Eileen Chang Sealed Off Summary

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Gender Roles, Stereotyped Behaviors, and Romance in Eileen Chang’s Sealed Off Eileen Chang’s works are extraordinarily dense in imagery, meaning, and social description, even in translation. She was able to draw from her own vast experiences in order to enrich her writing with authentic detail from turning points in history. This is very true of Sealed Off, which is placed in 1940s Shanghai, during the occupation of the Japanese. However, instead of focusing on the Japanese occupation and its political realities, which she experience first hand, although in Hong Kong instead of Shanghai, the sealing off of downtown Shanghai instead serves as plot device and setting for the odd “romance” of Lu Zongzhen and Wu Cuiyuan. Just as the Japanese occupation …show more content…

Her physical appearance is described snidely, as though by someone who has a mild grudge against her. “Her hairstyle was utterly banal, so as not to attract attention. Actually, she hadn’t much reason to fear (176).” Her non-physical attributes, on the other hand, and the way they are described, are very telling. Her timidity and obedience seem to be her “greatest” traits; however, her hesitancy and fear of offence make her life very difficult. She feels very much like no one respects her, like she is a space-filler, a vague disappointment that will do until something better can be found. This seems to be a key piece of femininity in a single, career woman, which very much contrasts to the nagging woman in the middle-aged couple. A large part of her characterization is that she takes abuse -- she does not exist to please herself, but rather to attempt (and fail) to fulfill the wishes of those around her. Whether that is at home with her parents or at work, it very much changes how Cuiyuan sees the

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