Assignment

Response Paragraph: Fortress Besieged


The sarcastic author of Fortress Besieged , Qian Zhongshu, relentlessly satirizes the college students and professors who live in the ivory tower and their inability to respond to the historical exigencies of war-time China.

In numerous hilarious comic episodes in Fortress Besieged, some characters worship modernism, others admire Chinese heritage, and still others fantasize about marriage life. In reality, they get neither and are occupied only with themselves. In what sense can the protagonist and the characters be said to be trapped in a “fortress besieged”? What does the metaphor of an enclosed fortress stand for?

 

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