Book Review of “the True Story of Ah Q"

Book Review of “The True Story of Ah Q”

Student Name: Wenwen Guo

Student Number: 250759677

History 1601E

TA’s Name: Joe Fonseca

February 20, 2014

Words Account: 1162

“The True Story of Ah-Q” was written by Lu Xun in December 19211, after the Revolution of 1911. The 1911 Revolution in China is an important background of this novel. This novel describes a series of stories around a vagabondage peasant Ah-Q who is famous for "spiritual victories", which means self-talk and self-deception. Ah-Q is a symbol of most of Chinese at that time, symbolizes the Chinese who with little education and have no idea of the things going on in their own country and the rest of the world. The author exposes people's ignorance and stupidity, attacks people's slavishness and self-deception, and condemn China’s refusal to face reality and hubris at that time.

First of all, most of Chinese could not get a chance to receive education, so people are ignorant at that time, especially in rural peasant class. When Mr. Chao’s son passed the country examination, the people of Weichuang respected Ah-Q because Ah-Q said Chao was his surname too, Ah-Q also said he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Chao2. People of Weichuang include Ah-Q and Mr. Chao respected people only because of money and status, but laugh at people who are in lower class than themselves. This kind of phenomenon is very common in China at that time, due to little education, Chinese are very shallow in spirit. The author shows us people are limited to a narrow and closed country at that time, and they are influenced by backward and outdated ideas, particularly in rural peasant class. When beaten by Mr. Chao because of Ah-Q said he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Chao, Ah-Q did not reply, but when Ah-Q beaten by people of Weichuang, he always emphasize to himself that is son beating his father, or sometimes even slaps himself on the face.

According to his "spiritual victories", he can always find a rational reason to...