Animals As The Mirror:The Study On Animal Narration In Novels Since The New Period

Throughout the historical context of Chinese literature from ancient times to the present,it is evident that animals have always been an important focus of attention.Especially since the new period,many writers have emerged in the Chinese literary scene who write about animals.These writers have expanded their perspectives from merely depicting social realities and criticizing social issues to various other aspects such as ethics,ecology,philosophy,etc.They have delved deeper into the complexities of human and non-human nature,as well as the intricate relationships between individuals,humans and animals,and humans and nature in the context of social development.This paper aims to systematically study and comprehensive analysis the narratives of animals in fiction since the new period through the projection of the relationship between humans and animals.From the beginning of the new period,the stimulation of humanistic discourse has allowed some writers of animal narratives to break free from political ideological constraints.They hope to use animals to depict the historical pains and youthful memories of people under specific historical conditions,reflecting the true appearance and spiritual aspirations of people under social changes.Some writers,through the portrayal of loyal animal characters,juxtapose the beauty of animals to highlight human indifference and betrayal,attempting to convey the people’s hopes and desires for warmth and pure goodness in social relationships,as well as their spiritual yearning for the "ideal self" amidst social changes and political turmoil.They use animals as a creative medium,not only fragmentarily reproducing certain historical realities and people’s life experiences but also employing stereotyped animal portrayals to depict the struggles and rebellious spirit of people in conflicts and contradictions between humans and animals.In addition to focusing on the history of suffering,some writers also use their own experiences as educated youths as material,focusing on the countryside,aiming to revisit their unique youth through writing about animals.That period not only carved their individual growth paths but also included people’s search for the roots of culture and life in the era of social changes.Furthermore,in addition to liberating human nature,writers in the new period have also shown concern and care for non-human existence.They attempt to explore the commonalities between humans and animals,demonstrating the conflicts and contradictions between humans and nature,thereby projecting their ethical thoughts and moral concepts.These writers highlight the human characteristics of animals through the portrayal of emotions and ethical relationships,characteristics that are not simply the loyalty qualities that humans attribute to animals in the past,nor are they for the purpose of highlighting the traumas and hardships in human history.Instead,animals are portrayed as natural entities similar to humans,possessing independent and complex rational concepts and individual thinking.The animal characters in their writings depart from the traditional narrative mode of loyal dog-like animals,no longer serving as spiritual appendages to humans but existing independently,with a spiritual world similar to humans.Through reevaluating animals,these writers extend the scope of moral concern from humans to animals in the natural world,and even to the natural environment itself,expressing sympathy for animals and conveying individual ecological concerns.It should be said that the acknowledgment of animal life by writers in the new period not only gives us a more tangible understanding of human moral and ethical flaws in the comparison between humans and animals but also makes the narratives of animals in the new period tend to transition to the ecological dimension in the expression of ideological consciousness.In the late 1980 s and 1990 s,we can still see reflections of writers’ life consciousness in animal narratives.Against the backdrop of global environmental crises,these writers expressed their mourning for the loss of animal life and praised the beauty of animal life.Based on the dual crises of human and nature,they illustrate the challenges of animal survival,depicting the intensification of contradictions between humans and animals and between humans and nature,revealing the uncontrollable desires of humans and the collective spiritual illnesses.Starting from the aesthetic level,writers strive to portray the spiritual vitality of animals,affirming the identity of animals as ecological subjects,and writing about the understanding and communication between animals and humans,showing the interactive subject relationship between the two.This relationship,based on the recognition of the value and significance of animal life,heralds a true rebellion against traditional anthropocentric values at this stage.Since the beginning of the new century,with the increasing number of novels narrating animals,people’s reflections on human beings themselves,as well as the relationships between individuals,humans and nature have become more profound.Writers stand at the dual positions of national culture and modern civilization,reflecting people’s pursuit of national spirit and religious consciousness since the new century,as well as their reflections on the development hazards brought about by modern civilization.Through the reenchantment of animal imagery,they have endowed animals with a divine nature,making them carriers of national spirit and embodiments of religious beliefs.People can transcend the rigid barriers of mechanistic materialism through these animals imbued with the mystery of national history,returning to the spiritual pure land of nature.At the same time,these writers also start from two narrative spaces,the wilderness and the city,expressing the tragic fate of “the last” animal under human conquest and the forlorn souls of urban pets,reflecting the bitterness and tears brought to them by the ensnarement and squeezing of humanity and the imbalance of development in the process of modernization.While some are expressing problems,others are seeking to alleviate contradictions and find a way out.Another prominent feature of writers in the new century when writing about animals is their presentation of a new type of ecological ethical concept through animal narratives.They attempt to find a truly equal and harmonious path in the coexistence of humans and animals,humans and nature.On the one hand,from the moral level,by shaping wise elders with simple ecological consciousness and social marginal figures who can perceive and resonate with nature,they attempt to promote harmonious coexistence between humans and nature through the construction of personality.In addition,writers of this period also start from the contradictions between humans and nature,intending to find the true position of human beings themselves.While criticizing traditional anthropocentric thinking,they also question the Sphinx-like figures who completely return to nature at the cost of abandoning human social attributes.In their view,people should correctly understand the objective contradictions between natural ecology and human civilization,recognizing not only human destruction and intrusion into the natural environment but also facing up to the subjective value of human agency.They advocate balancing the relationship between humans and nature with modern anthropocentric ideological concepts,assuming responsibility and obligations of humans to nature and non-human existence in the natural world.They write about the harmonious partnership between humans and animals,advocating an ecological holistic value concept guided by a sense of community.In the writings of these writers,humans and animals are indispensable parts of the natural ecosystem and important components of the natural ecosystem.The two are interconnected and mutually constrained organic links in practice.This paper,based on the theme of "Animals as the Mirror," and employing interdisciplinary thinking from multiple perspectives such as zoology,philosophy,ethics,ecology,etc,attempts to explore and sort out the developmental characteristics and context of animal narrative fiction at different stages through holistic thinking logic and interdisciplinary construction.It allows people to expand their ecological perspectives in a popularized way while acknowledging animal life,to truly reflect on the relationship between humans and nature,to find the true position of humans,and to better deal with the dual crises of natural ecology and human spiritual ecology.