The Comparative Study Of Jude The Obscure And Rickshaw Boy

"Jude the Obscure", a widely recognized novel was written by Hardy, a nineteenth century novelist. "Jude the Obscure" described the tragic life of Jude and his tragic marriage. Jude was a diligent young man who learned Latin and Greek in his spare time, meantime, studying books written in Latin and Greek, pining for Oxford University. Allured by Alabella in his hometown, Jude got married with her and was deserted soon. After that, Jude preceded to study in order to realize his dream. What awaiting him was a letter refusing his request, telling him to cling to his work as an apprentice, which depressed him so much that he began to be addicted to drinking. However as a resolute young man, he dreamed of becoming a priest, which was also refused because of his divorce. Jude fell in love with his cousin, Sue, a young teacher, who didn't like to follow suit and drift with others to get married in an ordinary way .So they just cohabitated, which upset many ordinary social people and social custom, which made them into trouble. Meantime, the son of Jude and his former wife, came to them and lived with them and killed two children of Sue,s and committed suicide. All of these tragedies frustrated Sue, which made her return to her former wife and leave her beloved Jude dying alone at his home. Thus, the novel radically criticized sacred customs and marital system and moral value in Victoria Age."Rickshaw Boy", written by Lao She, described life of lower class in old Beijing, disclosing a new field for him to criticize the old society, embodying the characteristics of ordinary people of lower class, probing the way ordinary people collapsed. Xiangzi, coming from the countryside, regarding having a rickshaw as his ideal, his religion in his life.But the reality that time totally ruined him, making him a useless person in the world and an unsociable, selfish, greedy person, which made him lonely and give in completely in life. Written in this way, the novel tries to disclose the hopelessness of that society and impossibility of struggling to succeed single-handed. "Jude the Obscure "and "Rickshaw Boy" have much in common in illustrating social issue, marital issue and in the way social issue, marital issue were developed. In details, in social issue, the novel described love between or among the three, which led to tragedy for all of them concerned. While in marital issue, the novel described the conflict between soul and body. Meantime, the novel also disclosed the difference in the writing style of the two writers. Hardy was good at describing changes of the scenery to show the tragic tendency of the hero and heroine in the novel, while Lao She was good at making use of humor though he was determined not to write it in a humorous way, but rather, just to embody the laughing material from the nature of the things, which effectively makes audience or readers laugh and almost cry at the same time .The second difference is the linguistic style in the two novels. Thomas Hardy learn Latin and and Greek as a young man, so in his novel, many a time, we see Latin and Greek are used in the novel, the use of which really showed that Jude had profound knowledge of which many people were envious .So the language helps us understand why Jude was so miserable and pitiful and why he was so hurt when refused by Oxford University. While, on the contrary, Lao She, once living in the enclosed houses, knowing so well about the dialect in Beijing, made use of this kind of language in "Rickshaw Boy". The style of language really matches people who spoke them; the language is so vivid that when we are reading the novel, we can almost touch and feel the heroes and heroines in it.As realistic novelists, Hardy and Lao She inherited and developed realistic tradition .In their masterpieces, they reflected and disclosed social issues and conflicts, which resulted in the similarity between the two works. However, there are surely some differences, which can make the two works distinct and characteristic and simultaneously broaden ou...