《吶喊》和《彷徨》兩部小說集，是魯迅作為一位知識份子，在思索大時代底下，所有舊傳統與人性價值該如何定位，而後透過深刻的反思，所創作出的作品。兩部小說中，魯迅匠心獨具地塑造出不同類型的知識份子形象，試圖通過具體的人物和事件，真實地道出在一個矛盾的時代裡所有的人與事，在那樣的時代裡，封建制度雖然走向崩塌的邊緣，但其根深柢固的影響力，卻從未真正全面性的崩塌與瓦解，因此，大多數的人民仍然處在一個曖昧不明，並深受封建之害的境地裡。面對著一個如此痛苦的時代，一個看似具有希望，但卻總感到失望，兩者相互矛盾的時代中，魯迅用盡全力地想要透過手上的那隻筆，奮力地揭露出存在中國社會封建制度底下的罪惡，同時也反映出處於經濟剝削，與精神奴役雙重壓力下，小人物生活的痛苦面貌，更要描寫在激烈的社會矛盾中，那些無法脫離，只有死命掙扎著的知識份子其悲慘之命運。魯迅欲藉由一隻筆寫出「哀其不幸」的人生，並將其命名為《吶喊》和《彷徨》，以此來反應出當時知識份子與小人物的悲劇面貌。
As an intellectual in China, Lu Xun pondered how to define the traditional and human values and created two novels, ＂Call to Arms＂ and ＂Wandering＂. In these two novels, Lu Xun portrayed different types of intellectuals’ images. Through some vivid characters and events, he demonstrated things happened in that controversial period of time. Although the feudal system was about to collapse at that moment, it still had fundamental influences, and did not break down and vanished completely. Therefore, suffering from the feudal system, most people still were under the shaky and uncertain condition. Encountering such a torturous era, the controversial time mixed with hope and hopelessness, Lu Xun used his pen to disclose the sin existed in the traditional feudal system in China. It not only revealed the ordinary people’s distress due to the pressure of economic exploitation and spiritual enslavement but also the intellectual’s miserable destiny owing to inescapable but desperate struggling. Lu Xun illustrated the lives of ＂Be sympathetic with one’s suffering＂, and named them as ＂Call to Arms＂ and ＂Wandering＂ to reflect the tragic features of the ordinary people and intellectuals in that era.
