Re-examining feudal ethics and individual awakening in Ba Jin's Family

Family is set in the early 1920s in Chengdu, Sichuan, against the backdrop of the May Fourth Movement, depicting the collapse of a feudal family system. Feudal ethics in the Gao family manifest in its rigid hierarchical structure, tragic feudal marriages and love stories, and the social reality of class discrimination. The younger generationJuehui leaving home to establish a newspaper promoting new ideas, Juemin fleeing an arranged marriage, and Qin attending a women's normal schoolrepresents not only a pursuit of personal freedom and progress but also a challenge to the entire feudal system. Through close reading, historical contextual analysis, psychological analysis, and comparative study, this paper focuses on the younger generation, represented by the three brothers Juexin, and their existential dilemmas. It exposes the inherent hypocrisy and decadence of feudal ethics, which intertwine superstition, hierarchical order, and familial morality, revealing the darkness and corruption of Chinese society at the time and delivering a scathing critique of feudal traditions.