Lu Xun s Medicine, The Authorities Within The Chinese...

In Lu Xun’s â€Å"Medicine†, the authorities within the Chinese government executed a young revolutionist, Yu Hsia (Xia), for his nonconforming political ideals compared to China’s political ideals at the early twentieth century. After his execution, Old Chuan brought a roll of steamed bread to soak in Xia’s blood since he and his wife believed blood would cure their fatally ill son, Little Chuan (Hua). At the last part of this non-chronological short story, the reader discovered that Hua recently passed away, and buried directly opposite from Xia’s grave, separated only by the path. In particular, during Xia’s superstitious mother visit to Xia’s grave, she not only grieved over his death, but observed a crow on a leafless bough. Seeking for hope, she wanted the crow to fly on to his grave as a sign of her son’s presence. The crow initially showed no sign of movement, which made her raise the question: â€Å"What does it mean?à ¢â‚¬  Then, the crow â€Å"stretch[ed] its wings, brace[d] itself to take off, then [flew] like an arrow towards the far horizon.† Although the crow did not fly on to Xia’s grave, the crow still represented Xia’s presence, or even Xia himself. The crow’s action was symbolic of what Xia would have done if he were still alive. It was clear that Xia’s mother had superstitious beliefs when she waited for the crow to fly on to Xia’s grave as a sign of his presence. Even though the crow did not listen to the mother’s request, the crow served as a representation of Xia. When