A Study of Animal Narratives in Chaoxitu

Abstract

The academic research of Chaoxitu focuses mainly on the fiction of Wa and the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, and the animal narrative has only been mentioned briefly in some studies, but there is no special research on the reasonableness and value of the construction of this perspective in the text. This paper mainly focuses on the unique perspective of animal narratives, and firstly discusses the rationality of the author’s choice of animals through cultural symbols, the theory of animal “instrumentality” and strangeness. Then, through the perspective of other objects, the viewpoint of human beings as the subject is re-examined, so that animals are not in the position of silence, which shows the rationality of the animal narrative in Chaoxitu. Finally, through the perspective of the giant frog, the 19th-century Chinese old-fashioned school, the Western school, and the Westerners and their behavior are compared and contrasted, showing the complexity of the image of human beings and at the same time using it to express the harm produced by museums, and to give voice to the weaker groups. The conclusion is drawn that the author has rationally constructed an animal perspective in Chaoxitu and expressed the author’s vision of a harmonious civilization between China and the West in the novel.