On The "Four" In The "family" Image

Trilogy of FOUR GENERATIONS is an epic masterpiece was written by Lao She in the1940s, the novel takes the war as a "direct political impact" to the old Pekinese family. Reflect the changing times and history progress through the changing of a family. This article takes the development track of the image of" family " in FOUR GENERATIONS as the starting point:dissert from the content-rich culture’s layer cake to the precarious "family" is catalyzed by the war, then to the re-start of "Return" and "Reconstruction" of family after the war. The constantly changing image of "family", changed by Lao She’s writing purposes of "cultural reflection" to "cultural transmission" and the "national reform" to "national rejuvenation". In which writing, there are involving in thinking and construction of the writer in the process of change and transformation from traditional "family" to the modern one, but also containing the writer’s affectionate and expectations of the entire Chinese nation and Chinese culture.This article is divided into four parts, the first part mainly analysis the harmony and warmness of old Pekinese families is disseminated by traditional filial piety culture. Though there are differences in ideology and culture between the family members, the phenomenon of culture’s layer cake did not prevent the family from maintaining the integrity, the members mutually help and obey filial piety culture, the image of "family" in the works was both complete and rich.The second part analyzes the precarious of "family" due to the arrival of the war. Firstly, the cruelty of war led to the tragic death of the families, tragedy of the family breakdown. Some courage, ambitious people inspired out of the family to join the national war of resistance torrent as soldiers in defending the homeland and the idea, while the others could not escape the torment because of family responsibilities and family fetters (Lao She expressed understanding and helpless to their choice instead of affection of the ironic and hatred), which inevitable took "family" into shaken and split.The third part analyzes the family is strong and completely preserved down in spite of the hit of the war. The "family" brought out its warmth again by soothing the souls,"Reunion" is expected by the people. However,"Reunion" is not a simple sense of "Return", but rebuilding "family", by looking for the culture root for continuing the Chinese nation, and the source and strength of the revitalization of the Chinese nation, Lao She finished the construction and transiting of the traditional "family" to the modern one.Conclusion is a reconsideration of the image of "family" in this novel. It showed the change of Lao She’s thought from his novels notice "Four Generations go to death" to the conclusion of final text of the novel. Though Lao She finish the novel in a "reunion" ending under the inspiring of the times trend, even get Qi Ruiquan as the pillar of the family, the ending is much thinner in art than the character of Ruixuan in the previous text. To some extent, Cultural richness of the novel is lost, which also reflects the writer’s powerless in the completing the dialogue between the tradition and the modern.