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To Live Yu Huo Death

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According to HISTORY, about 1.5 million Chinese people were killed in the Chinese revolution, and more suffered imprisonment, seizure of poverty, torture or general humiliation. Through five different deaths, ones mans life had been forever changed. In the novel "To Live" Yu Hua uses the motif of death to illustrate how Fugui learns from his experiences of life lessons, ultimately transforming his life for the better. Within these many different characters' deaths in the book, Fugui adopts new ways of living his life. The early death of Mr. Xu had created a shift for Fugui and his thoughts. Fugui's father had admitted, "The Xu family has begotten two prodigal sons," (36). Hua has used biblical allusion to emphasize the return of Fugui and Mr. Xu's past self. Mr. Xu feels bad that his son has become like him. Together, they have ended up in the same boat. Mr. Xu didn't really stop his son from gambling. He had only warned him because he too did the same thing and knew what was going …show more content…

Hua has illustrated, "Long Er had screwed himself," (83). Long Er had previously gained all of Fugui's fortunes by luring him into his addictive games. This is the point when Fugui had to turn his whole life around; relearning how to appreciate what he had. He knew that if he didn't change soon, he would end up just like Long Er. Fugui had basically lost all of his riches because of the fact that he wasn't appreciative and careful. Fugui states, "I've got to keep on living," (85). Fugui was really close to that fate, but then Long Er lost everything. The death of Long Er was the turning point for Fugui's. He knew he had change his path in order to survive. Hua is illustrating that Fugui finally appreciated the value of life when he escaped execution. Hua also demonstrates that if one continues to make bad decisions in life, as Long Er did, he will met with the same

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