Ever since Sartre famously uttered the phrase "others are hell" through Garson's mouth, his adherents abounded, and the emerging writer Ren Yu explored the subject in depth in his novel The Crucible with his strong emotional experience and skillful writing skills. Through the experience of Chen Haiming, a doctor with passive infection fusion virus, the work expresses the pain of being in the melting pot of society, and hopes to use his own strength to get out of this predicament.
One
There are two main stages for the protagonist Chen Haiming's activities: one is a small hospital isolated in China. In this epidemic area, he witnessed the ravages of the virus and different human natures, and eventually "merged" with his wife; Another stage is located in the United States, and with the "help" of the fusion virus, Chen Haiming has the ability to devour the bodies and "personalities" of others, and grows into the leader of the fusion virus infection community. The core of Chen Haiming's experience is that to survive, you must adapt to a harsh environment; Be strong!
The plot of the novel advances in this line of thought, and the male protagonist begins to be blessed after falling into a desperate situation, and becomes a strong person recognized and trusted by everyone from an ordinary dick. In the hospital, the general doctor Chen Haiming has become an authoritative expert in anti-virus and a core figure trusted by everyone. He quickly grasped the characteristics of fusion viruses: "We may not be facing a virus, but some kind of creature that will devour us, we can simply call them fusions, and whoever they devour, they may become whom, including animals", showing wisdom; When the female nurse is captured as a hostage by businessman Li Shunyu, Chen Haiming also wears a hero's battle suit and is morally flawless.
The hospital is only the beginning of Chen Haiming's desperate situation (the resolution of the hospital crisis is mainly due to the intersection of the timeline discovered by the psychiatric patient Lin Guoqing and the accurate interpretation of Professor Fu Dan of the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, reflecting the author's trust and dependence on intuition and science), and his big stage towards the strong kicked off in the United States. After Chen Haiming, who learned extraordinary abilities, transferred to the United States, he began a new round of more exciting adventures as an underground doctor in a small town. He found the local gangster Gail as his younger brother, dealt with the local drug lords who sold the organs of the fusionists, and was then targeted by the ASA, the official agency to prevent the spread of the integrators, and then successfully resisted the prison bully in the prison where the integrators were held, becoming a tool in the hands of more powerful forces. During the refinement, Chen became Sun Dasheng, who could change his appearance at will: "Chen Haiming is a little embarrassed, do you want to continue to maintain the appearance of a priest... Just when Chen Haiming was in a dilemma, another phone suddenly rang, Chen Haiming hurriedly changed back to his appearance, picked up and asked..." And the original intention and yearning of the "Great Sage" is only to reunite with his son and wife, just like before he was infected with the virus, to have ordinary happiness.
Two
At the book launch, Ren Yu said that the "melting pot" is a metaphor for society, and the "fusion virus" in the novel is also a metaphor. He believes that it is difficult for people in society not to be "integrated" by the environment, and it is difficult not to change themselves to adapt to the environment. But the author also implies that there are limits to change, and that in the crucible of society, if you do not insist on yourself, you will be swallowed up by society: "Don't want to be who you want to be, but really think about what you want to be and work hard for it." "The way to maintain oneself is to be strong and thus have the power to dominate others. So what is the path to becoming strong? The answer given by the author is to practice his stunts in a desperate situation, just like the protagonist Chen Haiming in the book.
Chen Haiming, who lives in the "furnace", is constantly fighting and exhausted; The same is true of the author who lives in the "melting pot", who uses the acquired cinematic narrative techniques to write about the unbearable weight of a sensitive mind. Ji Wenjun, a well-known writer, said: "He collided with the times with his instincts and captured some of the highlights of the times. "The hardship does not belong to him alone, but may be faced by all teenagers living in depression to some extent." Children who grow up under the pressure of a strict education are often in danger of social isolation, they are forced to defend their lives, fear that they will fail, and therefore feel that life is difficult and responsible.
The author said in an interview: "My war with those who want me to return to normalcy has never stopped, it will not be now, and it will never be possible in the future." As Chen Haiming's character shows: he has become an infected person, a special person, it is impossible to return to the ordinary "normal" life, to live, only to keep fighting, fighting with others, but also with himself, by harnessing the terrifying power of his own body to open his own living space. At this point, the relationship between the self and the other has been formed, Chen Haiming can only devour others if he wants to survive, and the author wants to defend his original intention and self, which can only mean the death of the will of others.
This book may be a transitional object for Ren, reflecting his survival instinct for light in the exchange of blood and tears, while also defending his right to explore new ways of life and express anger.
Three
Infection with the virus is not determined by the protagonist's will, but this disaster has happened, and only by facing and fighting, adapting, following the trend, and killing a bloody path in your own world. Since life is not worth living, live in your own fictional world, make it with words for the time being, and then throw it into life to see what sound can be made.
Is there another way out of hell? Why are others hell? The root cause is largely because people deliberately distinguish and oppose "me" and "others" in their consciousness, and completely center on "me" in communication, causing deterioration of interpersonal relationships and making others their own hell. If a person's cognitive level cannot break through the "boundary between people and me" and insists on self-centeredness in everything, then the possibility of others becoming hell is extremely high. After all, not everyone can become a hero, and besides, isn't Chen Haiming, who became a "hero", become someone else's hell again? Perhaps how a person finds joy, happiness and peace in ordinary life and work is the most important ability. In the events of the creation of this book, the author points out a path through his own writing activity itself - storytelling. One of the functions of stories is to get rid of the nightmares that life weighs on everyone's chest, and to tell stories as long as new and old barbarism are all around us. At the heart of storytelling is the ability and/or power to communicate experiences. Communication necessarily means dialogue, giving and receiving, sharing. When the author opens his heart, thinks more about the reader, is willing to summarize his own experience, and uses the form of art to share, he has the power of storytelling and has friends.
Freud said: "The basis of repression can only be an unpleasant feeling, that is, there is an irreconcilability between the repressed individual ideas and the dominant number of ideas that make up the self." However, repressed ideas have taken their own revenge and it has caused disease. And once this single thought is unconsciously released and brought into the bright light of consciousness, the conceptual thing will be immediately and effectively eliminated like viruses and infections that damage the body and blood. If writing allows the writer to expose his repressed ideas and heal himself and those who are also infected with the virus, then the author really has the power to do so. If this power is not expected to devour others into the path of self-realization, then society also has a responsibility to improve the existing situation and create a gentle atmosphere for the "Chen Haiming", rather than forcing a kind and ordinary "doctor" to take an offensive stance towards life and oppose the whole world in order to survive. Wang Xue
Source: China Writers Network