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,...
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