A Boat Crossing Analysis

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The Manifestations of the Chinese Society

The transactions in Zhu Wen’s “A Boat Crossing” are stark picture of the China during the period of political as well as economic transition during 1990s and 2000s. This was the time when China was undergoing a transition in political landscape. During this time, the Maoist leadership controlled the economy. However, the grip ended with an economy, that was free and market friendly. In his book I Love Dollars (2007), he reflects his perception of the Chinese society in the period of transition in the political and economic situation in China, as well as the central manifestation of these processes in a people’s behavior. Wen started to write while working at the thermal power plant and soon left the …show more content…

This has to do with the thirst or yearning for change. One of the first eye-catching ones is the central idea of the story, which is the absence of personal over the protagonist 's destiny. The narrator’s decision to go to Wan Country is arbitral , as well as his spontaneous decision to tell the fat man his real name and to accompany him at the end of the story. He says to himself that “maybe getting back on the boat would be no worse than staying in a place like Wan Country , a place where I didn’t know anybody or anything” (95). Even his initial decision to go to Wan Country was made ber” (96). Also during this time, there was fear of the unknown. People were …show more content…

The author managed to convey the most critical traits of the Chinese society of those times and, by imbuing the story with paranoia, pointed them out to be seen with the naked eye. Wen pictured the inability of people to have control over their lives, indifference and lack of sympathy towards others, the impossibility of privacy and the fear of being consistently observed and threatened by the mean strangers, as well as exposed and desperate yearn for money. With capitalism comes greed. People go beyond taking what they have to consume even what belonged to others . Also, people wanted freedom yet; they did not know what that freedom

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