Black Whirlwind
by Mu Shiying
About This Novel
Mu Shiying's "Black Whirlwind" is one of his early representative works of popular literature. It was first included in the novel collection "North and South Pole". It takes the violent resistance and emotional dilemma of the bottom workers as the core, and presents a distinct color of social criticism. The novel tells the story of the worker "Black Tornado" and his sworn brother Wang from a first-person perspective. Brother Wang admires Wu Song in "Water Margin", compares himself to Liangshan heroes, and falls in love with Xiao Yu'er, the daughter of the dairy shed owner. However, Xiao Yuer was pursued by college students in the town and gradually alienated Brother Wang. Black Tornado witnessed his brother being cuckolded, and out of anger, he beat Xiao Yuer and the college student in public, and was eventually arrested by the patrol police and jailed for three months. This plot of the novel continues the narrative pattern of "failed resistance to oppression" in the author's earlier works - under the double blow of material deprivation and emotional betrayal, men at the bottom choose to vent their emotions through violence. However, violence did not change their fate, and their final imprisonment only strengthened the unshakable nature of class oppression; such tragedies will only be repeated in the future. This episode also includes "Reiko" and "The Man Used as a Pastime", overlaying the theme of emotional alienation. The survival plight of lower-class workers highlighted throughout the article is still a warning to read today.
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