tao te ching
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TAO TE CHING: A Literary Analysis Essay
The book Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, and translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, is a book about Lao Tsu's feelings on life and taoism. Some 2,600 years ago, Lao Tsu was the keeper of the imperial archives at loyang in the province of Honan in the sixth century B.C. and an older contemporary of Confucius. His life's teachings consisted of "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao". According to chinese legend, he was riding off to die in the desert because he was sick of how men were on this earth and sick of how they acted, but was persuaded by a northwestern China gatekeeper to write down his teaching for prosperity.
In the Tao Te Ching, it can be depicted from its writings that there is a character of a protagonist and thus, also that of an antagonist. The protagonist is a sage, a wise (often thought of as an immortal) man, and the antagonist is played by that of ordinary men.
In writing these 81 chapters, Lao Tsu was writing it for future generations and also for the men of the world. His intentions and motives for writing it was to improve the hearts of men by living and experiencing the Tao...