In the “Diary of a Madman” cannibalism is portrayed as one of the important theme. The aim of the writer is not to outline the actual cannibalism but the pronounced history of china regarding corruption by which this country has been “feeding” on its own people. This is not only regarded as a state’s fault but also the fault of a group of Chinese people who had put no efforts in relieving the problematic state of affairs (Lawall, Sarah, & Maynard pg. 248). The story displays the empathy of the Chinese people by showing a photo of executed Chinese man. In Chin, the cannibalism and corruption have been predominant as ever before.
However, in the “Medicine”, cannibalism is used as common metaphor, to illustrate how the psycho-cultural view of China has resulted to an “oral” culture. In this story the cannibalism theory is more literally than in the “Diary of a Madman”. This is because the ancient Chinese culture believed in human bread as a medicine (Lawall, Sarah, & Maynard pg. 255). The bread was dipped in the human blood, mostly a blood of an executed criminal, and then consumed as medicine. People believed that this kind of bread had powerful medicinal elements. The human blood was believed to cure deadly diseases such as tuberculosis where people could even sacrifice their sons for the so called folk practice.
The cannibalism from the two stories is a clear definition of the ruined Chinese culture and governance. Although the theme is literally different in the two stories, the main idea of the writer is the same (Gang, pg. 345). He is provoking the animosity of the Chinese leaders including the medicine men and the government official. They both show no respect to the human body, and yet they don’t seem to change from the past.
Works cited
Lawall, Sarah N, and Maynard Mack. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.
Yue, Gang. The Mouth That Begs: Hunger, Cannibalism, and the Politics of Eating in Modern China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999. Print.
