Literary Criticism: Formalism Approach

The Little Incident by: Lu Xun

Plot:

The story begins with the recall of the narrator or the “I” about what happens six years ago, what does the “I” thinks and feels over the never-ending, and repetitions of events around him known as “affairs of state. It opens up and shows what kind of personality the “I” had, before the incident that will change him as the story goes on.  

One winter day the “I” had to run some errands and to do this he needs a rickshaw to take him on the South Gate; though he encountered difficulty in finding it, he was lucky enough to hire one. Once the wind moderated its fury the puller ran quickly, and just as they approached the South Gate, somebody ran in front of them, got entangled in the rickshaw and stumbled on the ground.

            It was an old woman; she had darted suddenly from the side of the street, and crossed directly in front of them. Fortunately the puller had slowed his pace; otherwise she would have been thrown head over heels, and probably seriously injured. Though, the “I” saw what happened to the old woman right in front of his eyes, he didn’t show any consideration and concerned towards her, as he tells to the puller to move on. But the puller didn’t response instead he put down the shafts and asked the old women if she’s all right, and the woman said she was hurt. Even if the old woman said that she was hurt, still “I” doesn’t believe him and assert, in his mind, that the old woman is just pretending and making the whole business distasteful; and the puller involving himself to the situation make it more difficult.

            The puller didn’t hesitate to help the old woman, he hold her arm and lead her to the police station. The puller shows consideration and concerned to her, contrast to what the “I” had showed. The puller and the old woman leave the “I” alone on the street; and as they passed in, the “I” experienced a curious sensation. It seems to him that the puller’s shadow becomes bigger as they walked farther from him. He lifts his head, and at that moment he felt bodily-pressured, which came from the puller’s direction. He grew weak; he sat motionless, stunned, and thoughtless, until the he saw an officer emerge from the station. The “I” got down from the rickshaw as the officer approached him, and told him that the rickshaw man cannot pull him anymore. Without thinking the “I” pulled forth a big fistful coppers, and told the officer to give it to the rickshaw-man.

            After the incident, the “I” think back to the situation, and to himself. He was bombarded by a lot of questions in his mind, but still can’t find, give a relevant answer to his own conscience.

            The “I” or the narrator of the story stated that the “incident” still burns in his memory; and as he tries to remember the incident, it purges him with shame, yet impels him to be better, and invigorates his hope and courage.

Conflict:

·         Character vs. Society

The beginning of the story already gives a cue of the conflict of the narrator or the “I” to the society.

“…during all the time, there have occurred many of those events known as ‘affairs of state’, a great number of which I have seen or heard about. My heart does not seem to have been in the least affected by any of them, and recollection now only tends to ill my temper and cause me to like people less as the days wears on.” P.127

It seems that the “I” becomes weary in the events happening in the society, and thus become insensitive. As we all know, our society has profound influence in each individuals, it may influence as in positive and negative ways, though. 

The narrator’s insensitivity is a symbol of protest, of him, against the society.

·         Character vs. Character

The conflict between the two characters- the “I” and the puller, happened when the puller or the rickshaw-man decided to help the old woman, despite the order of the “I” to move on.

‘It’s nothing ,’ I told him. “Move on”

But either  he did not hear me or did not care, for he put down the shafts and gently helped the old woman to her feet.”

There is also a conflict between the “I” and the old woman.

“I saw you fall, and it was not all rough. How can you be hurt? You are pretending. The whole business is distasteful, and the rickshaw-man is merely making difficulties for himself. Now, let him find his own way out of the mess.”

In this part it shows, how “I” contradicts the old woman when she said that she was hurt, when the puller asked her if she’s alright.

The clash of two contrasting personalities of the “I” and the puller are evidently seen in this story; the “I” is cold-hearted, insensitive and inconsiderate, while the rickshaw man, is a total opposite of “I”, is kind-hearted, considerate and sensible, respectively.

·         Character vs. Self (Internal Conflict)

The “I” is the one who suffered internal conflict in the story; he is insensitive, inconsiderate and cold-hearted.

Point of View

The story is in the “first-person” point of view because the narrator does participate, and a protagonist of the story.

Characters:

·         The narrator

The “I” or the narrator is both the protagonist and antagonist of the story, though he shows rudeness, he is still the main character, and it is his story of realization or waking-up. His character falls under the dynamic, for he undergone changes as the story goes on.

·         The rickshaw man or the puller

The rickshaw man has a very contrasting personality to the “I”; for he is sensible and shows malevolence in the story. His character falls under static, because there is no changes happened to him as the story went on, though he plays significant part of the story for he is the cause of changes of “I”.

·         The Old woman

The old woman fall under the static character; she also symbolized oppressed people in the story.

Theme

Man is good in-nature; and man is us. No matter how cruel or rude a man appears to be, there is still goodness lies in him, that only needs a “bang” to wake-up.

 Setting

The setting of the story is in China; where social classification was apparent- I believe during the story was written. This social classification can be seen in the story; the “I” represents people of high rankings, whereas the puller represents people of lower rankings, or the commoner.

Formalism

This story fall under formalism because for a reader to fully understand a particular literature he/she must observe its forms, and how these forms woven together to create a wonderful story like this. Socio-political is seen in the story, but can’t deny the importance it plays in the story though. Even it has different forms it still managed to transcends its message to the reader, and that is:

Man is good nature, it is just a matter of waking it up.