua's view of life and death to some extent, and also shows the attitude towards death and survival from China's cultural thought.

Disqualification on Earth is Osamu Dazai's autobiographical work. The style and thoughts of the whole work are closely related to the author's personal experience and life perception. The protagonist Ye Zang experienced self-exile, alcoholism, suicide, drugging himself, and was finally forced to be sent to a mental hospital. He escaped from reality and went to ruin step by step, and gradually "lost his qualification as a human being". The whole work is immersed in a sense of self-loathing, which shows the tortuous and tragic life of the author Osamu Dazai.

"outlook on life and death" is people's attitude towards life and death. The difference of "outlook on life and death" has a great relationship with this person's living environment, psychological state, thinking cultivation and so on. People have different attitudes towards life and death, because people have different values about life and death. "People are inherently mortal, or heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather" is precisely the embodiment of this different attitude towards life and death. In addition, the formation of different "outlook on life and death" is closely related to the religious and social atmosphere received. Different religious concepts can convey different ideas, influence a person's behavior habits, moral concepts and ways of thinking, and play a great role in the formation of "outlook on life and death".

To be alive and Disqualification on Earth are from China and Japan respectively. The two works show different views on life and death, which to some extent reflect the views of life and death in China and Japan, and also show the cultural differences between China and Japan. China and Japan have different social structures and forms of social organization, and they believe in different religions, and there are some surprises in the history and culture of the two countries. These factors play a very important role in the formation of the "view of life and death" between China and Japan.

Both To Be Alive and Disqualification on Earth are closely related to death. There are many death events in the two works. Facing these events, different protagonists have different moods and reactions, but it is precisely because of these endless death events that different people show their "views on life and death" when facing death.

Yu Hua, the author of Alive, tells the story of a rich dude who lost all his property and finally became a lonely poor farmer in a simple and plain tone. Fugui, the hero, experienced the death of his family, and strung the whole novel into a line through endless death events.

The death events that Fugui experienced are as follows: For the first time, Fugui ate, drank, gambled and gambled when his family was rich, especially gambling. He owed a lot of gambling debts without telling his family, and his father was angry when he reached out to his creditors for debts, and finally died unfortunately. At that time, Fugui was a young man, and he always had no deep feelings for his father, so his father's departure did not have much impact on him, but it was the beginning of "family break". The second time, Fugui had to start a poor life. At that time, Fugui's wife, Jia Zhen, and his mother followed him to live a bitter life that he never thought of. Fortunately, her wife was virtuous and supported the family, but the good times did not last long. Fugui's mother was seriously ill and died unfortunately because she did not have enough money to treat her. At that time, Fugui had already felt the warmth and coldness of the world, and realized the pain and sadness of white-haired people sending black-haired people. For the third time, I thought that my life was gradually getting on the right track. Although my daughter became dumb due to improper care when she was a child, fortunately, she was kind and virtuous, and a good and responsible lame son-in-law was willing to marry her. I never thought that when my daughter and family's life were getting better, Fugui's wife died unfortunately because of years of rickets. Fugui watched his wife who had been with him for decades die, and his heart was extremely sad. The fourth time, my kind son died because he drew too much blood in the hospital to save the county wife. For the fifth time, the son-in-law has been very kind to both Fugui and Fugui's daughter over the years. After several years, Fugui's daughter became pregnant successfully, and both the son-in-law and Fugui were very happy. However, Fugui's daughter died of severe bleeding while giving birth in the hospital, and Fugui and his son-in-law were heartbroken, leaving the son-in-law alone with his son without a mother. For the sixth time, when the grandson grew up and thought that the bitter days would come to an end, he didn't expect his son-in-law to be killed by a cement board when he went out to work, so Fugui began to adopt the grandson, who was also his only relative in the world. For the seventh time, because the family was poor, my father and grandson were always hungry and didn't eat anything delicious. One day Fugui was rich and went to town to buy beans and put them at home. His grandson found out in advance, and his grandson began to eat seaweed and finally died. Fugui was alone at last, and bought an old cow to live alone, which was very sad.

In the face of these deaths, Fugui remained strong and tried to win it back when she lost all her possessions at first. This indomitable spirit is indeed one of the manifestations of China culture. For Fugui, suffering has disappeared into the invisible, and all he has in his heart is the detachment and calmness in the face of life in Taoism and Zen. His endurance to the suffering of existence and Lotte know life's attitude towards life fully reflect the understanding of "life" and "death" in China traditional culture.

Disqualification on Earth is the work of Japanese writer Osamu Dazai, and the prototype of its narrative story is Osamu Dazai's personal life experience. Ye Cang, the hero of the book, can neither understand the shallowness of women's hearts nor be constantly used by friends, but thinks that compromise and concession are the way to survive. Even in order to wander the world and learn from the despicable acts of human nature, he has experienced self-exile, alcoholism, suicide, drugging himself, and finally was forced to enter a mental hospital and chose to commit suicide to end his miserable life. Every time Ye Zang killed himself, he experienced death, and finally "lost the qualification of a great man" and lived a "life full of shame", which well reflected Japan's social atmosphere with "shame" as the cultural keynote.

Ye Zang, the hero, has committed suicide five times in his 39-year life. The specific manifestations are as follows: The first time, because of his poor academic performance and his family's incomprehension, he chose to take a large number of sleeping pills to commit suicide, but he was rescued because of insufficient drug dosage. Since then, Ye Zang has been cast a biased view by many people. The second time, he was double suicide with the waitress in Ginza Bar. This time, he also took a lot of sleeping pills. His lover left him, but Osamu Dazai was saved. The suicide left him guilty all his life. The third time, I failed my studies, and my graduation hope was slim. I failed to enter the newspaper. In desperation, I ran to the mountain and hanged myself, but the rope for hanging was broken. Osamu Dazai returned angrily. The fourth time, knowing that his wife, whom he had always trusted, was having an affair with someone, he was miserable and angry. He took his wife to Guchuan Hot Spring in Gunma County, and planned to go to the grave together. This time, the two also survived because of insufficient medicine. The fifth time, Ye Zang was forced to be sent to a mental hospital, which was a huge blow to him. He decided to commit suicide and chose to end his life by drowning. He was afraid of suicide and took potassium chloride before drowning, and finally got his wish.

Ye Zang finally ended his life by committing suicide. He once said, "I was born as a human being, and I'm sorry", expressing his deep disgust for himself. This disgust came from the humiliation he suffered during his lifetime, including unsatisfactory studies, unsatisfactory career, his wife's infidelity, and being treated as a mental patient by others. These humiliations accumulated in Ye Zang's heart. In the face of these humiliating events, all he could think of was washing these humiliations with death. It shows Japan's "view of life and death", that is, "view of impermanence", and also shows Japan's social atmosphere with "shame" as its cultural keynote.

Two works, Living and Disqualification on Earth, take "death" as the main story line. The protagonists Fugui and Ye Zang have both experienced many deaths, but they have different moods and attitudes in the face of death. Fugui shows the indomitable spirit of China people, while Ye Zang shows the cultural connotation of Japan's basic thought of "shame" as well as its fearless spirit. "Living" and "Disqualification on Earth" show two completely different concepts of life and death. Fugui has never thought of suicide in the case of many deaths of relatives, but Ye Zang thinks suicide is the first thing that comes to mind in the face of things that he thinks are shameful, such as unsatisfactory studies, blocked career, derailed wife, etc. These two different attitudes towards death show the cultural connotation and mental outlook of different countries.

In Living, Fugui experienced the death of his relatives one after another. After the death of seven relatives around him, Fugui was heartbroken, especially his son and wife died in the same hospital, and finally he was left alone in this world. An ordinary person may lose confidence in life and find no hope of continuing to live, but he is very strong to live in this lonely world. In his twilight years, he bought an old cow similar to him and kept him company. At the end of the story, Fugui sang: "Teenagers wander, middle-aged people want to dig and hide, and old people want to be monks ... I know that dusk is fleeting and the night falls from the sky. I saw the vast land with a strong chest, which was a gesture of calling, just like women calling their children, and the land called the night. "

Fugui from 2 to his twilight seems to be recalling his miserable life, calm and calm, as if he could meet death at any time. From Fugui's body, we can see China's attitude towards life and death. Although Fugui did a lot of outrageous things when he was young, he was very eager to make up for his mistakes in later years, learned to do farm work, and learned to swallow his anger in the face of the landlord who bullied him, trying to take care of his wife and children. Fugui lived hard before his death, but he wanted to die, but he couldn't die, because he knew his responsibility and the mistakes he had made, and he continued to live in order to "atone". This spirit was consistent with the positive thoughts of Confucianism and showed China's "view of life and death".

from the beginning to the end of the story, Fugui has been living in a humble state except that he did some bad things in his youth. Even if he has to do heavy farm work every day, he still needs to support his children and his wife. In the face of the overbearing landlord, he can also put down his former gentleman's face and grovel. At the beginning of losing his fortune, he tried to make a comeback and win it back home. The great change of Fugui came from his strong desire for survival and his expectation and yearning for the future. This spirit is upward and positive.

Ye Zang in Disqualification on Earth seems to have a good living condition, but he was full of distorted ideas about the world since he was a child, and he was very eager to integrate into this world, but it backfired, but at the same time he hated himself very much. Ye Zang suffered from human humiliation in his 39-year life course. He longed to wash away these humiliations, but after repeated efforts, he was unwilling, as if the world were against him. The biggest blow to Ye Zang should be that his most trusted wife was having an affair with another man, which is extremely shameful for a normal man. He dragged her to commit suicide, but she was saved. Ye Zang tried to end his life by committing suicide again and again, but all four suicides ended in failure, so he had to continue to live with shame. This kind of helplessness that wants to die but can't die, Yuzryha hides in the whirlpool of self-doubt and self-denial again and again. He once wanted to be independent and eager to make some achievements, but he was beaten by society again, so he paralyzed himself with drugs, and every day he drifted off under the stimulation of drugs, although he was still alive. In Ye Zang's many inner monologues, he can feel his despair for himself and his desire for death. For example, "there is no turning back, no matter what you do or do, it will only be in vain and will only make people feel ashamed."

Ye Zang's longing for death shows the concept of death as the rebirth of life in Japanese culture. He thinks that after death, people can get rid of all the shame before their death and get a pure and beautiful soul again, which is also the embodiment of the "impermanence view". At the same time, Ye Zang's wife's betrayal violates the Japanese idea of "loyalty", so Ye Zang wants her to die with herself and redeem her mistakes with the end of her life. Ye Zang had a kind of hostility to the world from the beginning. When he was young, he wanted to make good relations with people around him, pretending to be crazy and trying to make others like him, but it backfired. Instead, he fell into the mire of self-doubt and denial. When he failed in his studies at the age of 2, he thought of ending this failure and shame with suicide, but he failed. Later, he committed suicide at the age of 21, 26, 28 and 39 respectively, but the first three times ended in failure, until the last time he committed suicide by taking poison and drowning in a mental hospital, and finally died. In the whole life course of Ye Zang, he longed for death but couldn't die. When he was alive, he was like a walking corpse, losing confidence in life and yearning for the future. This mentality of muddling along made people step by step to deny themselves, doubt themselves and lose the motivation to continue living in the afternoon.

To Be Alive and Disgraced on Earth are two excellent literary works, both of which are from China and Japan respectively. The similarities between them are that there are endless deaths in the works, and both of them have a strong tragic color. In the process of narrating the stories of the characters, they show different views on life and death. The differences of the views on life and death of the characters lie in their different environments and cultural influences, so we can see the differences between China and Japan in their views on life and death, and also show the historical culture and values of the two countries.

-About the author-

Wen Qing, a young man who is persistent in writing and likes photography

If they meet, how lucky they are and grateful for their company.