I finished reading Mr. Mo Yan's Frog in one breath at night.

Although the article is humorous in many places, after reading it, my mood is still slightly heavy.

This novel mainly tells the life of my aunt, who is a village doctor.

My aunt's father is a military doctor of the Eighth Route Army and is very famous in Jiaodong, Shandong.

Aunt inherited her father's mantle and began to implement new delivery methods in rural areas, which soon replaced the position of other midwives and delivered one baby after another with new methods. Babies delivered by my aunt are all over the northeast township of Gaomi, Shandong Province.

Later, my aunt became the deputy head of the family planning leading group, and the unborn babies who died in her hands were all over Gaomi Northeast Township.

While practicing medicine, my aunt led her disciples to implement the family planning policy. Letting a man who has given birth to a child be ligated and a pregnant woman who has given birth to an abortion have become her two top priorities.

My aunt changed from a godsend to a baby killer.

She thinks she is a loyal son and daughter of the party, and the family planning policy is a national policy, which is related to the life and death of the country. Therefore, she is also the most loyal executor of the family planning policy.

Of course, this novel is not only about my aunt, but also about many other people. The novel not only records the birth history of China, but also records many social phenomena.

02

In fact, this novel is more about people's efforts to have children or sons.

There is a couple whose husband, Zhang Quan, is a "strong man" in a county town that no one dares to provoke. They have four daughters, because three generations in the family only want to have a son. They don't listen to anyone's advice and get pregnant secretly.

Aunt surrounded the family with people, tore open the four daughters who tried to stop at the door, subdued the man who desperately resisted the militia with a kitchen knife, caught his long-haired wife on the boat, and prepared to transport it back to the county hospital for abortion.

The woman continued to struggle on the boat and found the opportunity to successfully jump into the river. She tried to dive into the excellent water to escape, but her aunt and her boat waited patiently for her to surface.

Whenever a woman comes out for air, her aunt comes near and she dives into the water again. Until the woman couldn't support it, she bled heavily and was finally sent to the hospital to die.

03

The "I" in the novel is an officer, and my wife also wants to have a son. She secretly found someone to take off the ring behind my back and got pregnant.

With the help of "my" parents, she successfully avoided everyone until she was pregnant for seven months.

At this time, menstruation appeared again.

After being told that I would be fired after giving birth to a child, I persuaded my wife to have an abortion, and abortion became a typical promotion.

The wife and parents are hiding together. Aunt still surrounded her in the house with militia.

The wife's parents fought hard because she was pregnant for seven months, and if she had an abortion, her life would be very dangerous.

My wife is also determined to have this baby. She hid under her mother's cellar, but her aunt and they couldn't get in, so she planned to tear down the house and arrest people.

The wife finally couldn't bear to break her parents' house and was willing to have an abortion.

The risk of miscarriage in the seventh month of pregnancy is enormous, even if an experienced aunt does it herself, it will fail in the end. His wife died of a massive hemorrhage.

04

Wang Dan is probably the cleverest girl in the novel. She is possessed and must have a son.

She relies entirely on wisdom to deal with her aunt. She can endure days and nights of hunger and cold and hide in a rice jar. She can drag her 7-month-old pregnancy, climb over the slippery cesspool and climb over the wall to escape under the siege of many people.

Although my aunt mobilized the whole village to look for her, she still found nothing.

She even had rumors that she had gone to the far northeast. She almost succeeded. She cleverly hid in the raft and tried to escape, but her aunt saw through her strategy and led people to catch up.

When the pursuers on the river are getting closer and closer, there is only one way before her: forced production, so that the child can be born at the age of 7 months.

When the aunt finally caught up with the raft, Wang Dan was already in danger. Aunt helped her deliver the baby and gave birth to a daughter, but Wang Dan left forever because of premature birth.

05

These three besieged stories are just a microcosm of China's birth history for decades, and they are confessions written by "I" for "Aunt" in the novel.

Who is responsible for these three tragedies and many others? Who caused it? Is it just the responsibility of "aunt"? Is it just her?

Is it wrong for a husband or in-laws to ask his wife to have a son?

Are those who expose other people's super-life wrong?

What's wrong with those who help others survive?

What's wrong with those people in the village who help search for pregnant women?

What's wrong with those who hang high and just watch?

What's wrong with those people who sit on the high platform, strategize and give directions?

Even, what's wrong with those mothers who have children?

As Mo Yan said in the preface of the novel, "If others are guilty, I am also guilty". This novel is aimed at everyone. It was the whole society who laid a net and brutally strangled thousands of unborn babies.

06

Now, the family planning policy has been loosened. But the consequences seem to have taken shape.

I am from the south, and I have four brothers and sisters at home. Our family planning policy is not so strict.

The north should be strictly enforced. My former company had a northeast aunt who was in charge of the dormitory. She comes from the countryside, but she only has one son.

She said that there was only one child in her rural family, and almost no one dared to have more children because the punishment was too heavy.

But now, the whole northeast is being punished. In recent years, the economic growth of the three northeastern provinces ranks last in the country. Insufficient population growth and population flight are estimated to be the culprit.

The family planning policy in cities should be strictly implemented, while that in rural areas is relatively loose. However, it is the countryside that is punished for urbanization and rural people going to work in cities. Left-behind children, migrant workers, schooling, medical care and housing are all big problems.

07

How to solve so many problems, such complex problems and such a wide range of problems? Is there an answer in the novel?

There seems to be, and there seems to be no.

Mo Yan briefly said the symbolic meaning of "frog" in the preface. "Frog" is something he is afraid of, a kind of awe.

Fate sometimes goes against people's wishes, and ups and downs are always irregular. Today you hurt others, and tomorrow others may persecute you. If you don't respect other people's lives and don't fear life, others won't respect you. Respect life and be in awe!

Is awe and kindness enough? It shouldn't be enough, maybe more other things are needed!

Jane Baoyu's Reading Challenge —— Comment on Frog