Reflections on Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

Prompt: Reflections on Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

3 sample essays Reflecting on Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

Sample Essay 1: Reflections on Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

Nam Cao's work Chí Phèo, both past and present, is still regarded as a exemplary short story, outstanding in the literary field for its realistic critical tendencies. The work is noted for its exploration of non-humanitarian social aspects, the oppression of the ruling class, the fate of dehumanized individuals... much more than looking at it from the perspective of love.

The entire content, structure of the work is closely related to the life of the main character Chí Phèo, with a notable detail: The events that bring about major changes, turning points in Chí Phèo's life as well as in the structure of the work come from the figure of women. Although there are figures that push Chí Phèo into dark places, there are also faces, albeit ugly, that lead Chí Phèo into the light of philosophical realm.

Chí Phèo's life abruptly shifts direction due to his forced encounter with Mrs. Ba Kiến, a woman described as 'bawdy and brash', turning him from a simple, kind-hearted farmer into a criminal, devoid of humanity and self-awareness. However, a chance meeting with Thị Nở brings about a reverse consequence, overturning everything. It is the encounter with Thị Nở, not any social upheaval, that changes Chí Phèo's entire life and determines the fate of both Chí Phèo and Ba Kiến.

The seemingly fleeting affection between Chí Phèo and Thị Nở deeply influences, dominates the relationship between Chí Phèo and Ba Kiến. From this, it can be seen that Nam Cao did not randomly construct the character of Chí Phèo starting from the evening before meeting Thị Nở, the evening when he 'cursed as he walked', leading to the tangled relationship with Ba Kiến, segments of Chí Phèo's life replayed like a slow-motion film. All these details serve as a thread, a preamble, or as motifs highlighting the impact of love, human affection on Chí's life through the character of Thị Nở.

One of Nam Cao's stylistic characteristics is the use of contrasting, contradictory elements to depict reality. The titles of his works often contain a contradictory element like 'The Leech,' 'Chí Phèo,' 'Old Love...' The existence of the unkempt character of the Leech alongside the filthy appearance is a contrast, a contradiction to the character's profession, social status. All these contradictions are encapsulated in a name: the Leech, and are further highlighted in the contrast between the unkempt, lowly appearance and the beautiful inner spiritual life. Or in the story 'Midnight,' the father's name is Thiên Lôi but he names his son Đức - like the two sides of a dialectical process of cause and effect...etc.

From these details, it can be understood why Nam Cao chose to portray Chí Phèo's love story with Thị Nở in such a manner. Not romantically idealized like the love stories of the Tự Lực Văn Đoàn, the evening meeting between Chí Phèo and Thị Nở begins with the image of Chí Phèo 'cursing as he walked... cursing the one who gave birth to Chí Phèo', his life sinking into drunkenness.

Never has he been sober enough to 'remember that he exists'. Inside him, there exists not consciousness but a mass of confusion, darkness, numbness, unconsciousness. Even the presence of himself, he cannot perceive, he only marvels and laughs bitterly, laughs ruefully when he discovers himself as a distorted shadow under the moonlight, twisted, deformed, grotesque. This imagery points to an allegory of an imperfect existence of human beings in the old society. People do not live as themselves but merely as shadows, yet not even shadows of themselves but shadows of the ruling class, hence becoming 'the twisted, black, and deformed object under the moonlight'. With that shadow, with the consciousness of his own deformity, Chí Phèo comes to Thị Nở. It is a necessary encounter, a consequence of two empty and imperfect lives of two individuals.

Before meeting Chí Phèo, Thị Nở was merely an entity without any distinctive personality traits, rather erratic and wild, with facial features as natural, crude as to the point of being grotesque: On a short face, there was a nose that was 'short, large, red, and rough like the skin of a tangerine' and a pair of lips 'also disproportionately large to match the nose' moreover, thick and with 'grayish buffalo meat color'. Nam Cao encapsulates all of Thị Nở's 'beauty' in a comment as 'ugly to the point of being ghastly'. From two lives, two disadvantaged identities, two dim and obscure intellects of Chí Phèo - Thị Nở, Nam Cao has let them come together as a perfect fusion to create a newly unified individual in the resurgence of a philosophical intelligence. That is Chí Phèo after meeting Thị Nở.

For Nam Cao, love does not come hand in hand with idealizing the object, with admiring and worshipping the beloved but starts out purely as instinct. The moonlight in Chí Phèo's eyes on the night he meets Thị Nở is filled with corporeal colors, just 'dripping green as if wet'. The strawberry tree near the riverbank is 'soft and fleshy', the banana trees in his garden are 'lying on their backs, curving up' occasionally 'jerk up as if in lust'. The shadow - the mark of his twisted existence is also discovered at this moment. Chí Phèo's initial act of claiming Thị Nở was purely instinctual, but within the murky realm of that instinct, a miraculous glow has ignited, opening up for us to see the beautiful essence of humanity.

Nam Cao has surpassed the writers of his time by not stopping at the purely spiritual idealistic love like that of Loan and Dũng in 'Đoạn Tuyệt' (Khái Hưng), Lan and Ngọc in 'Hồn bướm mơ tiên' (Khái Hưng), Thanh and Ngọc in 'Dòng sông Thanh Thuỷ' (Nhất Linh), but he has merged love with the harmony of spirit and body. These are the details that serve as the basis to affirm that this is love rather than just instinct when Nam Cao further describes Chí Phèo's stomach ache and vomiting, being led by Thị Nở to the tent... The initial instinctual action has revived love, revived the humaneness thought to be dead within both Chí Phèo and Thị Nở. There is here a rebirth, a resurrection of the spirit through love and the connection of two bodies. It has transformed, resurrected Chí Phèo, the love for Chí Phèo and Thị Nở's consciousness of themselves.

Formerly, they were just two crude masses, Chí Phèo was fierce and erratic in his unconsciousness and endless drunkenness: 'Eating while drunk, sleeping while drunk, waking up still drunk, banging his head cursing and threatening while drunk, drinking while drunk to get drunk again, endlessly drunk'. Yet in his affection for Thị Nở, Chí Phèo found himself, discovered himself, moreover discovered life itself. The consciousness, the emotions of Chí Phèo came alive. For the first time, he sobered from alcohol, that is the sobriety of consciousness.

Why does Chí Phèo 'get more sober the more he drinks?'. Because his love for Thị Nở has changed the focal point of his life. That focal point has shifted from the murky realm of unconsciousness of days past back to reality, compelling Chí Phèo to acknowledge a living reality whether he exists in it or not. It repositions Chí Phèo's life focus from drunken stupor to a normal life. That's why he sobers, he has seen himself. He sees 'confusion' then 'vague sadness' then 'lost in thought'... Thị Nở as well, for the first time Thị listens to the emotions of her soul to 'contemplate' 'ponder' 'daydream' and so on.

The limits of Chí Phèo's life have been shattered, it expands, connects with the outside life. Love itself has opened the path to Chí Phèo's life, he feels the life around him: 'The birds outside are too cheerful, there's the laughter of people going to the market. A fishing boat knocks its oars chasing fish. Those familiar sounds that have always been there. But today he just hears... Oh, how sad!'.

Love also adds dimensions to his life. Formerly Chí Phèo was indifferent, apathetic, had no consciousness of his own existence but now he has past, present, and future. It is the past with warm loving memories, the smell of onion soup and the tender care of Thị Nở, old memories come back. He once dreamed of a peaceful scene with a plowshare-hoeing husband, a weaving wife... he's afraid of aging, afraid of loneliness and wants to reconcile with everyone, wants to be a good person. This shift is an inevitable consequence of love, it vividly depicts the imperfect and lonely essence of both Chí Phèo and Thị Nở before loving and being loved. Love itself has compensated for the deficiencies in the soul, resurrected a life, and enriched the inner life of this character immensely.

It's the awakening, the enlightenment, the enrichment through love that makes Chí Phèo feel desperate and anguished when rejected by Thị Nở, 'and turned his butt around to leave'. The power of love has brought these two characters to an absolute focal point of life, while reality is not like that, there still exist societal prejudices not easily let go, so the paradise of love, Chí's desire to be human, falls into the stark reality and shatters, forcing Chí Phèo to face the reality with pain, despair to rise up and wield a knife to kill Bá Kiến.

The harsh words of old lady Thị Nở are like a 'cruel lesson' of Chí Phèo's love. It's practical, bare to the bone. That's the price Chí Phèo and Thị Nở have to pay to be together, the fortresses around that love are not easily broken so Chí Phèo choosing to end his life is a suitable choice to reject compromise, to return to his former life.

After the romantic love works of Tự Lực Văn Đoàn, Nam Cao's Chí Phèo is a discovery. Because Nam Cao still writes about love but not about the love of Chí Phèo - Thị Nở themselves, but deeper, Nam Cao wants to lead readers to issues beyond love. It's about culture, about people and society, about instinct and unconsciousness, notions about human identity, the desire for freedom from the constraints of societal prejudices, the longing to be human.

That's why Nam Cao's Chí Phèo doesn't bear the semblance of a love story as we usually understand it, nor does it convey the content of love in the usual way but in a very contrary, very unconventional way bearing Nam Cao's unique imprint. It makes the reality of life no longer confined within the usual, familiar framework in the eyes of everyone but suddenly reveals itself surprisingly, creating a sense of astonishment in perception.

Thus, we've suggested the next essay on Understanding Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo, prepare for the section on Character Analysis of Thị Nở in Chí Phèo, along with Chí Phèo Killing Bá Kiến in What State? Sober or Drunk? The Significance of the Deaths of Chí Phèo and Bá Kiến to better understand this content.

Sample Essay #2: Understanding Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

Love is a unique and rather complex phenomenon of human life, a prominent, captivating topic, inexhaustible in the literature of humanity. Therefore, in literature, love is a topic constantly attracting the attention of creators, researchers, critics. The face of love depends on the aesthetic, cultural, social perspectives of each era, of each author, resulting in different forms of existence. Nam Cao's work Chí Phèo, both in the past and present, is still considered an outstanding, exemplary short story in realistic critical literature. The work is noted for exploring aspects of social criticism, the oppression of the ruling class, the fate of human beings being alienated... more than looking from the perspective of love.

The entire content, structure of the work is closely linked to the life of the main character, Chí Phèo, with a notable detail: the upheavals, the major changes in life as well as in the structure of the work come from the figures of women. However, whether pushing Chí Phèo into the dark or bringing him to the light of philosophical enlightenment. Chí Phèo's life suddenly takes a turn due to the forced encounter with Ms. Ba Bá Kiến, a 'lewd woman, with cheeks sagging', turning from a gentle, naive peasant into a prisoner, a rogue losing all humanity, losing even the consciousness of himself and the consciousness of being human. However, the encounter with Thị Nở brings about a reverse consequence, it overturns everything. It's the meeting with Thị Nở, not any social event, that changes the entire lives of Chí and determines the fate of both Chí Phèo and Bá Kiến. The seemingly fragile sentiment between Chí Phèo and Thị Nở deeply affects, dominates the relationship between Chí Phèo and Bá Kiến. From there, it can be seen that it's not by chance that Nam Cao constructed the character of Chí Phèo starting from the evening before meeting Thị Nở, the evening when he 'walked and cursed,' from which the tangled relationship with Bá Kiến, the chapters, passages in Chí's life are like a slow-motion film replayed. All these details serve as a transmission line, an introduction or as patterns with the background to highlight the impact of love, human sentiment on Chí's life through the character of Thị Nở. One of Nam Cao's characteristic styles is the use of contrary, opposing elements to describe reality. The title of the work also often contains a contrary element like Lang Rận, Chí Phèo, Tình già... The existence itself of the unkempt character of Lang Rận along with the filthy appearance is a contrast, a contradiction with the profession, the social status that the character carries. All those opposites are encapsulated in a name: Lang Rận, and are further deeply carved in the contrast between the unkempt, lowly appearance and the beautiful inner life. Or in the story Midnight, the father is named Thiên Lôi but names the son Đức - like the two sides of a dialectical process...etc. From those details, it can be understood why Nam Cao has made the love story of Chí Phèo - Thị Nở so peculiar. Not as romantic and dreamy as the love stories of Tự Lực Văn Đoàn, the evening meeting between Chí Phèo and Thị Nở begins with the image of him 'walking and cursing... cursing the one who gave birth to him', his life sinking into bouts of drunkenness.

Never had he been sober enough to 'remember that he existed'. In him, only a block of hazy, dark, insensitive unconsciousness existed. Even the existence of himself, he couldn't perceive, he just marveled and grimly laughed, laughed raggedly when he discovered himself as a shadow on the moonlit road, distorted, crooked, and wobbly. This image aims to allude to an imperfect existence of human beings in the old society. People don't live truly as themselves, but only as shadows, yet not even shadows of themselves but the shadows of the ruling class, hence becoming 'a wobbly, black and crooked thing on the moonlit road'. With that shadow, with the consciousness of his own distortion, Chí Phèo came to Thị Nở. It was an inevitable encounter as a consequence of two empty and imperfect lives. Thị Nở before meeting Chí Phèo was just an entity without any distinctive characteristics but also foolish and silly, with a countenance that had natural, crude features to the point of being grotesque: on a short face, there was a nose 'both short and big, red, and rough like the skin of an orange' and a pair of lips 'also unnecessarily big to match the nose' furthermore, thick and of a 'grayish buffalo flesh color'. Thị Nở's entire 'beauty' was summed up by Nam Cao in a comment as 'ugly to the point of being devilish.'

Sample Essay #3: Understanding Love in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo

No makeup, no luxury. In fact, Thị Nở even had a visage that frightened people. Nam Cao constructed her to be ugly to the point of being devilish. Chí Phèo wasn't any better, just a drunkard, with his face covered in long scars from the slashes. But the love between these two individuals is extremely precious. They entered Nam Cao's literature through Chí Phèo's work with a surprising, intoxicating love, mixed with noble, sacred human sentiment.

No one could have imagined that these two individuals could love each other. Chí without parents, life and society turning him into the demon of Vũ Đại village, constantly drowning in endless drunkenness. And Thị was also at the bottom of society, unnoticed because she was both silly and ugly. Yet in the dark night, these two individuals accidentally fell into each other, bonded with each other, and then brought each other the true flavors of love. When in love, people often only see the good things about their lover. Thị was the same, even though before meeting her, Chí was a thug, a henchman of Bá Kiến going to stab and hire to kill to demand debts. But at this moment, through the eyes of love, Thị saw Chí as very kind. Thị even cooked a bowl of onion porridge full of affection for Chí, helping him cool down the fever and escape from the dark, muddy quagmire that Chí was struggling in.

Thị's love is pure and meaningful. Perhaps due to her foolishness, she doesn't perceive much. But for Chí Phèo, it's clear that Chí understands that Thị is just a foolish, ugly woman. But does that matter when in the most desperate, painful moment, that foolish woman brings light to Chí's life? It's not just love but also kindness, human compassion, making Chí sober amidst long, dark spells of drunkenness. That love has drawn Chí back to the simple, saintly dream of days past: to have a small family, a husband farming, a wife weaving and embroidering. Life is simple but warm and joyful. It's also that love of Thị that has made Chí love life more, appreciating the small things around him: the chirping of birds, the sound of oars hitting fish, the bustling chatter of people at the market. These things were always there but only now does Chí notice. Chí no longer wants to drink alcohol. Chí wants to turn back and start anew. Chí also understands that he can do that and Thị will be the bridge for Chí.

Though initially they fell into each other due to physical desires. But then, they became shy, embarrassed, and tenderly looked at each other like a newly dating couple. Thị sees herself as loving him: that's the love of a doer. But there's also the love of one who receives kindness. Someone like Thị Nở can't forget. So Thị thinks: leaving him now would be unjust. After all, they've been together! Being together like husband and wife. The sound of husband and wife feels awkward and sweet. Is that still the secret desire of those wicked human beings? Or is it the pleasure of the flesh that has aroused unknown desires in Thị? Even the author himself doubts whether it's the desire of the flesh or true love? But right after that, many changes occur in Chí's character. It's not just about physical desires, but deep down it's about human kindness, true love. Because if not for love, not for affection, Thị would have abandoned Chí and Chí would not have thought much about life like that. Chí thinks more about human kindness than love. Chí regrets, hesitates, and yearns to return to the peaceful life of the past. Then Chí thinks about old age and loneliness. Loneliness is more frightening than illness. No one by your side, no one to share... Lucky to meet Thị, Thị may be foolish but Thị is still a kind person. Thị is different from the sober, wise people in the village. Only Thị still sees Chí as a person. Or perhaps Thị is foolish so she doesn't recognize Chí as a demon. But clearly at this moment, in front of Thị, Chí is not fierce at all. On the contrary, Chí's smile even stirs the naive soul of this spinster. Others see Thị as foolish, ugly. But Chí sees Thị as extremely charming and lovely. When viewing everything with genuine affection, everything becomes valuable and worthy of great appreciation. If only Thị had come to Chí sooner, perhaps Chí would not have delved so deeply into the path of sin, and perhaps there would not have been so many scars on Chí's face. But life, even though Nam Cao loves Chí very much, loves the farmers very much, he cannot transform the truth excessively. His empathy is immense but he still has to preserve the truth of the harsh society of the time. There, the farmers are oppressed, suppressed, and impoverished to the point of losing their humanity, losing love and the noble desires for goodness.

Chí is the same. Even though Thị's love has changed Chí. But the cruelty of human hearts, of Thị's spinster aunt, has made Thị reject Chí again. Chí falls into despair, misery again. Chí drinks alcohol again to forget everything. But this time, the more Chí drinks, the more sober he becomes. And then Chí chooses death to end his life, also ending a tragic, painful love affair. Some say, if Chí didn't love Thị, didn't meet Thị, perhaps Chí would not have died so tragically. But when viewed from a realistic perspective of humaneness, death for Chí is the right thing to do. Because we understand that, in a cruel, inhuman society, if Chí were still alive, Chí would surely be Bá Kiến's henchman, extending his murderous arm for him. Chí would be the terrifying obsession of the people of Vũ Đại village. It's better for Chí to die now to stop those crimes rather than continue to live in sin, in oppression.

Regardless, the love between Chí Phèo and Thị Nở remains a beautiful love story. Their love is not only coincidental but also sacred and noble. Even a foolish person like Thị still has love and meaning, let alone others who are sober and wise? Love in today's society is the same, besides love, we must know how to cherish, appreciate each other, and strive together towards goodness. Writer Nam Cao has crafted a truly beautiful, meaningful love story. Perhaps the people involved may make others laugh whenever mentioned, but their love is a profound lesson for everyone in a life full of schemes and calculations. That when you love, love sincerely, think of beautiful things, forgive each other, empathize, and share with each other. Like how Chí never noticed Thị's foolishness and 'god-given beauty,' or how Thị never despised a man without parents, who specializes in begging... They compensated for each other, creating a love story worthy of admiration. Although the relationship later broke, it was because of the times, because of society. Therefore, that love is still very much cherished and praised.