To highlight more specifically, the book can be seen as a guide to the chinese culture of socializing. While the achievements of the main characters are not to be taken away as many of them are remarkable, the premise of the story doesn't hold a very high standard with guiding people through the labyrinth of everyday life. Attempts to compare modern living of joes like us to the living of some legendary person who's life is mostly mystery is an arbitrary one at best. There's the overly idealistic caricatures of the good guys versus the bad guys as interpreted by most chinese.

In my previous post, i may have sounded biased in the beginning by stating the book as being one leading to negative actions/emotions. I was stating the general consensus of the background surrounding the novel from my experiences with people who read the book. The original author may have even been trying to speak the truth on how the aristocracy of china operates, and how it brings grief and uncontrollable catastrophe to ordinary people. Great books are defined not only by how well written the story is but also by the premises of what it tries to state. These ideas and happenings can still be applied today.