Struggling Through Political Time: Becoming Animals in Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out

This paper examines how Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out uses animal reincarnation and transformation to critique China's political and historical cycles of oppression. Through the successive rebirths of Ximen Nao—as donkey, ox, pig, dog, and monkey—Mo Yan constructs a layered allegory of collective suffering and resistance during the twentieth century's major political movements. The study highlights how animal narrators provide a detached yet incisive critique of ideological absurdity, exposing the dehumanization and violence inherent in revolutionary politics. Additionally, the psychological and metaphorical transformations of characters such as Chen and Lan Jiefang demonstrate how individuals internalize or resist political trauma through animal-like behavior and instinctual regression. By weaving together satire, allegory, and magical realism, Mo Yan presents history as a cycle of suffering and endurance, suggesting that human and animal experiences alike are bound by recurring patterns of desire, control, and survival.