Historical Criticism of Man's Fate by Andre Malraux Term Paper

Man's Fate" by Andre Malraux [...] use of opium in the novel and research and critique this aspect of the novel and how it relates to the literary accuracy of the novel. Opium use is well documented in Asia, and the use of opium figures heavily in this novel. Baron de Clappique smuggles opium, and several characters use opium throughout the book. Opium and China seem to go together in history. Research into opium, and how opium in portrayed in this novel will show that opium use was widespread in Chinese culture, and it was accepted, even if it did eventually become illegal.

Opium has a long and varied history, and it always seemed threaded through the Chinese people. There are records of opium poppies being cultivated as far back as 3400 B.C. By the Sumerians, and it had spread to China by the eighth century. By the sixteenth century, opium had developed into an important trade good between China and India, and by the nineteenth century, it had spread around the world and was a very important trade good in many European countries (McCoy 34). In the novel opium is an important part of Old Gisors life and many other characters use it, or see the effects of it on others. Opium is like another character in the novel because it keeps showing up, and it is part of the background and detail of the novel that makes it more historical and more believable.

Throughout the book, the use of opium is portrayed accurately and the characters seem to react peacefully to their opium usage. For example, Old Gisors has been using opium for decades, and has kept himself to "five pellets" throughout his life. His reaction to the opium is a dream world.Malraux writes of it, "a world more true than the other because more constant more like himself; sure as a friendship, always indulgent and always accessible: forms, memories, ideas, all plunged slowly towards a liberated universe" (Malraux 61). Another nineteenth century user of opium compared opium to wine. He notes, "[T]he main distinction lies in this, that whereas wine disorders the mental faculties, opium, on the contrary (if taken in a proper manner), introduces amongst them the most exquisite order, legislation, and harmony. Wine robs a man of his self-possession; opium greatly invigorates it" (De Quincey 51). Thus, both users are portrayed as peaceful and harmonious, and Malraux seems to know the affects of opium on users, so it seems he may have studied or experimented with the drug.

The use of opium was widespread and accepted in China. One historian, Carl A. Trocki, writes, "It is impossible to read the archival records of nineteenth-century Singapore without encountering opium over and over. The statistics and the facts show it to have been ubiquitous throughout the century" (Trocki 2). Author Malraux shows this by leaving Old Gisors' opium table in plain site in the main room of the house. When Old Gisors entertains friends and family the table is in full view, and visitors, such as Clappique even acknowledge it in the story (Malraux 158). This indicates the general acceptance of opium as a drug of choice, and that people knew people used it and did not care. Historically, this attitude is very consistent with the time. It was not until the early twentieth century (right before this novel takes place), that many countries began to ban opium and see the problems it created in society. However, China was not convinced of….....