Two bends seem to frown, and a pair of eyes seem to be happy. The state has two sorrows, and it is sick. Tears a little, breath slightly. When you are free, it shines like a beautiful flower on the water, and when you act, it looks like a weak willow tree. The heart knows better than the stem, and the disease is not as good as the west.
This is what Baoyu saw when he first met Daiyu. Generally speaking, she is so weak, with a hint of sadness in her brow, which seems to be wrinkled. If there is light smoke around, you can see that she is always preoccupied. "The state is full of sadness and illness all over the body" reflects her sentimentality. The author endowed her with this innate melancholy temperament, as if she had arranged her own life in Jiafu. "Small tears, slight breathing" further describes her anxiety and pain: there are flashing tears when nothing happens, and there is a slight gasp when nothing happens, which shows that anxiety and pain have penetrated into her heart. "Illness is worse than three points" further describes the morbid beauty of Daiyu.
Appearance description can see the inner world of the characters, show their personalities, reflect their inner feelings and psychological activities in a specific environment and period, and also reflect their social environment and characteristics of the times. Appearance description should be outlined according to the needs of the theme expression of the article, and the written appearance must conform to the theme of the article and serve the characterization. The author's description of Daiyu's appearance shows her sentimental character and noble temperament like a poet, and also shows her extraordinary talent. This picturesque description is one of the most successful appearance descriptions in A Dream of Red Mansions.
Second, the voice-representative: Wang Xifeng
The so-called "taking the lead", also known as "hearing the sound before meeting people", is to describe language, lead people with vocal cords, then describe his appearance and behavior, and describe people with events. This writing is easy to express the characteristics of the characters. Lin Daiyu's description of Wang Xifeng in Jia's mansion was written in this way at the beginning, which makes people feel special to read. (Selected from Writing Guidance Newspaper, Second Edition)
When Dai-yu first entered Jia's house, she met Grandmother Jia and other elders and sisters. At this moment, she said, "I didn't say a word. Someone in the backyard laughed and said,' I'm late, I didn't meet the distant guests!'" ""This surprised Daiyu, who seemed to be out of place with his surroundings. This description makes the characters unique as soon as they appear, attracting readers' attention and stimulating readers' interest in reading. At the same time, a colorful image of Phoenix pepper, which can't be underestimated in Jiafu, is vividly presented to readers.
Third, I want to promote the first representative: Jia Baoyu.
When describing characters, sometimes in order to "build momentum", we will describe characters in a way that we want to promote them first and then suppress them. "Yang" means to raise first and then restrain, and refers to praise and elevation. "Restraint" means to suppress and belittle. The author wants to praise a character, but he doesn't write from the place of praise, but first presses and writes from the place of negative derogatory. This can make the plot changeable, can form ups and downs, and form a sharp contrast, just like the peaks are set off by valleys, which is easy for readers to leave a deep impression in the reading process. (Selected from Writing Guidance Newspaper, Second Edition)
Before Baoyu appeared, Mrs. Wang "belittled" him: an evil life, a demon on earth, ignoring him, and his sisters were afraid to provoke him, spoiled, ignorant and crazy. Previously, Daiyu's mother spoke ill of Baoyu in front of her more than once: she was extremely stubborn, hated reading, and liked hanging out at home most, and no one dared to take care of it. When Baoyu wanted to come in, Daiyu still thought he was a "lazy, ignorant urchin and a fool" and didn't even want to see him. This description of the author can be said to have "suppressed" Baoyu to the extreme. However, when Baoyu officially appeared, Daiyu's attitude towards him took a 180-degree turn, and Baoyu's image in the readers' mind was completely "reversed".
Fourth, point and face-representative figures: Spring Festival, Tanchun, etc.
The so-called writing characters from point to area means choosing a breakthrough when writing a good person, starting from the part or a certain point of the character, to show a person's personality characteristics, spiritual quality and so on. Except for Daiyu, Baoyu and Wang Xifeng, the author does not describe many others in this paper, but he can do it from point to area. Although there are only a few strokes, they can show the characteristics of the characters.
For example, Jia Mu is "mixed". On the one hand, the word "mixed" shows that she is old, on the other hand, it also shows her supreme position in this family. After grandma saw Daiyu, the author vividly wrote grandma's love for Daiyu through "hugging" and "crying". Then write about the meeting between Daiyu and three sisters. The author just grasped their appearance characteristics, and wrote the tenderness of welcoming the spring, the dexterity of exploring the spring and the weakness of cherishing the spring with a few strokes. (Selected from Writing Guidance Newspaper, Second Edition)
According to statistics, there are more than 400 famous people with surnames in the novel, among which more than 100 have personalities. The primary difference between A Dream of Red Mansions and other classical novels lies in its strong interest in characters, even when describing insignificant characters, it does not follow the rules. Some minor characters are just a flash in the pan, but the author outlines their faces and personalities very clearly with a few strokes. For the main characters, the author is good at carving out their main personality characteristics from different angles according to their different status and relationships, through different plots, and using supplementary description methods that focus on other aspects of the characters, so that these images are very profound and full, giving people an indelible impression. For less important people, it is generally to take a few strokes first, and then focus on describing typical events and highlighting their personality characteristics after a certain period of time. (Selected from Writing Guidance Newspaper, Second Edition)