Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper investigates the metaphorical significance of the "fish" and "cat" imagery in Jin Yucheng's acclaimed novel Blossoms, with attention to their layered cultural resonances across both Eastern and Western traditions. Through a method of close textual analysis, the study demonstrates how these two motifs function not merely as symbolic figures but as dynamic narrative agents, contributing to both plot progression and character development. As an imagery system marked by contradiction and symbiosis, "fish" and "cat" underpin a concealed narrative framework and serve as metaphors for the existential predicaments faced by individuals amid the turbulence of social change. The interplay of these images articulates the tension between resistance and adaptation within grand historical narratives, and affirms the enduring human impulse toward survival. Jin's work conveys a philosophical depth that reconfigures the dialogue between tradition and modernity, individual and history, through a lens shaped by existential awareness and a cyclical conception of life. In doing so, Blossoms offers a compelling interpretive pathway for rethinking the philosophy of life in contemporary Chinese literature.
DOI: 10.54097/vw9sbp17
Author: Xiuzhuo Wang
Institution: Harbin Normal University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415095403
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: