What are your thoughts on the ways in which Xie Lian's various parental figures' (ie Jun Wu, Mei Nian Qing, his actual parents) mentorship/conditioning have influenced his path in life? In what ways has he either adopted or consciously turned away from that conditioning? Maybe through the lens of BWX/MNQ/'JW' as id/ego/superego?
An ask about psychoanalytic theory *wipes tears* thanks, friend.
So if you would like a catch-up on the terms I’ll use, I talked about id/ego/superego in MDZS here. I’m going to primarily use psychoanalytic analysis on Xie Lian (Jungian, Freudian, etc.)
The goal of psychoanalytic literary critique is to examine how the character comes into their own sense of self, called self-actualization. Which is definitely Xie Lian’s arc–after spending 800 years trampled and gaslit and tormented, he finally comes to an assurance of who he is and whom he wants to be. What matters is him, not the state of him.
A typical relationship between a father and son (or father-figure and son-figure) in these kinds of stories is that the father figure is someone the protagonist must surpass and overcome to fully understand themselves: their father played a role in who they are, but is not fully who they are.
MXTX uses a lot of Freudian trios in her writing, and I think the one you identify is definitely one. Bai WuXiang is definitely the id, Mei NianQing the superego, and Jun Wu the ego who mediates between them. The problem is the “Jun Wu” is an illusion; he does not exist at all. He is a mask created through hardened armor, a mask for Bai WuXiang to wear. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t the ego–he is, but he is to be replaced once the truth is revealed.
Which, imo, is actually perfectly emphasized by the fact that Xie Lian actually grows into the ego to mediate between them. I mean, the last battle takes place on a bridge, a fallen bridge between heaven and earth. The bridge symbolizes a lot of things, but among them is that Xie Lian is literally a bridge between Bai WuXiang/Jun Wu and Mei NianQing, or the ego mediating between the superego and id. On this bridge, Jun Wu’s armor is finally chipped off and he is left defeated and vulnerable–and it is in this state that Mei NianQing finally decides to learn from Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. What matters is you, and not the state of you. He stays with Jun Wu, the two of them meeting in the middle, in a sense.
Xie Lian followed Mei NianQing’s righteous path until his first ascension, and then he was tempted to become like Bai WuXiang because Bai WuXiang desperately wanted someone to be able to understand him. He wanted empathy; he wanted to not be alone anymore. But Xie Lian, in the end, rejects this path… with the help of Hua Cheng/Wu Ming.
I think Xie Lian’s initial rejection is pretty telling: he wants to do what MNQ would do. Go ahead and stab me.
Under the rain, Xie Lian was holding the sword up, and he said darkly, “As long as you use this sword to pierce me, you won’t be affected by the human face disease.
But Hua Cheng shows Xie Lian another way, sacrificing himself for Xie Lian.
Xie Lian then continues along MNQ’s path for 800 years, but as Hua Cheng will later remind us, this isn’t entirely good either. Xie Lian has very low self-esteem and is just fine with being abused and suffering when he really should realize that suffering is not a virtue nor a shame: how one responds is what matters. Suffering should not be glorified, but neither should it be condemned.
However, Mei NianQing notably only lives to survive himself, as you said to me. Xie Lian takes on other’s burdens as well. It’s not that either is right or wrong–there should be nuance, negotiation, empathy and compassion and helping others through their burdens, while also maintaining a healthy self-esteem. MNQ’s motivation to survive did not come from self-esteem but rather from guilt over what Jun Wu had become (and from how he didn’t help lift those burdens). In the end, Xie Lian (through Hua Cheng) learns to balance this, and Mei NianQing, too, takes his first steps towards overcoming his own past and the negative aspects of his way of life through choosing to stay with Jun Wu even after his defeat, choosing to take some of his old friend’s burdens at least.
The ego is the part of each of us that makes decisions, as emphasized by the fact that despite Bai WuXiang’s attempts to remove Xie Lian’s choices, he relies on his own choices in the end.
As for his actual parents… Xie Lian loves them, but he does not have a great relationship with his father. The king wants him to be what he is not, and his father is simply not a good ruler and can’t bear that Xie Lian knows this. His father wants to be able to protect his son and wants to be everything his son wants him to be, but he cannot be (Xie Lian directly states this at one point). But they are more alike than they would think: Xie Lian, too, wants to save and protect (the common people, loved ones) but cannot do so. If the king is a bad king in the eyes of the one he wants to protect, Xie Lian is not much better a god in the eyes of the people he wants to protect as well.
His mother Xie Lian is closer with. His rejection of his parents towards the end is agonizing and emphasizes this protection dilemma: it comes just after Xie Lian has been traumatized by being held down and stabbed hundreds of times with a sword (which is a phallic symbol + the way Xie Lian goes and locks himself up in his room insisting he’s fine after his parents and Feng Xin immediately know something is wrong–it’s…not a subtle metaphor. It is not assault, to be clear–you cannot and should not equate them–but it is a Freudian metaphor for a violation others view as shameful, but the shame is actually on Bai WuXiang for orchestrating it). He cannot tell his parents what happened to them because he doesn’t want to burden them; him not telling them is a burden.
Mama Xie and the king then commit suicide as an example of exactly what Xie Lian fears he is and what he has to overcome: the idea that he’s a burden, that harming himself is fine so long as it benefits people.
His parents hang themselves because they believe they are a burden to their son. Xie Lian tries to hang himself afterwards, but of course, he cannot die. He tries to take revenge for them then and reaches his lowest point, but Wu Ming saves him and he rejects Bai WuXiang’s path.
Anyways, all of them–Bai WuXiang, Jun Wu, Mei NianQing, and the king and queen help shape who Xie Lian becomes; however, the ultimate choice is Xie Lian’s, and Hua Cheng is the one who, time and time again, shows him that he can and is capable of making this choice.
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