Discussion Question

• In your opinion, what is Fugui’s reason to live? What is your reason to live?
• Which characteristic of Fugui you like?
• Which character you like best?
• Can you find another symbol in this novel?
• If you were Fugui, will you choose to live?

Theme

• Family ties

      Undoubtedly, the profound emotion between Fugui and his family was one of the most significant faith that encouraged Fugui to live. On the other side, however, family was also a major cause that led to Fugui’s miserable life. Among all the family members, there were two women that influenced Fugui’s life most deeply — one was his mother, and one was his wife Jiazhen. When Fugui was young, his mother spoiled him excessively, allowing him to do anything he wished. Growing up in this kind of “free” atmosphere, Fugui lost himself in gambling all day and soon lost all of his property during the Great Leap period. Nevertheless, Jiazhen’s unconditional sacrifice and loyalty to Fugui supported him to step over the toughest period in his life. Jiazhen came back to Fugui after she gave birth to Youqing and knew Fugui was no longer gambling. She willingly bared the burden of all the family issues when Fugui was captured in military. If Jiazhen did not accompany Fugui for her whole lifetime, fugui might not be able to grow up so quickly and strongly.

• The reason to live

      The other main theme in To Live is the reason to live. Introductory lists some motivations of living. However, when all those motivation disappear, what is the reason to live? In the novel, Fugui had lost all of his wealth and family members. In other words, he was neither physically nor mentally rich. Nevertheless, witnessing all his relatives died one by one, he still chose to live ordinarily and plainly though he could barely feed himself. At the beginning of the novel, Fugui expressed his opinion to life: “No matter how lucky a person is, the moment he decides he wants to die, there's nothing that will keep him alive”.  Then, what is the reason that keeps him alive? Yu Hua did not mention the answer directly, but leave the question to reader.

The Use of Comparison

      Yu Hua used numerous vivid comparison between human and animals. He combined their’s characteristics so subtly that enables the readers to imagine the action of characters correctly.

      For instance, he compared the talking women to birds. “The sound of all those women yammering away was like the twittering sound of a flock of sparrows that flies in when it’s time to dry out rice husks” (102). This comparison perfectly displayed those women’s noisy characteristic since birds are naturally noisy and always assemble together.

      He also compared Fugui to an ox. “Fugui is a good ox. Of course he gets lazy sometimes, but even people drag their feet from time to time — how can you expect an animal not to” (234)? Ox is always the symbol of diligence and perseverance. Yu Hua implied in this comparison that Fugui’s determination to live is like an ox’s ability to persist in front of difficulties.

The Use of Symbolism

Snow & Winter

      Yu Hua emphasized the effect of snow when Fengxia was giving birth to Kugen not only to create the desperate and dismal atomsphere, but also to symbolize the coldness and sadness in Fugui’s heart. For instance, Fugui recalled that his “two children both died during childbirth — Young during someone else’s, Fengxia during her own. The snow was especially heavy that day” (207). When Fugui witnessed the death of his second child, he could not do anything but watch the heavy snow falling from the sky. His heart was as cold as the snow since he realized that  his tininess in front of the fate. The snow is a symbol of his desperation.

In addition, Fengxia’s death took place in winter, a season of death, emptiness and desolation. Yu Hua used a plain diction to describe Fugui’s thought: “The next day, carrying Fengxia on his back, Erxi went home with me . It was still snowing” (209). Winter symbolizes coldness and emptiness, which are Fugui’s feeling toward his daughter’s death.

Main Characters

Young Fengxia

Adult Fengxia and her husband

Jiazhen and Fengxia

Fengxia is giving birth to Kugen

Fugui

Young Youqing

Sources

http://image.baidu.com/search/index?tn=baiduimage&ipn=r&ct=201326592&cl=2&lm=-1&st=-1&fm=result&fr=&sf=1&fmq=1475119132924_R&pv=&ic=0&nc=1&z=&se=1&showtab=0&fb=0&width=&height=&face=0&istype=2&ie=utf-8&word=%E6%B4%BB%E7%9D%80+%E5%89%A7%E7%85%A7&f=3&oq=%E6%B4%BB%E7%9D%80+ju&rsp=0

Plot Summary

Fugui, born in a wealthy landlord, had been spoiled excessively by his mother. He inherited the dissolute and dissipated lifestyle from his father and soon lost almost all of the family possession in gambling. However, this was only the start of his traumatic experiences: He was captured by the military of Chinese nationalist party on the way of buying medicine for his mother. After he escaped and came back home, his mother had already died. Henceforth, his beloved left him dramatically. His loving and caring daughter, Fengxia, died in the process of giving birth to Kugen due to the outdated medical treatment; Youqing, his clever and kind-hearted son, sacrificed his life when he was donating blood to Fugui’s best Friend. Even more, Fugui’s dearest wife Jiazhen surrendered in front of the illness. In the end, there was only Fugui’s grandson Kugen giving him accompany. However, Kugen choked on beans and ended his life in front of Fugui. Having lost all his wealth and family members, Fugui did not give up his life and continued to live plainly. Sometimes, only to live is a hard topic itself.

Introduction

Human beings live for various reasons -- some live for status and wealth, while some live for kinship and love. If one lost everything, what would be the reason for him to live? In the novel To Live by Yu Hua, when the protagonists Yu Fugui had spoiled all of his legacies and lost his parents, wife and children one by one, he still suffered to live with a plain reason: to live is to live simply. Yu Hua suggested that “to live” itself is a symbol of hope, and hope is the power that supports Fugui to live. Throughout the novel, the author sets up a theme of ordeal and suffering with multiple symbolism and comparisons, depicting Fugui’s misery life vividly in the midst of historical turbulences such as the China’s Civil War, the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution.