1
The Shroud begins with the story of Chen Ma drinking, which runs through the whole article. When Chen Ma is happy, she will drink. When she drinks, she will sing, and all she sings is "Bitterness around her feet". This singing will sing out the sufferings of her life. Why do you sing sad songs when you are happy? It is the author's intention that he can endure all kinds of hardships, but he can't endure "suffering around his feet", just lamenting his own fate. Contrastive writing technique not only reflects Chen Ma's tragic fate, but also reflects the writer's "I" reminiscence of the past. I am helpless to Chen Ma's tragic fate, and "Walking around my feet" also sings the unspeakable sadness of "I", mother, private school teacher and footman.
Mrs. Chen is my domestic servant and is in charge of the kitchen. "My" family is a large family, and my mother knows how to be polite. Seeing Chen Ma's honesty and faithfulness, I don't know the origin. Chen Ma's cooking skill is growing day by day under the training of "us" and her own efforts. When Chen Ma learned that she would be employed for a long time, it was the happiest time in her life. Drinking and singing "Bitter Feet" made her feel warm. Even "I" like Chen Ma to sing and play the organ for her, and the years are quiet in a trance. This is the first time Mu Xin wrote about her drinking.
However, the good times didn't last long. Her third husband, an old and lame man, came to the door, and Chen Ma's life experience was exposed through her secret love for her servant "Honest Head". The first husband died when he was a child bride. He couldn't stand the indecency of his father-in-law and the abuse of his mother-in-law. He jumped off the bridge, and a crab man at the foot of the bridge dragged her ashore, and that man became the second husband. During the flood, when he was repairing the dam, he collapsed and drowned. It was the lame man who paid for the coffin and became her third husband. But I didn't know that the lame man was a deceitful rogue, and wanted Chen Ma to be a prostitute and enjoy the success by herself. Chen Ma had to escape again.
The lame husband came to ask for money. Seeing that all the money that Chen Ma earned all the year round was taken away by the lame, the mother didn't want to ask easily because of her status, and it was difficult for me to intervene, and the servants couldn't interrupt. "I" count on the help of my private school teacher, but Old Master Q actually said, "This is a thing of the past, and it should be managed as early as in the past!"
"I don't know what Old Master Q is talking about. I implicitly understand that teachers and servants are selfish, not worldly wise. At one time, I forgive my mother and I for being confined to my status and not being able to go out. At another time, I blame my mother for not ordering others to rescue Chen Ma, and I hate myself for not having the courage and eloquence to expel the cripple. "
Everyone knows that the lame man's blackmail is despicable, and Chen Ma's helplessness and pity are all unable to help for their own reasons. "I", a child who has read many books, can only lament. Fortunately, the sensible mother sent the lame away with money, and Chen Ma became more and more loyal to her boss.
2
After the lame husband didn't dare to harass Chen Ma again, Mu Xin wrote for the second time that Chen Ma drank and sang "Walking around her feet". Different from the first time, there is a mixture of sadness and joy for the rest of my life. Such stability is only appearance, and joy is fleeting.
"I" mischievously asked Chen Ma to play the old lady of a big family, intending to test the blind fortune teller. I'm sorry, the blind fortune teller once again told Chen Ma's miserable life in a few simple words, pushing the article to the first climax.
"I lost my parents in my early years, and my orphan daughter had no brothers. After marrying for three times, my husband died. One husband is still alive, like a tiger, and two people are fierce, so they have to be * * * degrees. Life without children, toil for life. Innocent and loyal. Despite the help of the nobles, Naiduo villain played tricks on him and survived ... "
In Chen Ma's view, she not only predicted her tragic fate, but also convinced her that all this was destiny takes a hand. "I" have always felt ashamed of Chen Ma.
In the first half of the article, Chen Ma is just a loyal, honest and kind-hearted working woman, but in the second half, her character is soft outside and hard inside, and she is smart and witty.
In the years of war, people were displaced, and large families were not spared. My mother left home with her family to flee. Before leaving, I entrusted my family to Chen Ma. My uncle is in charge of housekeeping, assisted by Mr. Accountant, but Chen Ma, a country woman, is unable to help her boss, because she is framed by her uncle for stealing. Chen Ma saw her uncle's sinister intention, "You want me to die, but I won't die." With the help of the servant "Honest Head", she was able to sneak out. Save your life, just to see your boss in the future. Escape to a small town across the province, eat fast and read Buddha, and make a living hard. I finally met my boss alive. When the clouds cleared, it seemed that everything was getting better, but Chen Ma was old and ill.
3
For the third time, Mu Xin wrote that Chen Ma was drinking. This time, she no longer sang "Suffering around her feet", but used a detail to describe Chen Ma's suffering. Mother pitied Chen Ma and told her not to cook. "Chen Ma refuses to accept, but she still works as a cook. After all, I am weak. From time to time, I see her sitting on a bamboo chair, taking off her shoes and rubbing her feet. " These feet finally "can't stand firm". Although they sang "Bitter around the feet" twice before, they didn't "stand firm" for their own feet, but they still had a little joy in their hearts. This time, the great disaster has passed, but her feet are "unable to stand firm". Chen Ma is not only sad that her life is coming to an end, but also sad that she can't repay her benefactor more. "I" can't hear Chen Ma's "pain around the feet", and I have unspeakable sadness, or, not just for someone, but also for the years that have been lost forever.
"Sometimes we drink a little wine quietly-many things we thought would come back after the past, but actually we didn't."
Mu Xin expresses the sadness that every one of us will face in a single sentence. He is nostalgic for losing the past, a song, a painting, a landscape, a relationship, a person ... I often think of my grandmother who has been entangled in her feet and has no education. She cooked dumplings for us early on New Year's Day, dressed herself up, urged us to get up again and again, and took her to the temple to worship Buddha. Later, when I was old and sick, I couldn't hear her urging us to get up early on New Year's Day. I occasionally saw her looking out of the window, and the whip exploded outside, so it was hard to see her smile.
Chen Ma, who is "ordered by Rick", can hardly live a stable life, let alone talk about love. The footman "Honest Head" is interested in her, and Chen Ma listens to the words of the blind fortune-teller. Even after suffering and living a stable life in my home, she still dares not accept "Honest Head". Chen Ma can be described as a "hero" in my home, eating fast and chanting Buddha, one for "honest head" and the other for "our" home. Chen Ma has been repaying kindness all her life, and seems to put her life and death at risk. Marry the second husband because he saved his life, marry the third lame husband because he buried the second husband. With the help of "Honest Head", I tried my best to save my life, just to see my boss in the future. After living a stable life in his employer, he repaid his benefactor by "eating fast and chanting Buddha". For herself, she only places her hopes on the afterlife. At this point, the article enters the theme, which is the second climax.
4
Chen Ma was seriously ill, and her mother asked "Honest Head" to prepare for the funeral. "The customs in the south of the Yangtze River, coffins, gowns and a whole set of objects for burial, are all prepared when people are alive. They are called" longevity materials "and" shroud ",which seems to mean wishing a long life." Mu Xin touched on the previous plot lightly, but paid great attention to "shroud", describing the types and colors of shroud in detail, and lamenting with great compassion:
"Many rich and ignorant people have made people's birth, marriage and death a colorful dream. When I was in the long process of getting to know people, I watched these extravagant creations of "life", "marriage" and "death". Even if I didn't understand them for a while, my heart became increasingly clear that this was not happiness or comfort, but a vain exposition. "
The more detailed the shroud is, the more it sets off the reality. With the aging of Chen Ma, "I" grew up gradually and understood the ignorance of secular people. Mu Xin is an atheist. He is sarcastic to those "colorful dreams", but he is very warm and more compassionate. He sympathized with and understood Chen Ma, a working woman who has no education and lives at the bottom of society, and pinned her happiness on an afterlife and an illusory dream. When Chen Ma saw the shroud prepared for her by her employer, she said, "I have a shroud like this. How much sadness and helplessness melted into the comforting smile before dying. Chen Ma didn't end up in the street more miserable and desolate than Xianglinsao. Mu Xin's heart of Jesus couldn't bear to tear the bloody wound apart again. The feeling of compassion was not only for Chen Ma, but also for other characters, including "I". A scholar book was unable to change the status quo, knowing that the shroud was barren, but could not break the illusory dream, but it was contradictory in his heart.
"Sister, they brought the shroud, picked it up one by one and showed it to Chen Ma. "I" learned that "there is a sharp aversion-why do you do this? Only girls can do it." The ignorance of the shroud, the ignorance of the laity, and the pity for Chen Ma are only gently brought out by the sentence "I", but they have a great influence on "I". "I" left my hometown to study in other places, and I didn't go home during the winter and summer vacations. The article came to an abrupt end. Outside is a new world, "I" lost my happy years and was buried in the past with Chen Ma.
Although the Shroud is realistic, the language is still poetic. That poetic sentence is like snowflake and wind, slowly and gently falling and passing, and the lingering faint sadness purifies our hearts and minds inch by inch. Reading Muxin's words not only helps us to be poor in knowledge, but also in character.