The individual oral presentations provided new insight on the mortality of the average person from China during the novel. With the graphs provided by the presenter, we saw the life expectancy and birth and death rates per capita. Also, she described the influential causes and normal ways to die. This presentation gave me a deeper understanding of the book and appreciation of the character Fugui.
First, I was impacted by the extreme figure margins shown by the presenter. In 1930, the life expectancy at birth was approximately 32 years. The overall class was shocked by the number as well as myself. When I think about how old Fugui is during the novel and this chart, I noticed some things. His birth was relatively close to the lowest expectancy
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As one person dies, someone else lives on; also, this works in reverse. Yu Hua integrates this concept and develops a deep understanding of life exchanges. Even Fugui comes to understand “how close [he had] come [into] being in Long Er’s shoes” (84). Since he was almost “in Long Er’s shoes,” Fugui’s former status of wealth nearly caused Fugui to die. In this phrase, the author reveals the idea of giving up one life for another. By losing his status, Fugui did not have to lose his life, instead, Long Er acquires Fugui’s wealth and is executed for it. Even Long Er yells that “[he is] dying for [Fugui]” (84). Therefore, because he is “dying” and it is in Fugui’s place, the author begins the process of exchanging …show more content…
This is because she recognizes the debt she accumulated herself by living longer than expected. She tells Fugui that giving birth to their children was “[her] way of repaying [him]” (211) for a good life. To her, she receives a longer life than what she deserves and feels an obligation to “repay” Fugui for it. From beginning to the end, Fugui has seen numerous deaths, but Jiazhen and his children counteract that aspect of his life. In her role as a mother, she actively participates in the balance by giving birth to her children. With her knowledge towards birth’s place in the greater balance, Jiazhen recognizes it in her own daughter death. It prompts Jiazhen to choose the name Kugen, “Bitter root,” because he is “without a mother” (211). Therefore, she maternally understands balance through the name “Bitter root” to illustrate her resentfulness from such knowledge. The author compares the two mother figures in order to establish the relationship of new life and death. Overall, balance affects Jiazhen differently than other characters since she is a mother. Each character is unique in their experience with balance; it will either benefit or destroy a part of their
Feng Meng-long’s story, “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” authentically represents how money is valued between Du Tenth and Li Jia. The classic story brings forth how tradition and family values are upheld in the highest honor. The young master Li Jia, who is the son of a prominent local official, embarks on a journey to the Ming capitol of Nanjing with the intention of taking exams. During his travels he meets the beautiful courtesan named Du Tenth who is bound to her madam in a house of ill fame in what is known as the pleasure district. Li Jia, being an immature and unmotivated by any type of responsibility, finds himself splurging all of his travel funds on pleasures with the beautiful Du Tenth. The couple find themselves to have fallen in love with one other. Du Tenth proves to be a very smart and loyal character. She cleverly devises a plan to escape her bind to her madam and leave to be with her love. When the couple make their departure, they go on their journey to their new life together as husband and wife. Du Tenth continues to prove how smart she is by showing time and time again to Li Jia that she was very prepared for their future. The story tragically ends when the gullible Li Jia is tricked by the manipulating Sun Fu to trade his love, Du Tenth, for a thousand pieces of white silver.
Yan Zhitui states that, "women take charge of family affairs, entering into lawsuits, straightening out disagreements, and paying calls to seek favor...the government offices are filled with their fancy silks." (Differences between north and south, 111). Yet, even in the Qing dynasty women were still restricted by and expected to uphold more traditional ideals, especially in the public eye. So, in the end, through her virtue, Hsi-Liu’s two children we able to become upright. Here, there is a split between what a woman is supposed to be according to old Chinese tradition, and the realities facing women in Tancheng. The loss of her husband, and economic hardship had forced His-Liu to behave in a different way, as if she were usurping the power from the eldest son so she could teach the two boys a lesson about being good family members. While she still maintains the ideals of bearing children, and being loyal to her husband, even after he dies, out of necessity she is forced to break from Confucian ideals of being only concerned with the domestic issues. This too put her at odds with the more traditional society around her, as the villagers pitied her sons, but vilified the Hsi-Liu for being so strict with them (Woman Wang, 65). Had she remarried, she would have been looked down upon even more because she would had broken her duty to remain faithful to her deceased
This essay will be evaluating the question: how did language and communication play a role in shaping what happened to Lia? Also, it will look at if Fadiman points out ways in which communication practices between doctors and patients could be improved. These were important in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, because they shaped what would happen to Lia in the end. The evidence we will look at will include the facts that the doctors and the Lees couldn’t understand each other, the hospitals didn’t have enough interpreters for everyone, and that the Lees did not trust hospitals or doctors in the first place because of their culture.
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
Youqing first makes considerable sacrifices for his family by caring for their lambs. In the novel, his father Fugui explains how the “family’s two lambs relied entirely upon Youqing to feed them. Doing such hard work at home took away from Youqing’s time, so he always had to run to school…One time it snowed but he still ran to school barefoot in the snow” (99-100). In his care of the lambs, Youqing makes a physical sacrifice by running barefoot through the snow. He also sacrifices his time and energy, which is particularly notable because he is just a ten-year-old child. Even Fugui notices and shows concern for his child when he notes, “he looked pathetic, being just that age when kids never want to get up” (98). Still, Youqing does what he knows is necessary for the survival of his family. At the same time, Fugui grows as a father by showing concern for his son’s
However, not even a woman sounds so ‘ideal’ can survive in Shen’s family. A lot of misfortune were recorded in the chapter “The Sorrows of Misfortune”, and these ‘misfortunes’ made the relationship between Chen Yun and Shen’s family collapse. Some may call those incidents unlucky, but I don’t think those incidents are the results of misfortune, in fact, they are closely related to the family structure and personality of Shen Fu as a person. In some sense, it is majorly Shen Fu’s fault that Chen Yun can’t live happily with his family. But since the Six Records of a Floating Life is an autobiography, it is not surprised Shen Fu name those incidents “misfortune” as he wouldn’t admit that those were his
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Ultimately, The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is a timeless, educational, historical novel. Spence purpose to enlighten the reader of the Chinese culture, tradition and its land were met through the use of sources, like the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang will captivate any reader's attention.
This article is a good example of how life would be like for a foreigner in a different country. Because the author talks about the Chinese culture, living space and funeral. The author uses a humorous tone to talk about her living in China. This story has great balance between humor and emotions. “The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore”, by Kellie Schmitt tells a beautiful tale of her experience of life in China.
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
During the Industrial Revolution of the Victorian Era, life expectancy was so low due to the lack of sanitation, working conditions, and less medical knowledge that we have now. At the time, the average age people were dying was at 35 years old (Lambert). The age, however, varied depending on where one lived. Normally, people who lived in cities died at a younger age than people who live in rural areas. The class that one was in also greatly impacted a person’s life span. It mainly impacted poor working-class communities, because of the poor conditions that came with being a member of that class (Wilde).
One of the strengths of the novel is how it parallels his own journey living in Fuling. When the memoir begins, he has very little knowledge of Chinese and knows almost no one in the town. As he continues, however, he begins to learn more Chinese, and even some of the local dialect. The reader then sees his knowledge of Chinese growing. For instance, in the beginning he mentions a sign on a trail that he routinely ran on. At first, he can barely read the sign. Later on, he revisits the same site, and has the ability to read the sign completely. Due to this parallelism, the reader almost feels as if they, too, are learning.
When one side is weighed down more, the other will soon be in that same spot. Some people call it Karma, some just say what goes around comes around, and either way it’s saying there’s always a need for a balance in this world. Everyman starts out in the play with Everyman being a self-absorbed human not worrying about anything around him, until Death arrives and takes Everyman to be judged. Karma is a major plot point in the play, where Everyman is turning a blinds eye to God at the beginning, but towards the end of the play, Everyman has nothing left but God so he repents for all his sins and is granted access to the Gates of Heaven. Life and death are the significant figures of karma where life for Everyman is the evil, and death is good for him. Everyman’s attitude towards God and faith changes because of his journey towards death throughout the play. Death and life is always interpreted as evil and good respectively, but in Everyman, death is good whereas life is
The Chinese people experienced rapid changes, in government and their own culture in the 20th century. In the book, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, she depicts the experiences of not only oppression and suffering, but the development of the communist revolution, under Mao. Also, to show how the Chinese people, women in particular, fought against impossible odds by interweaving historical and personal stories from the twentieth century China.