Reflection on the awakening journey of character Mị in connection with Chí Phèo

Prompt: Reflection on the awakening journey of character Mị in relation to Chí Phèo

Reflection on Mị's awakening journey in connection with Chí Phèo
 

I. Outline Reflection on Mị's awakening journey in connection with Chí Phèo

1. Introduction

- Introduce the topic for reflection and analysis.

2. Main Body

a. Mị's Awakening Journey:

* Mị's Circumstances:
- Mị, a beautiful girl skilled in playing the flute, diligently works but is forced into being a daughter-in-law to clear debts for the Thống Lí family.
- Mị once suffered immense despair, contemplating consuming poisonous leaves to end her suffering, but the thought of her elderly father prevented her from doing so.

* Mị's Awakening:
- Initiated by the flute's melody calling her in the spring night, Mị suddenly finds a love for life, silently reminiscing about the joyful memories of her youth before becoming a daughter-in-law in the Thống Lí family.
- Mị drinks alcohol heavily, indulging in each bowl, blowing leaves to create cheerful melodies, embracing life.
- Despite A Sử's attempt to restrain her, Mị still yearns for youthful freedom, determined not to succumb to despair.
- The unexpected appearance of A Phủ provides Mị with a hopeful escape route.
- Mị bravely pursues A Phủ, reclaiming her freedom and heading towards a new life, breaking free from the cruel, stagnant prison.
=> Revealing the precious beauty of her resilient soul, strong resistance, longing for freedom, and burning happiness within her soul.

b. Chí Phèo's Awakening Journey:

* Chí Phèo's Circumstances:
- Living as an orphan until the age of 20 with bright aspirations, then unjustly imprisoned due to the vindictiveness of a woman and the jealousy of an impotent man.
- Seven or eight years later, that colonial prison returned to the village of Vũ Đại a scoundrel with a repulsive appearance.

* Chí Phèo's Awakening:
- First Awakening:
+ Thanks to Thị Nở, through a strange love affair with an ugly woman mocked as a witch, she provided him with the care and warmth of a mother, a woman with a soul as beautiful as a steaming bowl of onion soup.
+ Chí Phèo suddenly realized he had crossed over to the other side of life, he had aged, his body had begun to deteriorate, he was not afraid of death but feared living a lonely, aimless life.
+ He remembered the dreams of his twenties, of having a warm family, a husband who plowed the fields, a wife who wove cloth, raised pigs, and bought land.
=> He longed for happiness, wanting to build a family with Thị Nở, she would be the bridge to bring him back to the world of humanity, to reform him and live a new life.

- Second Awakening:
+ The harsh prejudice of society through the words of Aunt Thị Nở, 'All men are dead or what, that they would stoop to marry a fatherless nobody. Who would marry a man whose only skill is slashing faces and begging for food?'
+ Those bitter words struck Chí Phèo like a fatal blow, awakening him to a clear awareness of his fate, his life filled with tragedy and guilt. => Choosing to liberate himself to preserve the remaining goodness within him. He killed Bá Kiến and then took his own life, ending a life of misery and sin.

3. Conclusion

Express general impressions.

II. Sample Essay: Reflecting on the Awakening Journey of Characters Mị and Chí Phèo

In the realm of Vietnamese realistic literature, the emergence of talented writers such as Nam Cao, Vũ Trọng Phụng, Ngô Tất Tố, Nguyễn Công Hoan,... has authentically depicted the tragic fate of peasants and impoverished intellectuals in the old society, along with the injustices and cruelty of the semi-feudal colonial regime that pushed people to their limits. In both Nam Cao's Chí Phèo and Tô Hoài's A Phủ and His Wife, we observe a central theme of awakening, a powerful resurgence of the main characters. However, due to the different contexts of their creation and the unique writing styles of each author, the awakening of the characters and their outcomes also develop along distinct paths – one marked by tragedy and the other by a bright, hopeful future.

First of all, let's discuss Mị's awakening process in the context of A Phủ's Marriage. Mị, a beautiful girl with a talent for playing the flute, diligently works, and once had a beautiful love, thought she would have a warm life with her beloved, even though not wealthy. However, the feudal and authoritarian oppression shattered everything. The ancestral debt of Mị's poor father, which she had to bear, pushed her into becoming a debt-repaying daughter-in-law. Entering the wealthy family as a daughter-in-law but forced to live a life no different from that of a beast of burden, becoming a labor machine that speaks. Mị has suffered so much despair that she once wanted to eat poisonous leaves to end her suffering, but the thought of her elderly father made her unwilling to die, only able to grit her teeth and endure. Eventually, 'Staying long in misery, Mị also got used to it. Now Mị thinks she's also a buffalo, she's also a horse. A horse only knows how to eat grass, knows how to work and nothing else.' She becomes indifferent, no longer caring about life, no longer knowing what pain, suffering is, her soul becoming as cold as ashes, she withdraws into a hardened shell due to unbearable pain when Mị herself realizes that 'Horses, buffaloes do it at times, at night they can stand scratching their legs, chewing grass, women of this family bury themselves in work day and night.' Not only suffering physically, but Mị's pain also comes from the helpless scenes in her soul, when she always looks sad, head bowed, uninterested in speaking, her mind always only thinking about work. Mị's room is no different from a prison cell when there is only a small square hole the size of a hand 'whenever you look out, you see a white moonlight, not knowing if it's dew or sunshine,' dark and cramped, imprisoning both Mị's soul and body, and at times Mị thought that she would live and die in this tiny room for her whole life. It's really pitiful for a human life. Another pain of Mị is the pain of having her fate separated and having to live a lifetime with someone she hates - A Sử, a cruel, licentious man, who treats Mị not as a wife but as a slave in the house, treating her brutally. A life like that, why wouldn't it make people desperate, numb, and miserable like a turtle in a cage? It's no different from hell on earth, and that rich family is the lifelong prison guarded by authority and power, it has trampled, destroyed the souls and bodies of unfortunate women like Mị.

Mị's awakening unfolds naturally, sparked by the flute's call in the spring night, though Mị thought her soul had died out, now hearing the lively flute, it awakens strongly, like a young shoot after days of drought meeting rain suddenly. Mị suddenly feels a love for life, humming along with the flute, quietly reminiscing about the joyful memories of days before becoming the daughter-in-law of Thong Ly Pa Tra. Then Mị drinks, drinking vigorously, as if wanting to pour out all the sorrows and pains, she remembers she used to play the flute, blow leaves very well, so Mị takes leaves and blows joyful melodies, loving life. From then on, Mị's heart begins to awaken desires for fun, desires to communicate with everyone, desires to enjoy the happiness of youth, 'Mị feels revived, suddenly happy like the nights of Tet before. Mị is young, Mị is still young. Mị wants to go out. So many married women also go out during Tet.' Saying is doing, Mị puts on a floral dress, adjusts her hair, but A Su already tied Mị up, not allowing Mị to go out, though bound, her soul still floats with the flute outside. It's not until late at night when lost in thought about a woman in this house who was tied up until death, Mị suddenly jerks in fear, 'Mị is so scared, Mị struggles to see if she's alive or dead. Wrists, head, legs bound tight by ropes, every piece of flesh hurts.' The pain, the fear is the clearest evidence of Mị's hidden vitality, it turns out Mị still craves life, craves this life very much, Mị doesn't want to die here, right now, Mị still craves the happiness of youth, craves freedom intensely and they are burning in the heart of the young woman, just not knowing how to achieve those desires. While Mị is stuck, the sudden appearance of A Phủ offers Mị a hopeful way out, the scene of a seemingly dying man due to hunger, cold, but when rescued by Mị, he uses all his strength to run, roll down the hillside, determined not to stay and wait for death, made Mị realize a truth: Mị has liberated others, why not liberate herself. So Mị dares to run after A Phủ, to regain freedom for herself, towards a new life, escaping from that cruel, dead-end prison. All the changes in Mị's psyche, as well as her bold actions, reveal those precious beauties of the soul: hidden intense vitality, strong resistance, craving for freedom, burning happiness in the soul. All have become the driving force for Mị to self-liberate, to rescue herself and A Phủ.

For Chí Phèo, the awakening process was much more complex and intricate than Mị's. He endured a life full of misfortunes, similar to Mị's tragic fate. Orphaned at 20 with bright dreams, he was unjustly imprisoned for a woman's treachery and a powerless man's jealousy. After seven to eight years, the colonial prison returned him to Vu Dai village as a wretched figure, 'looking like a corpse! Bald head, gleaming white teeth, dark but sharp face, terrifyingly glaring eyes! He wore black pants with a yellow western shirt. His chest was full of dragon and phoenix tattoos, both arms too. Absolutely horrifying!' Chí Phèo's transformation wasn't just physical; it also affected his character, as he developed a liking for alcohol, dog meat, and vulgar behavior, along with foul language. Submerged in degradation, Chí Phèo, due to the tragedies and his ignorance, easily slid into a life of crime, becoming Bá Kiến's henchman, committing various crimes for money. He became a demon of Vu Dai, a strange creature in society, selling his soul for a few coins to fuel his endless drunkenness for 15 years. Chí Phèo's awakening occurred twice, the first through Thị Nở, an odd relationship with a grotesque woman, adding foolishness. However, Thị provided him with care, warmth like a mother, a woman with a beautiful soul as soothing as a bowl of steaming onion soup. Chí Phèo suddenly realized he had crossed over to the other side of life, he was old, his body beginning to deteriorate, he wasn't afraid of death but feared living a lonely, wavering life. He recalled dreams from his twenties, wanting a warm family, a wife to weave fabric, raise pigs, buy land. And he longed to do those things with Thị Nở, wanting to build a family with her as the bridge back to humanity, to reform and live a new life. But sadly, just as he emerged from a brief drunken stupor, hopeful for a joyful life, it was immediately crushed by society's harsh prejudice through the words of Aunt Thị Nở, 'Are all the men dead that you're marrying a fatherless man? Who marries a man whose only skill is slashing faces for money?' Those cruel words struck Chí Phèo like a fatal blow, waking him up, realizing clearly his fate, his life laden with tragedy and sins. He had no chance to turn back, he wanted righteousness, but who would grant him that precious righteousness? At the same time, Chí Phèo recognized his enemy, the one who caused him so much tragedy, was Bá Kiến. He also chose to liberate himself like Mị, to preserve the remaining goodness within him. However, unlike Mị, the end of Chí Phèo's awakening was a tragedy. He killed Bá Kiến and then took his own life to end a life full of sorrow and sin. It can be seen as a reasonable conclusion for the short story, reflecting the society's injustice that brought so much pain to humans, leaving them no way out, forcing them to choose the most negative way to escape.

In conclusion, the similarities between Mị and Chí Phèo lie in their precious inner beauty such as the desire for life, longing for happiness, and intense love. However, while Mị chose to bury and shield her soul with a tough, emotionless shell, Chí Phèo chose to resign to fate, sliding along the path of sin. Therefore, by the end of their awakening processes, one found freedom and happiness, while the other endured a tragic end. This development is logical and fits the circumstances and the authors' intended message.

This article provides insights solely on the awakening processes of two famous characters in pre-revolutionary realist literature: Mị and Chí Phèo. To learn more about these works, please refer to the articles Analysis of Chí Phèo's transformation and awakening,  Analysis of Chí Phèo's tragic rejection of becoming human, Mị's character is a success for Tô Hoài in building an awakened individual. Prove that assertion, The emotional development of Mị in the 'spring night' in Husband and Wife at A Phủ's House.