The Prevalence of Abandonment Abandonment is classified as a noun. It is defined as, “the action or fact of abandoning or being abandoned.” The sentence given is, "she had a feeling of utter abandonment and loneliness"(citation). As the dictionary does not fully encompass this feeling, Gao Xing captures it through his compilation of short stories in his novel, Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather. The theme of abandonment is embodied in three of Gao Xing’s short stories from Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather, demonstrated through: the lovers that never were and the distraught woman on the bench, the man seeking attention, as well as the loneliness the cyclist suffers from when he chooses to throw the baby and kill himself in a bus …show more content…
The chemistry between the man and woman is evident, but they attempt to assert that they are no longer interested by changing the subject. “I was always taller by a hand, as if I were your older sister.” … “At the time, girls got tall earlier. Enough of that, let’s talk about something else”(20). This is the first quote that displays the man asserting that there was not a need to bring up the past. Shortly after, the waiting woman becomes noticeably upset, “Apparently noticing the moon by the clouds, she turns away and starts to pace, her eyes looking at the ground… ‘She’s waiting for someone”’(24). The fact that the woman is waiting for someone proves the idea of abandonment within this short story. As does the fact that the man and woman are not happy, the man asks her, “Then aren’t you happy?”, to which she replies, “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s been hard just to meet this once after all these years, so let’s not talk about depressing things like that”(26). …show more content…
A cyclist and his son are crossing the street when a bus is in oncoming traffic. Instead of yielding to the bus, the cyclist continues with his son. At last minute, he moves the toddler out of the way and is killed by the bus. The bus driver does his best to warn the man, despite the horn, the man continues biking without hesitation (46). “Suddenly there is the screech of brakes and the horn sounds louder and louder as the trolley bus fast approaches. The bicycle’s front wheel continues heading diagonally toward the bus” (47). Despite the warning the man on the bicycle has, he doesn’t seem to stop. Was he hoping to kill himself? In the very last second, the man releases the buggy his son was in, and he is crushed by the wheels (47). “As his hand touches the shade, the buggy flies off, bouncing on the single wheel... The man is instantly crushed under the wheels” (47). By choosing to let the bus crush him, by not getting out of the way when the horns were honked, he chose to abandon the world and his son. Furthermore, Gao Xing proves abandonment by the simple fact that the man and his son are not accompanied by a wife or mother. In the novel, it asks these key questions: “The man probably was the child’s father, and when the child calms down, it will probably be able to say the father’s name. In that case, the man must have a wife. He was doing what the child’s mother
In the poem "A Song of Changgan", It establishes with the speaker not wanting to be with her husband "And I lowered my head toward a dark corner; And would not turn to your thousand calls;" However, as she turns fifteen she considers that she has no other choice and grasps the fact that she loves him. "But at fifteen, I straightened my brows and laughed, Learning that no dust could ever seal our love, That even unto death I would await you by my post; And would never lose heart in the tower of silent watching." When the speaker turns sixteen, her husband sets off on a lengthy journey which made her worried as he hasn't come home for a while. "Your footprints by our door, where I had watched you go, Were hidden, every one of them, under green moss, Hidden under moss too deep to sweep away. "
The story “The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore” by Kellie Schmitt is about a lady who lives in China that tries to make friends with the people in her apartment. She does this by sending sympathy flowers to the family of the old man that passed away. She then later attends the funeral of the old man. In the end Schmitt creates a funny twist. Schmitt created an intriguing story about a person’s experience in China.
Judy Fong Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Robert Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” use the representation of the Café to place focus on the hardships of immigration. Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” “is a thank you poem” (Kroetsch 321), which focuses not only on the life events the narrator is thankful for experiencing in Charlie’s café, but also the isolation and alienation Charlie experienced in that “prairie town” (Kroetsch 321). Much like Charlie in Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy,” the Chens, specifically Su-Jen’s parents and Lee-Kung, also experience alienation and isolation in the town of Irvine. Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” are both works that use their respective cafés in order to represent the struggles of identity, the discovery of self, and the hardships and sacrifices of immigration.
Appreciably, Pearl S. Buck depicted her very characters on such a detail basis that everyone in her story seemed to move truly alive in each single page of the bound book in the meant time of reading and after. One of them comes Wang Lung, the main figure of being the peasant of Nanking, the son of an old man, the husband of O-Lan, the father of sons and daughters, the escaper of the famine, the looter of the great house in the south, the peasant-turn-wealthy of his town, and the old one of himself. Yet, is he a good man? Right here in this text, a negotiable one, he comes representing all of himself and lets the deep considerate and well concerning readers judge and say whether, "Wang Lung is a good man." or "Wang Lung is not a good man." through their respective points of view.
In this article “ The Old Man isn’t There Anymore” Kellie Schmitt writes about the people she lives with crying in the hallway and when she asks what happened she is told that the old man is gone. This starts the big ordeal of a Chinese funeral that Schmitt learns she knows nothing about. Schmitt confuses the reader in the beginning of the story, as well as pulling in the reader's emotions, and finishes with a twist.
Zhang’s first person narrative, uncensored and informal diction makes her story and experience relatable and one that touches the reader in ways not many other works are able to. This could be because of the fact that Zhang addresses harder to talk about subjects, but for me it was mainly her ability to deliver her truth in all its raw, real and ugly that is uncommon to find. Zhang’s unique style of writing is bold yet does not alienate readers allowing her to be able to share her story, experiences, and thoughts of depression. Zhang believes that “everyone wants to make something touchable, but most of us don’t out of fear of being laughable (Zhang),” and through “How It Feels”, she has created something that is just that,
The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consist 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 families politics were always questioned, the mistake mad...
Why would a married woman go out, spend the night with a man whom she barely knows, when she has a wonderful, devoted husband and child? Mrs. Mallard's cry of ultimate relief and the joy she felt when she learned of her husband's deathis intolerable.
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.
Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned. John Steinbeck brought up the theme of loneliness in many characters in Of Mice and Men. Crooks, Curley?s wife, and Candy expressed the theme of loneliness in many different forms throughout the story. Early in the novella George said, life working as ranch hands is on the loneliness lives to live, for these people finding friendship seems to be impossible.
Both novel and short story collection reflect the fear of a past being unexplored and left behind. They express deep concern about a lost generation of Chinese-Americans and look desperately for the ignored, shut out past as a result.
“The Bridegroom” by Ha Jin, is a short story about a man struggling with homosexuality in modern day China. The narrator, Old Chang, is the non-biological father of a young woman named Beina. Old Change promised to take care of Beina after her father, a close family friend, passed away. Beina then gets married to a very handsome man named Huang Baowen. Baowen quickly becomes the focus of this story. The climax of this short story is Baowen being revealed as a homosexual. This short story highlights Jin’s theme of homosexuality and shows the internal and external struggles of both Baowen and Old Cheng, through first person narrative, setting, and emotional appeal.
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the sad news was natural, but her time spent to overcome her melancholy feelings passed too rapidly. All of a sudden she was eager to start her widowed life. Immediately after she heard the sad news of her husband’s death, "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms" (Chopin 25). This is acceptable and understandable to me because I feel that anyone who had just lost his/her spouse would want to be comforted by a close family member. The story then reads, "When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her" (Chopin 25). I found it to be odd that she would just get up and head straight for her room. The t...
When I grew into my adolescent years, my relationship with the woman I called my mother fell apart and I began to feel abandoned. Being abandon means to be put aside or not included. There are different ways to be abandoned. Three of which include socially, physically, and emotionally. To be socially abandoned is to not have your ideas or thoughts acknowledged.