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Short story writer, Yijun Li, is distinguished within the literary world for her attention to the element of madness and revenge in her work. Raised in China, Li also uses her traditional Chinese upbringing to portray China’s cultural aspects in her literature. One of her short stories, “Sweeping Past,” displays this detail of environmental influence through the intertwining of Chinese traditions into the narrative. “Sweeping Past” uncovers the tragic events of an arranged marriage that goes bad and results in the eradication of a sworn sisterhood. When the plan of an arranged marriage between character Mei’s son and Lan’s daughter results in the death of both children, the life-long friendship morphs into an unwanted connection filled
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Another one of Li’s short stories that showcases cultural influence, “Love in a Marketplace,” describes how main character and spinster, Sansan, is stuck between keeping her standards for love, and giving into society’s expectations to marry. Ten years after being faced with the betrayal of her beloved boyfriend, Tu, Sansan hears about the failure of Tu’s forsaken marriage. When Sansan’s mother believes it is only a matter of time before Tu returns to ask Sansan for her hand in marriage, she is trapped trying to uphold her own requirements for love against society’s pressure to settle and marry. The cultural environment in “Sweeping Past” affects the story’s idea of revenge due to China’s arranged marriage tradition and Hammurabi Code of Law, whereas in “Love in the Marketplace”, the cultural environment affects a character’s sense of sanity due to China’s expectation of marriage and Sansan’s failure …show more content…
Hammurabi’s Code of Law first started out as a collection of fundamental rights that could be used as an approach to regularize government actions. The laws date back to the ancient Babylonian king, Hammurabi, and layout punishments for crimes depending on the severity of the injustice (Gruia 569-572). Explained in the article, “The Typology of Crime and Punishment in Romania and China”, “If as a result of an offense committed by a slave, the victim deceased, the slave was handed over to relatives of the victim who could do anything with him” (Gruia 569). Here, family members would typically inflict the same wrong doing as their family member received, and this is how the term “an eye for an eye” came about. Hammurabi’s Code plays a major role in “Sweeping Past,” because it is what legally validates killing Mei’s son. Since the boy accidentally murders Lan’s daughter, she wants justice; society expects retribution. She calls for the boy’s death, an eye for an eye, under Hammurabi’s Code. This fuels the hatred between Mei and Lan
Ancient laws were brutal. Babylonian laws, like Hammurabi's Code, included physical torture and death as punishments. The rule behind these punishments was "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."Hammurabi was the name of the king in the city-state of Babylon who ruled for nearly 4,000 years ago.This code was a set of 282 laws that maintained order. Hammurabi's Code was unjust because accidents were punished, punishments for intentional damage was extreme, and it focused on revenge instead of preventing future crime.
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
Hammurabi’s code was based on the saying ‘an eye for an eye’. This means that the retribution for the crime would roughly fit the severity of the crime. For example, if someone poked someone’s eye out, someone would poke that someone’s eye out. I think this is fair because it doesn’t make sense any other way. For instance, if one was jailed ten years for a minor theft (a purse, a bike, etc.) and someone else was jailed ten years for a major theft (robbing the bank, stealing a valuable painting, etc.), that wouldn’t be reasonable. In Hammurabi’s ‘an eye for an eye’ theory, all the punishments are equal to the crime, which is very practical. Most of his laws are based on this.
Jonathan D. Spence weaves together fact and fiction in his book The Death of Woman Wang. Approaching history through the eyes of those who lived it, he tells a story of those affected by history rather than solely recounting the historical events themselves. By incorporating factual evidence, contextualizing the scene, and introducing individual accounts, he chronicles events and experiences in a person’s life rather than episodes in history. Spence pulls together the narrative from a factual local history of T’an-ch’eng by scholar Fenge K’o-ts’an, the memoir of magistrate Huang Liu-hung, and fictional stories by writer P’u Sung-ling. The book closely resembles an historical fiction while still maintaining the integrity of an historical reconstruction.
Thru-out the centuries, regardless of race or age, there has been dilemmas that identify a family’s thru union. In “Hangzhou” (1925), author Lang Samantha Chang illustrates the story of a Japanese family whose mother is trapped in her believes. While Alice Walker in her story of “Everyday Use” (1944) presents the readers with an African American family whose dilemma is mainly rotating around Dee’s ego, the narrator’s daughter. Although differing ethnicity, both families commonly share the attachment of a legacy, a tradition and the adaptation to a new generation. In desperation of surviving as a united family there are changes that they must submit to.
A Pair of Tickets”, by Amy Tan, is a brief narrative about the conscience and reminiscence of a young Chinese American woman, Jing-Mei, who is on a trip to China to meet her two half-sisters for the first time in her life. Amy Tan is an author who uses the theme of Chinese-American life, converging primarily on mother-daughter relationships, where the mother is an emigrant from China and the daughter is fully Americanized --yellow on the surface and white underneath. In this story, the mother tries to communicate rich Chinese history and legacy to her daughter, but she is completely ignorant of their heritage. At the opening of the story "A Pair of Tickets" Jandale Woo and her father are on a train, the are destined for China. Their first stop will be Guangzhou, China where father will reunite with his long lost aunt. After visiting with her for a day they plan to take a plane to Shanghai, China where Jandale meets her two half-sisters for the first time. It is both a joyful time and yet a time of contrition, Jandale has come to China to find her Chinese roots that her mother told ...
For example, hammurabi’s code number 195 states that “ if a son strikes his father, his hands shall be hewn (cut) off. Or another law of hammurabi which states that if a man kills another man’s son, his son shall be cut off. In today’s society, no such policies exist. This policy is best described as an eye for an eye policy. Which is not in use in today’s society. In today’s society we are not required to take the law into our hands or seek any form of revenge because the person we be charged equally as criminal.
The two short stories, “The Princess of Nebraska” and “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” by Yiyun Li, depict the lives of two people under Chinese communist control, trapped by the social restraints of their society in search of individual salvation. In “Princess of Nebraska”, a young girl (Sasha) struggles to find internal purpose and satisfaction within her life, feeling that the restraints of communist control keep her from achieving the sense of self she desires. She believes the United States is the solution to gaining her individual freedom and fantasizes the recreation of her identity and life. Similarly, “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” revolves around the same theme of social freedom vs the discovery of the individual self. Mr.Shi,
They all belong to the category of people who come to American without their partners. Because of the reduction of living expenses and feeling of loneliness, they live together and enjoy couple’s life. However, their relationship is not as easy as just friends with benefits because Panbin fell in love with Lina and Lina likes Panbin, too. There are emotions between them and it makes things complicated. Lina always repeat they will both back to their families finally. So when Lina’s husband comes to America, Lina leaves Panbin’s apartment and lives with his husband. Lina’s mind is restricted by Chinese traditional thoughts which from what she said to Panbin, “married woman with a husband.”(178). She always wants to improve that she is an obedient good girl because she has rigid adherence. Even though she has already fallen in love with Panbin actually, she hides this truth. In China, if you have married with someone, you need to keep the loyalty and responsibilities. Thus, the slave to convention make she feels more helpless. Lina falls into the centripetal circle and she doesn’t have the Third Eye to pursue the freedom. That’s the result that she jumps into self-fulfilling prophecy loop. Unfortunately, Lina’s husband, Zuming, is taking advantage of her to pay tuition for his business school and he treats her not as well as Panbin. Heartless reciprocity, which means need a
The fact that the fictional mothers and daughters of the story have unhappy marriages creates a common ground on which they can relate. However, marriage has different meanings for each generation in this book. In the mothers’ perspective, marriage is permanent and not always based on love. Especially with their marriages in China, which was a social necessity that they must secretly endure in order to be happ...
The constant changing of technology and social norms makes difficult for different generations to understand one another and fully relate to each other. Diction and slang change as years pass and what is socially acceptable may have been prohibited in the previous generations.
Power and Money do not Substitute Love and as it denotes, it is a deep feeling expressed by Feng Menglong who was in love with a public figure prostitute at his tender ages. Sadly, Feng Menglong was incapable to bear the expense of repossessing his lover. Eventually, a great merchant repossessed his lover, and that marked the end of their relationship. Feng Menglong was extremely affected through distress and desperation because of the separation and he ultimately, decided to express his desolation through poems. This incidence changed his perception and the way he represents women roles in his stories. In deed, Feng Menglong, is among a small number of writers who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent. We see a different picture build around women by many authors who profoundly tried to ignore the important role played by them in the society. Feng Menglong regards woman as being bright and brave and their value should never be weighed against
In the beginning of the story, the author describes the Chin Yuen's as American in appearance yet Chinese in customs. Throughout the story she continues to describe the deterioration of the Chinese customs by American ideal. This is pinpointed when Mr. Chin Yuen decides to let his daughter marry the boy that she loves. The conversation that Mr. Spring Fragrance has with Young Carman explains that only in American culture is it customary to find love before marriage; in the Chinese tradition, all marriages are arranged. This clearly exemplifies the manner in which the Chinese characters are more and more disregarding their Chinese culture and taking on this new American standard of living. Ironically, Sui Sin Far conveys the notion that the American tradition is not necessarily better than the Chinese tradition. More so she demonstrates the struggle of identity between two worlds that both make sense. Though Laura and Kai Tzu have found their happiness in the American tradition of marriage, the reader discovers that Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance are equally as happy even through the Chinese tradition of marriage.
The poem of A Story by Li-Young Lee analyzes the coming of age of a son through the eyes and emotions of a father. On the surface, it seems like a simple situation of a father telling the son a story to entertain him. But it is upon closer inspection and deep analysis that reveals the true meaning of the poem that the poet is trying to convey to the reader.
The Code of Hammurabi played a significant role in how women were treated, as well as their rights during Old Babylonian civilization. The Code of Hammurabi was created in 1780 B.C.E. and represents as the oldest written document in the development of human legislation. The “eye for an eye” principle comes from this code and states that if someone injures another person, then the person penalized to the same degree with the same action. Hammurabi’s code reflected three different classes which were; the