Extreem Dislike of Society in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman

It is funny and yet tragic to see that no matter where an individual’s geographical location is or for the most part when in history the duration of their lifetime occurred, that they still can share with other tormented individuals the same pain, as a result of the same malignancies plaguing humanity for what seems to have been from the beginning. Emily Dickinson’s poetry, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman” all exhibit disgust for their societies, what is particularly interesting however, is that the subject of their complaints are almost identical in nature. This demonstrates how literature really does reflect the attitudes and tribulations the society and or culture endures from which it was written. The grievances that they feel to be of such importance as to base their literary works on are that of traditionalism and, the carnivorous nature of society. Different societies will inevitably produce different restrictive and consuming faces to these problems.

For Emily Dickinson it was a religious traditionalism that set the mood for the way of life in her society. The Puritans were a highly repressive people, and somber in nature, in order to live what they considered to be an orthodox life. Her poem 216 shows us exactly what she thought to be the consequences of living in her society and how she felt about it. “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers- Untouched by Morning And untouched by Noon- Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection- Rafter of satin, And Roof of stone. Light laughs the breeze In her Castle above them- Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear, Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence- Ah, what sagacity perished here!” ( Norton 824). Here she shows that society is ho...

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...the doctor found him to be cured by his standards, it would mean that the narrator reverted or was consumed by the traditional ways of his society, also meaning that he really would have been eaten. However, he did hold some degree of optimism for the people of China.

“Save the children!” is the very last thing the narrator says at the end of “Diary of a Madman”, this piece of advice shows that he felt although Chinese culture was heavily flawed, that it still could be changed, if they stop throwing the shackles of traditionalism and conformity upon future generations. Emily Dickinson and Gustave Flaubert also shared this belief and the belief that through their writing they could steer their societies away from their blinding and restrictive ways of traditionalism and consumption of the individual by conformity.