Everything is full of beauty and hope, but it is precisely because of misfortune that pure kindness and pure hope will inevitably lead to tragedy.
-Shen Congwen's self-evaluation of Border Town
Shen Congwen's writing of Xiangxi customs shows a pure nature, without carving or whitewashing, such as the looming scenery in the mist, which is intoxicating. The words seem to be mixed with the fragrance of the earth, and under the touch of moonlight, white fog and insects, they shed simple fragrance and faint regret.
In addition to the masterpiece Border Town, the book also includes more than a dozen novels. With his unique words, Shen Congwen painted a long scroll of local conditions and customs, which is ubiquitous and breathtaking. His words and heart will remain in this magical land of Xiangxi forever.
Gentle as water
On the border of Xiangxi, there is a small mountain town called "Tea Cave". A stream, a ferry, a white tower, an old man, a yellow dog, a girl and two brothers make up the border town. Cui Cui lived with grandpa, an old boatman, and grew up with gentle eyes. This girl is as beautiful, clear, simple and clever as an elf and an angel.
Most people in Tea Cave City are also kind and simple. They don't talk about hierarchy or utility, treat each other sincerely, help each other and love each other. An accidental meeting made Cui Cui's heart ripple for the first time, like a stone falling into a stream, slowly overflowing round and round. This unknown feeling sometimes makes her blush and sometimes makes her think. The girl's bud touched the stream and melted grandpa's eyes.
When the two brothers learned that they were worried about Cui Cui, they did not quarrel or fight, but chose to express their feelings through songs. My brother was disheartened to know that he could not beat his younger brother. My brother's romantic love songs filled the mountain city and spread into Cui Cui's dream. Grandpa looked at the ignorant Cui Cui tenderly, with expectation and anxiety.
However, all the misfortunes turned kindness and hope into desolation: my brother drowned in the accident, my brother became cold, and my grandfather was even more worried. And a sudden thunderstorm washed away the ferry, washed away the white tower and took away the painful and worried grandfather. The girl's relatives and tears can't resist the cruel fate. The song that made her soul float gently never returned to the cave.
These mountain people are similar to other lands and other young lives. They are totally immersed in love, but they are severely crushed by life. The difference is that it kept raining in Mao Mao in the mountains, and the stream was shrouded in smoke, which just drowned the crying, leaving only gentle tears.
As clear as the moon
Customs is a major theme of Shen Congwen, and these bad habits and vulgarities in the mountains and rivers of western Hunan have nothing to hide under the bright moon. Early marriage, prostitutes, dragons who can't get true love, witches who dare not love ... people seem to be doing what they are used to, but they don't know why or why.
A small scene under the moon is a unique epitome of the "strange" custom: a woman of a certain ethnic group in the cottage falls in love with the first man, and after giving her virginity, she is only allowed to marry the second man. If this rule is violated, women are bound with stones, sunk into pools or thrown into a hole in the ground. Superstition blinds people's eyes, and the fear it brings tightens the hearts of boys and girls who are eager for love.
However, people often die under this harsh "law". Under the moon, there is such a couple. Zhaiyou, the only son of the Lord, is holding a beauty in his arms and singing softly in the moonlight. The girl closed her eyes and listened quietly. They have just dedicated their bodies and minds to each other, their pale faces reflecting the moonlight and their eyes unusually firm. Knowing that there is no future, they don't want to be without each other. They took poison and lay on the stone bed, smiling and waiting, their hearts filled with unprecedented clarity.
Under the bondage of custom, people have been wronged and struggled, not because they don't know why, but because they know in their hearts how much courage it takes to break the custom. The bright moon is clear in the mountains, and it can only flow into people's hearts thoroughly.
Homecoming is like love.
Mountain people are no different from city people. If anything, they are more real and confused. Farmers, short-term workers, long-term workers, rich people, small traders and big traders all want warmth and peace. Guisheng reveals the confusion of the mountain people and their desire to return home.
Guisheng polished sickle, mowed grass, chopped wood and caught fish by the stream ... He supported himself with his hands and lived a real life. The elderly Guisheng took a fancy to his daughter Jin Feng, who was doing business at Qiaotou. The more I see her, the more I love her. The little girl is very handsome and is satisfied with her practicality. Suddenly, the bird released in your heart suddenly wants a nest.
Unexpectedly, just when your life was about to propose marriage, the rich man, the Fifth Master, was encouraged by the superstitious remarks of the Fourth Master from the city, and even took Jinfeng away as a concubine in advance. To your chagrin, Jinfeng and Jinfeng's father agreed! On the night of marrying a concubine, angry Guisheng set fire to Qiaotou store and his home. When people are gone, the nest is naturally gone.
Every boat has a dock and every sparrow has a nest. Perhaps it is not love that is blind, and it is not people's hearts that are confused, but the infinite desire to return home.
Shen Congwen reveals a kind of almost natural humanity through Border Town, which is pure, simple and clear. These beautiful human feelings and human nature full of Xiangxi characteristics are wrapped by local customs and world conditions, and a faint light shines into villages and streams. Although the story always reveals thin desolation and faint regret, we still see that there is pure love in the world and pure beauty in human nature. That's enough.