The Death of the Female Protagonist in Fei Wo Si Cun’s Dong Gong

Abstract

This paper aims to study Fei Wo Si Cun’s Dong Gong.  The author narrates the story of the female protagonist's love tragedy caused by genocide in which the male protagonist commits violence against the female protagonist's ethnic group. As a result, she chooses death as a solution. In the novel, the female protagonist is presented with two suicides to reveal two types of death: metaphorical death and physical death.  The first is death through oblivion by jumping into the 'River of Forgetfulness' so that the river erases all her memories of loss and pain, which will lead to rebirth without racial bonds. However, such memories come back to haunt her as she cannot give up or abandon her ethnic group. Her recollection of violence and pain serves to disclose the conflict between loyalty to her ethnic group and romantic love. In the end, the female protagonist chooses suicide to show her rebellion and refusal to fall under the mandate of the male protagonist who invaded and destroyed her ethnic group. Such presentation emphasizes the existence of other races.