Dream of the red chambers describes the life and declining fortunes of a large feudal family. At the heart of the novel is a tragic love story between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. The four families in the book are a microcosm representing the entire ruling class, while Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu's rebellious spirit expresses Cao Xueqin's own resentment toward the society, who devotedly poured here all his experiences, conviction and talent. The author, instead of telling the love story superficially, tries to tap the social origins of the tragedy through probing deeply into the characters' minds and the complicated relationship among them, hence exposing the hypocrisy and cruelty of feudalism and the decadence of the ruling class. The novel goes far beyond the tragic love story, to depict a broad swath of society through describing a series of complicated conflicts and struggles, and ultimately predicting the domed fate of feudal society as a whole. Cao Xueqin criticizes feudalism, its corrupted politics, marriage system and ethical relationships and passionately denounces its cruelty and inhumanity.
![[Hung Lou Meng, Book II of II by Cao Xueqin, Literary Criticism (Wildside Fantasy Classic)] [Author book cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394262661i/12813198.jpg)
