Through reading the story I seem, together with the author, to have experienced the life of the grass eaters, with a home made of coal tar drums, two square meals of grass every day, a loin-cloth for wearing out and a son for doing funeral rites. In the article, the author says that there is no such kind of fear and anxiety in his life, while all the psychological burdens have been shifted onto our minds, turning into our endless sorrow and astonishment even days after reading.
When I come to the story for the first time, I am much impressed by its ending, in which the mundane street sees the scenes of a tram burning, a man stabbing another and even a woman dropping her baby in the garbage bin. In our viewpoint that is such a mess! However the author just watches them calmly. So doesn’t this show that the author has lost his sympathy completely? Or he just has got used to the life they are leading—in which all the above are simply means to survive.
Throughout the article, the author uses a peaceful tone to depict and to narrate, just as a looker-on, and simply conveys what has happened objectively. We are sure that he has got grief and excitement and panic and perhaps all the imaginable mixed emotions. But the author simply avoids focusing on his own feelings. Excessive of that kind of repetition would only let readers feel inauthentic. In the article, the author just presents all the torture he has underwent in front of us and let us to taste its bitterness in persons.
Moreover, the author also uses interesting dialogues and his talented sense of humor as additives, for example, the phrases ”ovoid father” “cubic wife”. And what his wife compares herself to be ,“a kite” or “a frog”, all serves as contrast to the grim background. They make us feel more amused and relaxed but at the meantime bring us more and deeper reflections.
Actually, a lot of readers say that the author is perhaps an optimistic person. He is using his spiritual treasure to relieve himself form the grim reality and find some contentment as a grass eater. However, I have another interpretation. This kind of indifference in the author's looks is just some guises. For a person living at that period of time, if you still hold your values tight, you'll find it so conflicting with the social reality, which will ultimately deprive of you the belief of life. Or if you completely give it in, you will together lose the meaning in life, finally gaining nothing except for the length of time. Evidently, the author belongs to neither of these. He seems to have lost everything in life from his materialistic satisfaction to his relationship with the nation or society. And yet, he does find other spiritual supporting, that is to live on itself. It, in essence, has already meant a lot of endurance and some success. Besides that, the author also comes to be a record holder of his life, working for the coming readers to taste a totally different kind of experience through all these words.