2　Cognitive process of “A Madman’s Diary”

2.1 Madman and madness

　Luxun first wrote “A Madman’s Diary” (1918) in the colloquial style in the tradition of modern Chinese literature. He perceived contemporary Chinese society as a cannibalistic society and emphasized the mental reconstruction of the Chinese people as a means of rescue because the Chinese dynasty had misused the teachings of Confucius to establish the feudal society of cannibals.
　The Madman suffered from paranoia, and the traditional treatment of the Madman in China is different from that in Japan. There are three perspectives on the Madman in China.

① The madness is a disguise and the person is a warrior of anti-feudalism.
② The madness is real and he is not a warrior of anti-feudalism, but the symbol charged with anti-feudalistic thought.
③ The madness represents a warrior of anti-feudalism caused by persecution.

　On the other hand, in Japan, the Madman awakens from madness.
　I also consider that the Madman awakens from madness, and so I correlate Luxun’s persuasion of the Chinese people to a cognitive process. That is, when human beings were barbarians, they were certainly cannibals. However, those who tried to be better and stopped practicing cannibalism could be civilized human beings. I consider a decision-making theory using risk avoidance saying that such effort is important.
　Why did the Madman fall into madness? And when did he become sick with paranoia? “A Madman’s Diary” begins with the statement that he saw a beautiful moon for the first time in 30 years, which suggests that a long time must have passed after onset. In fact, the symptom of Madman’s disease had emerged during his junior high school years.
　Luxun learned the modern Europe thinking to emphasize individuality during his study in Japan (1902–1909). He thought that it was a completely different idea from Chinese feudalism which depended on the Confucian doctrine. The madness of the Madman may have resulted from this thought.
　Different stories describe the Madman’s period of wakefulness. For example:

① when the Madman opened the history books and learned about cannibals .
② when his sister was eaten by his older brother because the Madman realized that his family was connected with the world of cannibals and that he also remained in it.
③ when he appealed for the need to help children to revive Chinese people.

　I associate these scenes and the Madman’s behavior with the cognitive process described in Table 1. They approach the analytic image and finally reach the generative image. As to a comparison table, please see Japanese.

2.2 Symptoms of schizophrenia

　Paranoia is a symptom of schizophrenia wherein the subject cannot control feeling and thought. Schizophrenia is most often caused by deficiency of the neurotransmitter chemokine. Table 2 shows the dominant symptoms of schizophrenia.

Symptoms of schizophrenia

Symptom Delusional mood
Description Delusion is one of the most prominent symptoms of schizophrenia and can be explained as a staunch belief in something that is clearly false. Delusions can also be mood-congruent or mood-incongruent.
Symptom Attention deficiency
Description This symptom is seen in the preclinical stage of schizophrenia. The patient responds to a certain stimulus without a look at noise or involves the risk of attention deficiency.
Symptom Auditory hallucination
Description A patient suffering from auditory hallucination is often seen talking to himself and breaking into feigned laughter or is even seen crying. Auditory hallucinations also include criticism and calumny.
Symptom Disturbance of ego
Description In this symptom, self-other consciousness breaks up and the ego boundary becomes fuzzy. The patient believes that everyone knows his secret and he feels his own thoughts spread around.
Symptom Disturbance of thinking
Description The patient’s behavior is disorganized and thoughts are integrated loosely. His conversations become confused and the patient cannot speak logically.

　What type of person tends to suffer from schizophrenia? A person with schizoid is often unsocial, introverted, lonely, and passive-dependent is more likely to suffer from schizophrenia. A person who was bullied in early childhood does not fight back and has a reactive attitude.
　The symptoms of schizophrenia are usually divided into positive and negative categories. The former occurs with the pathological activity of the central nervous system, such as hallucination, a monologue, delusion, and excitement. The latter comprises the psychological inertia that occurs with decreased activity of the central nervous system, such as decreased motivation. Egorrhea symptom and broadcasting of thought are also sometimes observed.
　Another impairment in cognitive function is that a schizophrenic patient tends to worry about unrelated stories, which may lead to attention deficit. A psychiatrist will tend to first detect decreased cognitive function of short-term memory and attentiveness as symptoms before positive or negative symptoms emerge.
　A person suffering from schizophrenia can easily become stressed and overwhelmed with information. Normally, the information from sense organs is filtered by the hypothalamus in the brain. However, when information is more than what the brain can process, the hypothalamus filter functions. A schizophrenic patient cannot process normal amounts of information properly and thus exhibits symptoms of disorganization.

花村嘉英著（2015）「从认知语言学的角度浅析鲁迅作品－魯迅をシナジーで読む」より translated by Yoshihisa Hanamura