阎连科痴迷于“载我以形，劳我以生，佚我以老，息我以死”的土地，绝大多数作品都属于乡土小说。在乡土小说中，阎连科展示了在几千年来形成的稳固、强大的乡土传统下的人的生存问题，以及传统的社会结构在面临现代化入侵时如何分崩离析和这过程中人们的挣扎、抗争和人与人之间的关系变化。他的乡土小说延续了鲁迅等人的批判意识，又以“神实主义”将现实和想象融为一体，展示乡土之上人们生活的艰难、苦难和悲剧。根据阎连科作品的大致内容和特点，从“权力”、“城市”、“道德”、“人性”四个维度考察阎连科乡土小说中的批判意识，较为全面地了解其笔下乡土世界的面貌和其批判的指向，把握其乡土小说的深刻内涵。

Yan Lianke is absorbed in the native soil, on which “I find the support of my body”, “my life is spent in toil”, “my old age seeks ease”, and in it “at death I rest” (trans. by James Legge). Most of his works belong to Native Soil Novel. In these novels Yan represents how people lived under the stable and strong native soil tradition formed in thousands of years, and how this traditional social structure collapsed in front of modernization, during which people struggled and strived and subsequently their relationship changed. Following Lu Xun’s works in the critical perspective, his novels, known as “Mysterious Realism”, combine reality and imagination, representing the hardships, sufferings and sorrows. According to the general contents and characteristics of Yan’s novels, this article discussed the critical consciousness from power, city, ethic and humanity these four dimensions, trying to articulate the features of the soil in his novels as well as his critics.