The Straw House by Cao Wenxuan, a children's literature writer, tells the story of a group of people living in Yau Ma Tei. From everyone's perspective, talk about Yau Ma Tei, talk about the hardships of life and the gifts of life. Everyone is like a floating in the vast ocean, warm to each other and too small to be ignored.
A straw house refers to a special building in Yau Ma Tei, and all buildings in Yau Ma Tei Primary School are straw houses. Using a thatched cottage as the title is more symbolic. It symbolizes that childhood, that history. People can't live without history. People grow up in history with the imprint of history. Because of this, Cao Wenxuan especially stated in the postscript that although he wrote about the past, he can still touch the children now, and the human core has not changed.
Although it is about children, adults will be moved. Because mankind's universal pursuit of beauty will not change, and the connotation of beauty that can touch children can also touch us, and we who used to be children will be narrow-minded, jealous, understanding, supporting, parting and missing all of us, and tears will fall when reading.
There are stories in which Sang Sang bullied the bald crane, forcing the bald crane to fight in Sang Sang's house, the feelings of mutual curiosity and cherish between Sang Sang and the orphan Paper Moon, and the stories of adults. However, the story of adults is told from the perspective of Sang Sang, a child. This is a love story between teacher Jiang, the class teacher of Sang Sang, and the beautiful girl Baique in Yau Ma Tei.
From Sang Sang's point of view, they always sent messages through him, but later they stopped. Baique was going to get married, and then she didn't, but Teacher Jiang also got married. The two continued to send letters through Sangsang as usual until the incident. There are no more details in the book, such as why Baique broke up with Mr. Jiang and why he considered the documents in the town. From the phenomenon observed by Sang Sang, I saw subtle changes in emotions and realistic considerations. Sang Sang doesn't understand all this.
When I was a child, I couldn't understand the things of adults, but I always observed them, just like Sang Sang did to Teacher Jiang and Bai Que. Sang Sang's perspective brought me back to my childhood again. I remembered that when I was at school, I stayed early. An aunt with outstanding charm in our girls' building and a man who was good at hitting on girls in the boys' building were together at first, and her face was always glowing. Later, her aunt rarely smiled, and the man stopped looking for her. Later, her aunt didn't show up for many days and heard that she was in hospital. At that time, little us, too, guessed about these things, hoping to enter this world and find out.
at that time, I was full of hope for everything, with hazy and beautiful hopes. When I really enter the adult world, I think of the phenomenon I saw when I was a child. I seem to understand something, but I hope I still don't understand it.
In addition to children's harmless slapstick, which is a corner of the adult world, there is also an unharmonious story in the book, which is about Grandma Qin. Times have changed. In the torrent of construction and education, and in the vigorous voice that primary schools must be built in Yau Ma Tei, there is a sad voice that always echoes over the school: "This land is mine!" In order to build the school, the local government used the land that Grandma Qin regarded as her own. When she appeared at the school gate and said this to the children, the children simply could not understand the hard years she had gone through, her back that could no longer be straightened up, her white hair and her helpless resistance.
The present story is mixed with the past story. However, people in the past can't know their feelings in the past stories. Yau Ma Tei Primary School is advancing in the torrent of the times, but it has left the sadness and hope of past people in the past forever.
after grandma Qin's thatched cottage was stripped, she was carried to a new home, sneaked back to school again and again, and was carried away from school again and again. Until the end, people were tired of her. Grandma Qin began to build a temporary nest with grass and branches at school. Grandma Qin is wronged, but to others, she is just a mental derangement.
Times have changed, and no one cares about her dreams. And this dream has always urged her in her heart. It was a dream that when she and her dead husband were young, they watched the wheat waves in the fields and slept together in the bitter winter, which made their hearts burn with enthusiasm. This dream is about land, wheat waves and home. This image made grandma Qin want to stop, and she was dead against reality again and again.
grandma Qin has a happy ending. She inadvertently saved a pupil, which released the goodwill of the whole village to her. Since then, their interaction has changed dramatically. It can be said that the incident of primary school students falling into the water has aroused the good in people's hearts. People choose good or evil, often in a moment. After all, most of us are not gods or demons. We just adjust ourselves to the situation.
This may also be the idealized side of the author. Perhaps the author couldn't bear to see the sad ending of Grandma Qin, so he arranged a lively and warm ending for her.
This book also reminds me occasionally of myself when I was a child. At that time, I also had the practical jokes of Sang Sang, the sensitivity of bald cranes, and Du Xiaokang's heartfelt self-esteem. At that time, I looked at adult affairs just like Sang Sang looked at Mr. Jiang and Bai que. I was curious, didn't understand, and thought about it. I went home and thought hard, but I couldn't think of anything. I wanted to grow up then. I thought growing up was just getting bigger, but growing up meant leaving a lot of things behind and never picking them up again.
after 3 years old, I read more popular science, law books and cognitive books because of my work needs. My mind is full of knowledge and truth, but I am more and more lacking in nutrition. Because of poverty, I can no longer feel the delicate mood before.
Because of this, I am even more depressed when I read the childlike interest in The Straw House. When we grow up, time urges us to move forward, and life becomes realistic and sharp. There is no longer a fairy tale kingdom in the white clouds, and it is no longer tears that drop, but it is full of water droplets formed by the rise of water vapor; Every day I sleep, the next day will not be new, and it will be the same as yesterday, without fantasy and surprise.
Although life is dull, I am grateful for its stability. Because when I grow up, I find that life is not always full of goodwill, and I can be grateful to wake up as usual the next day. Fairy tales and fantasies only bring disappointment again and again, and the world has never been slightly reduced.
When it comes to fairy tales and fantasies, The Straw House should not be considered as one of them. What's more, Cao Wenxuan makes no secret of the tragic elements of life and people's powerlessness in the face of fate in his works, although the author gives a kind ending to each story. However, in reality, it seems to us that childhood and everything related to it are as far away as a fairy tale.