Abstract: There in Mo Yan’s Red Kaoliang Family and two relatively independent minor stories——the story of Gen, the Swordplay 18 and that of Cheng, the Pockmarked. The two “Subtheme stories”, seemingly producing no effect on the “theme story”, exert a parallel explanatory effect on the theme of Red Kaoliang Family on one hand, on the other they are a complement to the theme at that. In fact they serve as a ponder over the limitations of folk life passion and a consideration about the human “animalization” under a certain system. The themes of the two minor stories conflict with that of Red Kaoliang Family, i.e. they manifest the limitations of the life force and the decisive function of social reality to life.

Key words: Red Kaoliang Family, Mo Yan, “subtheme story”, Gen, the Swordplay 18, Cheng, the Pockmarked