The Comparison of Chinese and Western Literature Essay

Name:
Professor’s Name:
Course:
Due Date:
The Comparison of Chinese and Western Literature
Literature is one of the modes of expressing the social norms within society through the help of words. The concept of literature is largely used as a representation of culture which defines a general view of traditions, customs, values, art, and belief that significantly reflects the characteristics of specific societies. Culture is represented through language by which people communicate and express their emotions. This makes language an important component of culture since individuals from different cultures would portray their characteristics through speaking, lifestyles and the nature of thinking. Therefore, the understanding of certain languages calls for attention to the existing discrepancies in different cultures. This results in the existing differences between major philosophies of the eastern as well as the western lifestyles. This article thus seeks to highlight the differences and the similarities between the Chinese and Western literature with a special focus on the humanistic spirit or values depicted in each as well as the philosophies of collectivism in the former and individualism in the latter.
In the description of the ancient Greek mythology, the basic and original intention pointed towards the story concerning gods and heroes legends. These acted as the false representation and ideology on trying to explain the existence of the natural phenomena. The myth was the way the people tried to imagine ways of expressing objective world view, understanding as well as interpretation of the spiritual and cultural phenomenon. Ancient Greek and Chinese mythology have different representations as detailed by history. In content, both the mythologies have heroic as well as ancestral stories alike. Greek mythology puts much emphasis on human nature while Chinese mythology is somehow against human nature. In this case, the Greek mythology reflects in a systematic way the humanistic care as compared to Chinese mythology.
The Chinese history dates back to over two thousand years of feudal rule, an awareness that long impacts the formation of their modern values. This makes the Chinese literature to be recognized as having existed for thousands of years from the time of recording of dynastic courts archives to the more mature vernacular fiction novels that existed during the Ming dynasty. These vernacular fictions acted as sources of entertainment to the audience that was considered literate within Chinese society. However, modern Chinese considers Lu Xun as the originator of the Baihua literature within modern China.
In both the Chinese and western literature there is largely much respect for human beings through the use of various expressions that reflects strong values within the larger society. However, there are differences in the representation of such values especially in artistic as well as literary forms. For instance, the representation of love in selected Chinese and western literary works shows great differences. In this case, the Chinese literature focuses on the aesthetics of ethics and emotions while western literature focuses on the aesthetics of reason as well as existential truth. The generalization of the fact that China is densely populated points to the fact that China has a rich history of literary tradition and also there is a strong aspect of family in the Chinese literary since they like getting together. This means that most of their literature portrays a happy ending. At the same time, the Chinese literature emphasizes the nature of complexity that exists in human relationships making their works to be beefed with elaborate twists as well as turns. This is also represented through complicated emotions as well as interpersonal relations. All these representations are a clear indication of the traditional ideology that emphasizes unity within the Chinese culture and the historical impact on the literature. In the larger Chinese society, they emphasize the act of treating each other as members of a closer family, therefore, focusing on the significance of human relationships. This has made the Chinese literature to be characterized by its strong emphasis on social ethics. In comparison, Western culture is more liberal that is an indication of a strong perspective on individualistic as well as rationalistic relationships. Therefore, western literature is considered as having more emphasis on the elements of reason as well as religious faith.
Concerning the literary expressions on relationships as well as ethics, the differences in both pieces of literature are eminent. For instance, the number of human characters in the Chinese works of literature is a clear indication of the idea of family relations and the functionality of these relations. Additionally, the literary works from the Chinese authors emphasize emotional ties and are often a characteristic of Chinese literature. For instance, there are 983 characters in the book The Dream of the Red Chamber, and close to 1,191characters in Outlaws of the Marsh, not forgetting 827 characters appearing in the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The western literary works also have similar family expressions as relates to close human relationships and family ethics. However, western literature tends to reveal such issues as belonging either to human sins or salvation and also creativity versus human alienation. For instance, in the book Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlow’s written between 1564—1593, the man is depicted as selling his soul to the devil for the purposes of gaining power and knowledge. In this case, the human nature of desiring knowledge is tragic however powerfully presented it seems.
One of the main similarities between Chinese and Western literature is the presence of deity. In ancient China, there were more than 200 gods that were worshipped as well as more than a thousand deities (Mark). Ancient Chinese also believed in spirits and also became a large part of Chinese literature. There were nature spirits and eternal spirits as well, and there were beliefs that were centered on these spirits (Mark). In their early literature, the Chinese appear to reference or include their gods in their works. Apparently, the early Chinese works of literature were “rich in references to spirits, portents, myths, the strange and powerful, the death-defying and the dazzling” (Ebrey, 71). When it comes to Western literature which has been extensively influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, the inclusion and references to deity are also found. In Greek and Roman mythology, gods did exist and even though their representation differs from that of the Chinese (as will be shown later), this does not disapprove their existence. There have been references to Greek gods namely Zeus, Hades, Hera, Ares, Athena, among others and these have helped shape Western literature.
However, even though Chinese and Western literature both included deities in their works, the representation differs. In Chinese literature, gods are esteemed and were different from human beings. “The gods were believed to have created the world and human beings, and they kept the world and surrounding universe functioning” (Mark). Their position, majesty, and temperament were far beyond that of humanity. On the other hand, the Greek gods did not exhibit qualities that made them different from humanity. Even though they were also esteemed like the Chinese gods, they were not stoic (Free Content Web). Apparently, not only do the Greek gods as exhibited in Western literature “look like human beings, they love, hate, angry, cry, cheer just like every mortal person does. They can have all the problems we get. The only difference between gods and human beings is gods can live forever” (Free Content Web). Giving gods a personality was not common in Chinese literature but this was widely practiced in Western literature.
One thing that stands out in Chinese literature is the consistency in the beliefs in the gods. As Chinese literature transitioned from the old to the modern, gods still earned a place in modern Chinese literature. However, this cannot be said for Western literature. It is true that Western literature as influenced by Greek mythology includes heavy references to god. But, as people become more enlightened, the idea and belief in god reduced. The above can be confirmed by Nietzsche who published his ideas on the death of god. Well, Nietzsche did not believe in the existence of God but sought to highlight the fact that as man became more enlightened, his belief in the idea of a god diminished. Ruprecht (573) writes that people like to hear what Nietzsche had to say “because they come to him with the presumption that he is a voice of liberation from all moral constraints and social mores – from all, that is, that we tend to label “society”.” With people like Nietzsche propagating for a godless society, Western l...