A Madman's Short Story Quod By Lu Xun

While working as a librarians assistant Mao met Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu who would become the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in which one day Mao would become leader of. Also at that time, in 1919 events would lead up to the May fourth movement, a sociopolitical and intellectual platform against the Paris Peace Conferences decision to give Japan territory in China from Germany. A movement led by Chen Duxiu which would culturally change young Chinese opinions against western liberalism in favor of Marxism or Leninism. Mao created many groups to protest Japan in the process of uniting students with merchants and other workers. Finally, in 1921 Mao solidified his Marxist ideals as to what the future of China should look like.

He differentiates between madness as a clinical condition and a mystical madness. He further supports his argument with Elie Wiesel distinctions of the two. Clinical madman isolates himself from the world while mystical madman brings the Messiah in him (112). Patterson further discusses the notion of madness before the creation of human and

Referring from the text, the narrator explained, “Ha!—would a madman have been so wise as this?” In the beginning of the narrative, the slaughterer attempted to justify his sanity, which confirms that he can establish his own status. According to “The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity Plea”, no mentally unstable person could not perceive reality. “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution— with what foresight—with what dissimulation.” If the murderer was legally insane, he would not have had such a comprehensible memory of the crime, however he did indeed. Considering the belief that evil eyes had such misfortune upon it, the narrator can be considered balanced, for it perhaps caused injuries and nobody would desire for anything like an evil eye in proximity of them. Nonetheless, the murder himself confirmed his guilt with all the precautions he took, therefore, he should be sent to prison instead of receiving medical

Without that initial statement, why would we think him mad? Then he says; "Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing." How does he know that madmen know nothing? I wrote in my own journal once; "Insanity is not madness. Sanity is madness, if one can distinguish the difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then make you sane?" So then, if the narrator questions our thoughts on his sanity, he must then know the difference or that there is a difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then create some question as to his own sanity? I think from the very beginning he questioned his own sanity to himself thereby creating the question of insanity to the reader! Isn't that insane? (ha ha) But was he insane? Insane is defined in Webster's New Concise Dictionary as: "Not Sane; mentally deranged or unsound. Set apart for demented persons. Not Whole." OK, well we still cannot prove that he was or was not insane. Was he a psychopath? Some would say yes, most definitely. But what is a psychopath? Psychopaths have a character type that enables them to pursue pleasure with indifference to the suffering they cause others. Psychopaths are completely lacking such virtues as benevolence and compassion. In this story, the narrator says; "I loved the old man.

Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.

The narrator is constantly trying to prove his sanity, yet we can conclude that he actually, if not consciously, subconsciously understands he is going mad. He is the one that first puts the idea of him being mad in the reader?s mind, and he is the one that continually asks how it could be possible that he is mad, which shows that he himself is not sure. He?s trying to prove his sanity in such a desperate way, that I believe it is obvious he must have some idea of his insanity, otherwise he would just state his sanity, rather than trying to prove it.

Some readers may argue that the narrator is sane because he constantly explains that his actions are sane. However, the narrator is actually insane because the actions that he justifies are very abnormal. The narrator explains that he concealed the body by, “ First of all, [dismembering] the corpse. [He] cut off the head and the arms and the legs” (Poe l 133-134). Clearly, the narrator’s actions mentioned above are not normal. No sane person would be proud of how carefully they concealed a dead body. The narrator is just trying to explain his peculiar actions in a normal way, which he hopes will convince the reader he is sane. Although the narrator justifies himself, the actions he carried out are not even something a sane person would do, therefore making him insane.

He watched the man sleep every night and he claimed that he heard noises, how can you possibly thing that the narrator is not insane? I believe he is insane due to his actions. He killed a man because of his eye then dismembered his corpse and then he said he hears noises. The narrator murdered an old man that was sleeping in his house, an old man that was probably his friend. The man had a vulture eye, a pale blue eye with a film over it. He murdered the old man because of his pale blue vulture eye. In the beginning of text, he said, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never insulted me. I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!...Whenever it fell upon on me, my blood ran cold…I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” This quote demonstrates how insane the narrator is. He killed the old man because of his hatred for the man’s eye. No normal human will do such deed for that reason.

The first Cultural Revolution of China’s 20th century began with the May Fourth Movement on May 4th, 1919. The May Fourth Movement in China was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement. Although it physically began on May 4, 1919, it actually lasted from about 1917 until 1923. It marked the rapid rise of Chinese Nationalism as well as a re-evaluation of Confucianism. The movement was sparked by the dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles settlement regarding China. The treaty endorsed the Japanese takeover of the German concessions in the Shandong peninsula. The movement was an attempt to redefine the culture, political, and intellectual state of China. The movement

It is believed that the narrator has a mental disorder. It is not normal for his roommate’s eye to have so much control over him. “It becomes clear to the reader that this madman cannot judge reality from fantasy” (associated content). The definition of mental illness according to Houghton Mifflin is: any of various psychiatric conditions, usually characterized by impairment of an individual’s normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning, and caused by psychological or psychosocial factors. Also called mental disease, mental disorder. Basically it’s a disability in a person that causes then to behave in a not so normal way. I believe that the narrator in the story suffers from schizophrenia. Symptoms of schizophrenia are hallucinations, delusions, talking nonsense and aggressive behavior. The madman shows all these symptoms with his false perception, false beliefs, talk of the eye and violence against the old man. Yes everyone has evil thoughts sometimes but if your mental state is intact, you should be able to control those urges. “Human nature is a balance of light and dark good and evil, most of the time this balance is maintained. In those of us not mentally stable the dark side will always emerge”.

The audience should also notice within the first paragraph where the legal definition of insanity could also be applied. It is here where his words begin to contradict themselves. It is here where he starts to demonstrate a mad man, by accusing the audience of coming to the conclusion that he is mad. He then goes on to imply that if he were mad, he “would be out of control, …profoundly illogical, and not even recognize the implications of his

Diary of a Madman starts off with a prologue that ends with the sentence “Ive got good reason for my fears (pg240)”. This sentence strategically prepares the reader for questioning and reasoning within the remainder of the story. The idea of reasoning and distinguishing sanity from insanity is very blurred in both of these stories. When madman continues to speak about reasoning and the study of humans I come to the conclusion that he is one that studies humans, therefore he is seen as an outcast. Society labels a knowledgable human being as a “nerd” instead of a professional. Diary of a madman can be read closely as a research journal which makes me challenge the idea of madman being insane and his perception of reality.

In the first few paragraphs of the story, the narrator makes a point of rejecting the idea that he is mad. It almost seems as if he goes out of his way to reassure readers that he is indeed sane. It was at this point that I first got an inclination that the narrator was unreliable, either because he is insane, or just lying. The average person who

The answer that Ken Frieden gives to this question is a positive one. He downplays the contrast between the sane narrative and mad narrator: “The discrepancy between sane narrator and madman perhaps shows the error of assuming that linguistic normalcy implies psychological normalcy.” Friedan took it for granted that the narrator is mad because he kills an old man for no reason. He is doubly mad, Friedan said, when he imagines he hears the pounding of the dead man's heart and gives away the crime he had concealed. Yet the narrator tells a coherent tale, as if to demonstrate out of spite that he is sane, refuting the ordinary belief that he must be mad.

Under the pressure of Fourth May movement, during the 1921 Washington conference, an agreement is made between China and Japan, requires Japan to return all the previous Germany leased territory, return the custom authority in Qindao to China and many railways (Frederick, 1999). Fourth May movement also puts pressure on the cabinet, which leads to the resignation of all cabinet members. This movement shows the would that the Chinese people also have the ability to choose who to lead the country. Different from seven years ago the Xinhai revolution, unions have excised their power in democracy. Apart from foreign policy, during the movement, unions are formed in major cities. Students, factories workers and many middle and low class people, demonstrate their ability to influence the government, and express their opinions. Fourth May movement helps spread communism. It is ambiguous to say whether this is good or bad. However the communism party; who is ruling china right now; can never come this far; if it was for the movement.