罪与罚的生命诘问——论《蛙》的“罪”与“忏悔”

The Guilt and Punishment of Life: On “Guilt” & “Repentance” in Frog

莫言的《蛙》循着"知罪—认罪—赎罪"的发展轨迹来构建罪感意识的。姑姑晚年时无人追罪却自我认罪,强烈的"罪感意识"使姑姑饱受折磨,从而推动着姑姑进入自我赎罪的阶段。而生命的唯一性和无可替代性,注定了姑姑与蝌蚪的赎罪只是补救,而非救赎,他们的自我救赎陷入到自欺与欺人的轮回中。在缺乏原罪意识的中国文化中,由于不成熟的忏悔伦理和忏悔习惯,忏悔主体往往缺少了灵魂的内省。蝌蚪与姑姑的忏悔只是停留在"悔悟"阶段,未能实现精神的逾越,体现了救赎与忏悔的"无力"感。

Mo Yan＇s Frog follows the development path of ＂being aware of guilt, pleading guilty, and confessing guilt＂ to construct the sense of guilt. In Aunt＇s later years, though no one blamed her liability, she was tortured by her self-accusation, and this strong sense of guilt drove her move into the stage of self-redemption. The uniqueness and irreplaceable nature of life, however, doomed Aunt and Tadpole＇s sin were only remedy but not redemption, thus their self-redemption was lost in a circle of deception. Lacking of the concept of original sin, and the immaturity of the confessional culture and repentance habits in Chinese culture, the subject of confession often lacks of self-examination, likewise,Tadpole and Aunt＇s confession only stayed in the stage of ＂regret＂, and failed to promote their recognition. Thus their story embodied the powerlessness of their salvation and repentance.