The great achievement of A Dream of Red Mansions is that in this genealogical novel, it boldly exposes the extravagant life of consorts and nobles in the monarchical era, and points out their hypocrisy, fraud, greed, decay and spiritual and moral degradation. It not only points out the inevitable collapse and death of that family, but also implies the inevitable collapse and death of the society to which that family belongs. But to do this, we must have rich life experience, subtle and in-depth observation, and through superb language skills and beautiful artistic skills, we can vividly describe the essence of that family and the real images of various characters in the field.
Cao Xueqin happens to have this kind of material, which not only has a high degree of literary accomplishment, but also has a deep foundation of aristocratic family life; So what he wrote about Jia Fu is both true and concrete. The lifestyle of wealthy families, the words and deeds of various characters, as well as housing, equipment, food and clothing, are all written in a concrete and vivid way, which almost dazzles readers.
It would be a big mistake if readers only pay attention to this flashy life and ignore the poverty of farmers who support this family economically. You know, for the luxury and greed of the Jia family, many families have lost money, many families have sold their children, and many young girls have become domestic slaves and maids of the Jia family. On the one hand, the Jia family's economic source is public funds, on the other hand, extortion and usury. The Jia family's dizzying enjoyment of food and clothing is actually the essence of people. And those poor households in debt can't stand oppression because they can't meet the demands of landlords. As a result, some sell industries and some sell daughters. Those girls can't resist, they can only resent their slave life. Baoyu once saw Aron's sister was beautiful and wanted to take her home. Aaron sneered, "I'm just a slave. Can't even my relatives be slaves?" "This is how sad, how painful.
When we read A Dream of Red Mansions, it is very incorrect if we only pay attention to the lively scenes of Yingying and Yanyan, and even envy the clothes and diet of Pinger girls who attack people, without paying attention to their mental pain and poor slavery. Let's imagine that these lovely girls, Jinchuan, Qingwen, Yuanyang, Second Sister You and You Sanjie, have all become victims of the slutty and absurd ghosts of the Jia family. When describing them, Cao Xueqin touched their pure hearts with a very sympathetic tone in the extremely ugly reality. Let readers feel extremely disgusted with the evil virtues of those playboys.
Cao Xueqin showed Jia's group of fatuous and stubborn bureaucrats, hypocritical and stubborn conservative ideas, and those arrogant, extravagant, insidious and decadent dudes in various colors without mercy, vividly and concretely showing them to readers. Most of the luxurious "ladies" who come and go in the Jia family are intoxicated and can't see the ghostly shadow of the sun. They don't know the hard source of a grain of rice and a foot of cloth, the function of plowing cattle and hoeing the ground, they are rich and powerful, pampered and don't do a serious thing. Some are just "drinking today, watching flowers tomorrow, gambling and whoring, and doing whatever you want"; Some are "communicating with the government, taking legal action, raping commoners and exploiting by usury". Jia Lian and his wife, Jia Zhen and his son are typical of this kind of characters. Cao Xueqin described them with the most realistic brushwork and hatred. It's really written with pen and ink and tears. As Jiao Da said, "I don't know anything about giving birth to these animals and actually raising a brother-in-law every day. We broke our arms and hid them in our sleeves. "The author of" A Dream of Red Mansions "scolded the Jia family. In this genealogical novel, Cao Xueqin describes the history of the rise and fall of aristocratic families in the monarchy in such a profound and subtle way that readers can clearly understand that A Dream of Red Mansions is an epic, an epic of the demise of aristocratic giants.
Cao Xueqin's era is a famous literary inquisition era. During the Kang, Yong and Gan Dynasties, literary inquisitions, large and small, were really continuous, with many dead people and wide involvement, which was rare in previous history. Although Cao Xueqin was a standard-bearer, he had to worry about the terrible ethnic discrimination and oppression policies of the Qing rulers. Although he didn't "interfere in the imperial court" in A Dream of Red Mansions, and didn't blatantly criticize the supreme ruling authorities, he skillfully reflected the dark and decadent politics of the Qing Dynasty through the social relations and personnel relations of the Jia family. Jia Yucun, a sycophantic and corrupt bureaucrat, has been endowed with a very profound typical significance of local officials in Qing Dynasty by the author. Because he is good at finding opportunities, he finally succeeded in his official career through the personnel relationship between Lin Ruhai and Jia Zheng. At first he was inexperienced and timid. Later, the greater the courage, the darker the conscience. Flattery to the powerful is a slave; He who oppresses the people is the king of hell. He did a lot of unnatural things, as can be seen from the two cases of Feng Yuan and Stone Idiot.
Xi- feng is a housekeeper "grandma", bold and tough, with a sour face and a hard heart. "I'm afraid I have ten thousand brains." She not only holds the personnel and economic power of the Jia family, but also extends to all aspects of society with the strength of the family. She said frankly, "It doesn't matter if we sue our family for rebellion." So bold, she can't do anything terrible? In the process of Wang Fengjie seizing power in Tiejian Temple, she showed an ugly face. She colluded with the government, broke up a happy marriage for 3.2 thousand silver, and killed two people.
Although the author of A Dream of Red Mansions repeatedly declared that he would not interfere in politics, he skillfully reflected the social and political corruption in the Qing Dynasty through the complicated social relations of that family, and reflected all kinds of collusion, evil deeds and crimes of murder for money between aristocratic giants and local officials. In Qing society, Jia Yucun and Guang Yun were by no means individual, but universal. Jia She and Feng are powerful people not only in the Jia family, but also in all prominent families. The greater their universality, the more they can reflect the darkness of politics and the hardships of people's livelihood. These vivid descriptions make A Dream of Red Mansions a great literary masterpiece.