Virtue of a Confucian in Traditional Chinese Literature Filiality as the Cardinal Virtue of a Confucian Society as Represented in Traditional Chinese Literature Try to follow the simple but effective structure of 1) introduction/ stating of argument/ thesis; 2) development of argument, including examples; 3)
conclusion/ summary of argument.
Strive for clarity in stating your argument or idea; ask yourself? What point do I want to make with my analysis??
Make your argument as compelling as possible and strive for originality; do not simply restate what others have already said; write about what you have to say.
Your essay should be analytical, not simply descriptive (description should form the basis to your argument and analysis, not an end in itself).
Give specific examples to bolster your argument(s).
Virtue of a Confucian in Traditional Chinese Literature Topic
Below is a passage from the Confucian Analects:
The Duke of She said to Confucius, " In my land, there is an upright man. His father stole a sheep, and the man turned him into the authorities."
Confucius replied, " The upright man in my land is different. The father will shelter the son and the son will
As this anecdote suggests, a society which takes filial piety (xi?o ? ) as its cardinal virtue is sure to encounter contradictions in the application of this
virtue-conflicts in which one form of obedience enters into conflict with another.
With this issue in mind, examine the narrative poem " A Peacock Southeast Flew"(Mair, 255-265) How does the poem establish the conflicting loyalties
it depicts–say, the relation of parent and child, the relation of husband and wife, and so on? How does it weigh the legitimacy of each bond? Does it aim
for a solution, and if so, how successfully is the resolution achieved?
Don’t write a paper on the Analects, but use the Analects to direct your thinking about the poem.
Source: "A Peacock Southeast Flew" from
The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature
http://books.google.com/books?id=sV3ZzccfeC8C&pg=PT431&lpg=PT431&dq=A+Peacock+Southeast
+Flew&source=bl&ots=Mf87su_DNu&sig=nGwgLoSQ2RmMujLf0N2_LMYJoVU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hU6aUv_qKsj7oATqsYGQDw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&
;q=A%20Peacock%20Southeast%20Flew&f=false
