Research On The Functions Of Utensils In “Sanyan”

“Sanyan” is the general name of three novel collections compiled by Feng Menglong,which can be called the representative works of Ming Dynasty’s citizen literature.There are a lot of descriptions of the objects of people’s daily life in the late Ming Dynasty in the works,which,to a certain extent,reproduce the daily life and spiritual outlook of the citizen class,and reflect the secular pursuit of objects of the citizen class.All the time,the academic circles have done a wide range of research on "Sanyan",but there is still no systematic and comprehensive research from the perspective of function.Therefore,this study interprets the narrative function,cognitive function and educational function of the utensils from the perspective of utensils,and summarizes their aesthetic function.In the form of narration,Feng Menglong skillfully deduces the story between the streets and alleys with utensils,and makes utensils become an indispensable part of the story.At the same time,these artifacts also carry the aesthetic function of the article,which is different from the orthodox idea of ancient Chinese literati and officials who lost their will by playing with things and the tradition of elegant play since Song Dynasty.It reflects Feng Menglong’s attitude and choice of artifacts,and implies the author’s value pursuit and contradictory psychology.Through these artifacts,we can see that Feng Menglong,is deeply influenced by traditional Confucian culture,not only advocates feudal ethics and morality,but also affirms the rationality of human and material desires,showing his contradictory,rich and complex thoughts,thus giving “Sanyan” a kind of artistic tension and charm.The utensils in “Sanyan” have their narrative function.They play the role of planning the layout of the story,which are reflected in the construction of the plot through the utensils,making it an object to unfold the narrative and promote the development of the plot;At the same time,they can also depict the characters by means of utensils,depict the characters’ personalities by means of utensils,make the characters’ personalities more distinct,reveal the characters’ psychology and depict their complicated inner activities;Furthermore,the objects can be used to metaphorize the theme,so that the objects can play a cohesive role in the theme of the text.These implements make the text get rid of the simple plot narrative and enter the level of describing the objective world and subjective emotion.The objects in “Sanyan” have their cognitive function “Sanyan” is a kind of reproduction text,which has the objectivity of overall narration and the fidelity of detail description.Through the utensils,we can perceive that “Sanyan” describes a complex society in which money,lust and power are intertwined;As small as we can perceive the subtle changes of men’s and women’s identities in the late Ming Dynasty,utensils can not only show the differences of men’s and women’s identities,but also show that men’s status is higher than women’s,and can see the changes of men’s and women’s concepts and pursuits.Through the utensils,we can see a traditional and beyond traditional civil society constructed by the author.The utensils in “Sanyan” also have their educational function.Starting from the love education and utensils,the author extends the love between men and women to the love between monarch and minister,father and son,brother and friend,and takes utensils as the carrier to achieve the purpose of educating people.Starting from the prosperity and the utensils,the author describes the prosperity and the prosperity of the utensils,the literati,the military men and the merchants,especially the merchants.The description follows the good moral character of the traditional Confucianism and coincides with the concept of fate of karma,so as to achieve the purpose of education,persuasion and punishment.The utensils in “Sanyan” convey the author’s aesthetic function.Compared with the late Ming Dynasty scholar bureaucrats’ advocating of respecting life by playing with objects,enjoying feelings by playing with objects,and nourishing the heart by playing with objects,Feng Menglong only regarded objects as an inevitable and necessary part of truly representing the life of citizens.This attitude determines that he does not pay special attention to the description of utensils and highlights them intentionally.What he chose was the daily utensils from the common people,with the characteristics of commodity and liquidity,which was in line with the characteristics of the late Ming Dynasty.As a feudal scholar bureaucrat,Feng Menglong’s contradictory characteristics of attitude and choice of utensils in the context of the rise of civil society in the late Ming Dynasty implied Feng Menglong’s value pursuit and contradictory psychology,and showed Feng Menglong’s aesthetic purport and the aesthetic implication of utensils.Because of its “contradiction”,the “Sanyan” has inherent complexity and richness,which makes the text form artistic tension and charm.