Soul-breaking gun

Author: Lao She
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The Soul-Cutting Gun is a short story written by Lao She in 1935. At the beginning of that year, the author had planned to write a martial arts novel titled The Two Fists Masters, but due to various reasons, it remained unfinished. Therefore, he adapted one of the most exquisite segments into the short story The Soul-Cutting Gun. Like The Whispering Spirit, The Soul-Cutting Gun is widely regarded as one of Lao She's outstanding short stories. However, the language of The Soul-Cutting Gun is much easier to understand than The Whispering Spirit, yet it carries profound meaning, prompting deep reflection.
The Soul-Cutting Gun was written in 1935. At the beginning of the year, Lao She had intended to write a martial arts novel titled The Two Fists Masters, but due to various reasons, it remained unfinished. Instead, he adapted one of the most exquisite segments into the short story The Soul-Cutting Gun. The story depicts Sha Zilong, a legendary sharpshooter, who, in the era of revolvers and trains, when the role of the escort agency had lost its significance, still clung to his past glory and refused to accept reality. In terms of artistic execution, the story is exceptionally smooth and masterful, particularly the final ending, which is truly a stroke of genius. The true mastery of the "Five Tiger Soul-Cutting Gun" remains elusive, like a divine dragon whose head is seen but whose tail is never revealed. After being mocked by his disciples, Sha Zilong chooses a "time of quiet solitude" to "execute the sixty-four stances in one breath," gazing at the starry sky and reminiscing about his past prowess in martial arts and the wild forests, unable to break free from his nostalgia. Reflecting on the current world, he can only sigh at the helplessness of fate. He "slowly traces the cold gun with his fingers," and with a smile, utters the resolute words, "I won’t pass it on, I won’t pass it on," bringing the entire story to a sudden halt. The aesthetic imagination space left for the readers is vast—the "I won’t pass it on" that seems capable of shattering the night sky is imbued with such profound and heavy historical vicissitudes. Thus, a broken dream of "soul-cutting" buries the "culture" of the "past," leaving behind a lonely, desolate, heroic, and desolate world. Everything appears so poignant and helpless.