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| Eileen Chang (1920-1995) Photo source: Wikimedia |
1. For you as a reader, what are the memorable characters in the stories? Why do you think they are important?
2. How is love intricately connected with the wartime historical condition in the stories? What are the metaphorical “wars” been fought in these stories?
3. Do you like Chang’s writing style? Among the many writers we’ve read since the beginning of the semester, who might be comparable to Chang in terms of writing style?
Enjoy reading! I look forward to reading your responses on Wednesday April 2 by 8 pm. Comments to two other responses due by 10 pm.
Before this class, I was already familiar with the writing of Eileen Chang. I find her work to be both insightful and entertaining. Love in a Fallen City is a wonderful short piece that combines an intriguing romance with the story of one woman's migration from Shanghai to Hong Kong and the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese during World War II. The war has its effect on the romance and, in turn, the reader's perception of the two lead characters. My favorite (in terms of how interesting I find the character to be written, not their personal/moral character) happens to be Liuyuan, the male love interest in the story. Like Ding Ling in Miss Sophia's Diary, Eileen Chang writes about the exotic male who catches the eye of a (perhaps) less cosmopolitan female. Like Ding Ling, Eileen Chang's characters also have a complicated relationship, one that is made all the more so by the political and martial state of Hong Kong at the time of their meeting. Liuyuan is initially seen by Liusu as an untrustworthy liar - of him she says, "he was used to lying to women" (Chang, 70). Even at the end of their "story," Liusu is skeptical of Liuyuan's offer to marry her. Chang points out the ways in which each character is imperfect in the course of her narration, which makes for a more realistic picture of the personal elements of the narrative when you take into account its historical backdrop.
ReplyDelete"He was just a selfish man, and she was just a selfish woman. In this age of chaos and disorder, there is no place for individualists, but there is always room for an ordinary married couple" (Chang, 91). I love this quote from Love in a Fallen City. I think it exemplifies the kinds of stories Chang tells. Her perspective is that of ordinary people in extraordinary times, proving that everyday life does go on in its own way during moments that we tend to remember only in the sense that they are historically significant.
Another instance where Liusu might be skeptical of Liuyuan is the night when he called her to tell her that he loved her (pg. 82). She tried to convince herself that this was just a dream and did not want to believe it. Reading their interactions with one another was also amusing.
DeleteI found the continued self-denial of her desire for Liuyuan intriguing. She held her moral standards above the trappings of their relationship, believing that to compromise would render her unworthy of his affection, and thus ruin her chances.
Delete“He was just a selfish man….” I liked that quote too. People tried to find a way to make themselves feel safe, and make the life more stable. So marriage seems like the best way to deal with these problems at that time.
DeleteI like your comparison of Ding Ling of "Miss Sophia's Diary" and Eileen Chang. I think the complicated relationships and the whether not they are lust or love is very interesting. I think these two pieces are similar in the descriptions of the "Love" or whatever it may be defined as.
Delete"Her perspective is that of ordinary people in extraordinary times, proving that everyday life does go on in its own way during moments that we tend to remember only in the sense that they are historically significant". This point that you make about "Love in a Fallen City" is also comparable to "Sealed Off". The dialogue between the two main characters of "Sealed Off" seems so normal. But, within this dialogue, we know that Chang Eileen is really commenting on the relationship between men and women (among other things). By doing this, the audience relates to these characters and is able to identify themselves in this larger dialogue about gendered behavior.
DeleteIn “Love in a Fallen City”, Chang displays the issue of divorce in the Bai family and Liusu. The character Liusu has been divorced for about seven or eight years by the time she meets Mr. Fan Liuyuan. Her family resents her for Mr. Fan’s disinterest in Baoluo because he seems to be interested in Liusu instead. A lot of anxieties with arranged marriages before the 1930’s is shown in this story. The family has to worry about Baoluo, Liusu, and Four Mistress’ daughters and marrying them off. Chang demonstrates the issues that the Chinese faced with marriage, especially Chinese women.
ReplyDeleteMany marriages were set up with a middleman; in this story’s case it is Mrs. Xu. The middleman also has many connections so they try to find families that would suit the bride’s family well. Once a woman is married off to another family, she is then seen as the groom’s family new member. “The law is one thing today and another tomorrow, but what I’m talking about is the law of family relations, and that never changes! As long as you live you belong to his family, and after you die your ghost will belong to them too! The tree may be a thousand feet tall, but the leaves always fall back to the same roots” (Love in a Fallen City, Pg. 62). Though relations might end up in divorce, Confucian ideas hold onto to the idea that the woman still belongs to the groom’s family, be it through divorce or death. This can also be seen in the reading “Bound Feet, Western Dress”, as Chang Yu-I’s in-laws die she is still expected to attend the funeral and carry out the mourning phases. In “Love in a Fallen City”, Bai Liusu is also expected to carry out the role of the widow of her first husband though she had already been divorced for seven or eight years at that point.
I think Bai liusu just tried to find someone who can be relied on during the wartime rather than keep being a widow for her first husband.
DeleteI agree with your connection to "Bound Feet" and Confucian ideals. We can tell how the character feels about these things when she says “a woman who was tricked by a man deserved to die, while a woman who tricked a man was a whore.” There seems to be no solace for women who have been divorced.
DeleteI think your opinion about Chinese women's marriage is very interesting which I never thought about that. Such as the family has to worry about the marriage of Baoluo, Liusu, and Four Mistress’ daughters.
Delete1. I think in both stories, the female protagonist is the most memorable, and the most interesting. The reader is given the greatest access to their thoughts and beliefs and perceptions of the world.
ReplyDelete2. Love is war seems to be the implication of these stories, and the opinion of these characters. That these romances occur during war situations only helps to parallel such a comparison. The war being fought is for TRUE love, not just the trappings of it.
pg. 196 "Zongzhen waited awhile, then asked, "Are you a free woman?"
Cuiyuan didn't answer."
3. Chang's writing style is excellent, she smoothly and comfortably transitions between characters inner thoughts and outer actions, while also giving rich descriptions of the settings surrounding them. She likes to use colors, and never focuses overly on the dialogue, to the point where the breaks in dialogue actualy move the plot forward, representing pauses in conversation, and giving us what the characters see, or think of.
pg. 72 "After a while, the road was flanked by cliffs of yellow or red soil, with ravines that reveled the dense green of the forest or the aquamarine of the sea."
One thing I feel compelled to mention is that in both situations, the man is offering something the woman seems to desperately desire, which reveals in part the author's bias, but also the condition woman lived in during her writing period.
I liked your final comment. I'd like to see a little more written about that, actually, particularly given the quotes we saw highlighted in class by Luo-laoshi. I'd also say (argue) that I think there's a little underpinning of the reverse being true. In some cases, the men in the stories are searching for something and it's something only these women can provide. It's interesting to think about both of the stories we read in those terms, I think.
DeleteI agree with your opinion about Chang's writing style, and she always used very accurate, romantic and delicate words to describe the characters’ mental activity and the settings surrounding them.
DeleteThis was definitely an... interesting piece to read. I was put off by the completely abrupt nature of them "falling in love" which, actually, could not have been love. Given the context of the situation, the man was almost certainly mistaking comfort for love. He obviously sought comfort after complaining about the situation with his wife. I think he was most certainly at war with himself, wanting another woman while staying married (one that he negatively judged off the bat no less, and then mysteriously found her attractive after their faces came close together). Page 195, "to this woman, this woman who didn't know anything about his life, he was only and entirely a man", and then straight into "They were in love" -- this was all pretty silly to me. Essentially he believes this woman who does not know him or anything about him is in love with him? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteI think that she definitely did not reciprocate the feelings, maybe felt a stir of attraction but nothing more. She even seemed off-put by his sudden implications of wanting to 'marry' her. Though, she did seem combated with feelings of lingering attraction (most definitely just because of Zongzhen's sweet but dumb nature) and as well feelings of annoyance at how quickly the "feelings" escalated.
I don't like this style of writing, personally. Details are good, but the details seem almost overly done, especially in the beginning of the piece.
I think it helps to read the story with simultaneous awareness of the author's point of view (which is that of an omniscient narrator, visible in some aspects of the writing) as well as that of the characters'. It's not exactly overt or obvious, but I'd interrogate the perspective of your second quote: "They were in love." Who is saying that? Is it Eileen Chang or is it someone else?
DeleteI agree with your point about the situation being mistaken for comfort of love. I think he thought anything was better than what he had and his relationship with his wife was not meeting his male ego. He used this relationship to be comforted by what he wasn't receiving.
DeleteI agree with you on the party about comfort being mistaken for love. They seemed to truly not be in love with each other.
DeleteYour point about them not truly being in love is probably the message the Chang Eileen is trying to make. As Clara pointed out in class, this story does not have to be interpreted as a love story. Rather, the author could be trying to draw attention to the actions men and women make when they are isolated for normal/traditional society.
DeleteI definitely agree that the main male character was at battle with himself the whole piece. It seemed that he was caught up in the fantasy of the new woman that was sitting with him on the tram but he still knew that he had a wife back home. They were not truly in love with one another but rather enjoyed the escape of reality while talking
DeleteThe most interesting and memorable characters from the story “love in the fallen city” are Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan. The story tells us a sad story although the story seems to be a romantic love story that was happened during the wartime. Did they get married for love or the entire process of love and marriage just a trade? Bai Liusu wants a marriage, Fan Liuyuan just wants a mistress .The author describes Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan as selfish people thus their so called love is just to get what they need instead of chasing love. “He was just a selfish man, and she was just a selfish woman. In this age of chaos disorder, there is no place for individualists, but there is always a room for ordinary married couple. “(Love in the fallen city, Pg91) The fallen of Hong Kong helped them to get married. Finally Liusu got what she wants. She became the real and official wife of Liu Yuan. But Liu Yuan did not try to tease her anymore, saving all his daring talk for other women. (Love in the fallen city, Pg91) We can see from the author’s perspective that they are not fall in love with each other deeply .Under such a situation, she can fall in love with anyone as long as the man can give her a stable life. “In this uncertain world, money, land, all the things that last forever, all are unreliable. She could rely only on this breath in her body, and this person sleeping next to her (love in the fallen city, Pg91)
ReplyDeleteThe short story “sealed off” takes place in the wartime too. The two main characters fell in love with each other in a bus during an air raids time and then fell apart after unsealed. Is there some specific moment that makes them suddenly decide to be together even get married? The city is sealed, where people’s hearts are “sealed. When the city starts up, everything goes back to normal. Eileen Chang is pessimistic about life, human civilization and the world. I admire her for her ability to reflect their own a kind of writing style but that was too halting and abrupt for my taste. I think Lu Xu is the same kind of writer compare with Eileen. Lu Xun has a pessimistic view of the tendencies of his times. His works reflect his pessimistic political outlook but also to express some degree of hope for China's revolution.
"In this age of chaos disorder, there is no place for individualists, but there is always a room for ordinary married couple." This is one of my favorite quotes from the reading because it gives backbone to the reality of marriage; which has never been two people remaining infatuated with each other the remainder of their lives. Rather it is a choice two people have committed to make everyday acting according to promise despite the waxing and waning of romantic emotions.
DeleteI agree with you on that the most memorable characters were Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan. I myself also thought they were the most memorable.
DeleteI also questioned why they got married in Love in a Fallen City. .Was it because they actually loved each other or was it because of what society expected them to do>
DeleteIn the story Sealed Off by Eileen Chang Wu Cuiyuan and Lu Zhongzhen were the most memorable characters. They met by chance when the tramcar was forced to stop for a short time while the air raid alarm was going off in Shanghai during the Sino-Japanese war. I think Chang created these two characters to represent the changing view of society during this time. Cuiyuan grew up in a generation where her parents encouraged her to study hard and receive an education yet society did not know how to accept this change in the females’ role. This is shown through the following quote from the story about Cuiyuan’s parents, “But her parents’ enthusiasm began to wear thin and now they wished she hadn’t been quite so serious, wished she’d taken more time out from her studies, tried to find herself a rich husband,” (pg. 191). This must have caused a lot of stress for women who were expected to become educated but were suppose to continue to rely on men. This same expectation is seen in Eileen Chang’s other story Love in a Fallen City when it is said that, “Looking for a job won’t get you anywhere, looking for a somebody, that’s the way to go,” (pg. 65).
ReplyDeleteThe story Sealed Off also addresses the issue of arranged marriages. Zhongzhen was subjected to an arranged marriage by his parents and had this to say about the situation, “Even then I was against it. My mother arranged the marriage. Of course I wanted to choose for myself, but… she used to be very beautiful…Then she changed into this kind of person—even my mother fights with her,” (pg. 194). Although he was unhappy with his marriage he knew that he could not divorce his wife for the sake of his family and children in order to pursue what he viewed as real love with Cuiyuan, the stranger he met on the tram. Even though they said they were in love I would argue that they did not have enough time to fall in love but only to become infatuated with one another. I do not think this is a case of “love at first sight” because when he had first saw her board the tram he did not have any feelings toward her. Cuiyuan surprised me when she said, “women in love, on the other hand, don’t want to talk, because the know, without even knowing that they know, that once a man really understands a woman he’ll stop loving her,” (pg. 195). I was shocked by this statement because how can Zhongzhen, or any man, get to know a woman if they are afraid to talk.
I think the most memorable characters were the two main characters in “Sealed Off”, Lu Zongzhen and Wu Cuiyuan. I think they are important because I think their personal stories and relationship represent a larger point in the story. I think the characters of these two stories relate very closely. In “Sealed Off” Lu struggles with his wife and roles in the family – husband, father, provider – and it mentions this in the reading, “My wife – she doesn’t understand me at all” (194). Wu Cuiyuan also struggles with her personal life as her parents wish she would marry a rich man and her students don’t respect her, “Cuiyuan took abuse at school, took abuse at home” (191). I think the struggle that these two are facing represent the larger scheme of things going on outside the tram. I think the setting of the war represents the war that these two characters are having in their personal lives. But in the quiet area of the tram they find a happy medium. “Inside the tram, people where fairly quiet. They had somewhere to sit, and though the place was rather plain, it was still better, for most of them, than what they had at home” (188). The war may represent the war he is having with himself and his wife – you can feel the pain through the silence - but this woman breaks the silence for them. From this idea I conclude that war dominates people’s lives. These two characters allowed the “war” they were having within themselves control them. For them, they both just want someone to understand and respect them. In “Love in a Fallen City” there is a quote that mentions how there is no time to find love, “That doesn’t count. We were too busy falling in love, how could we possibly find time to really love?” (92). Today, people always say that you look too hard for love and that it will happen someday and you may not even know. This could be what is happening to Wu and Lu. Cuiyuan’s family want her to marry, but to her she is busy with her education and career that there seems little time but it could be happening right now with Lu. Based on these two stories it makes me question what is love to people? What exactly are people wanting that satisfy their needs? I think Chang’s writing style adds interest to the story and allows you to picture. Compared to other writers, like Ding Ling, her writing seems less clumsy and more accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI like how you compare the "war" between Cuiyuan and Zhongzhen to the actual war going on outside the tram. I think if we had more historical background of the war we could get more out of the story "Sealed Off."
DeleteI agree with your comparison between the two stories, in which both the main characters were fighting their own battles back home. Also, I enjoy your idea that the physical war being fought within the country went hand in hand with the war they were both personally fighting.
DeleteCuiyan of Chang's "Sealed Off" is memorable even with being in such a short story. She, unlike many protagonists we have seen, is very self aware. Cuiyan realizes her social status and privilege, commenting on how others probably view her; as a woman, scholar, unmarried. At one point she says to the man, "You seem to take diplomas very seriously. Actually, even if a woman's educated it's all the same." And even with this Chang includes that she knew she was "wounding her own heart". (pg 194) She also makes a distinction between "good people" and "real people". She is aware of and seems to constantly evaluate popular notions of right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate, and between people who perform for their families as opposed to those who are "real" and seek to act out how they feel.
ReplyDeleteThe protagonist of "Love in a Fallen City" is very similar to Cuiyan. She has a keen sense of how her own ideas match up to the expectations of those around her. "she said in a clear, light voice, 'Get divorced and then act like a widow? That's enough to make people laugh till their teeth fall out!'" Her sense of etiquette and filial piety signals the major generational shifts occurring at the time. (pg 62)
“ Zhongzhen was sure that Cuiyan was a lovely woman-pale, wispy, warm, like the breath your mouth exhales in winter. You don’t want her, and she quietly drifts away. Being part of you, she understands everything, forgives everything. You tell the truth, and her heartaches for you; you tell a lie, and she smiles as if to say, “ Go on with you-what are you saying.” ( Sealed Off page 195)
ReplyDeleteZhongzhen and Cuiyuan were strangers that had many things in common. Both characters have family members that expect something from them so they can live up to the traditional society. But, they are now living in a society that is moving from a traditional view to a modern view. Both are intellects that seek to fulfill their intellectual desires as well as physical desires. Cuiyuan was a breath of “warmth” that Zhongzhen was seeking from his bland and cold life and Cuiyuan provided this on sight, when they first met. Zhongzhen was also intrigued, because she was mysterious. He did not really know who she really was, other than her beauty and some sort of intellect. This intrigued him to want to pursue Cuiyuan.
While in class we discussed different types of loves, but I do not think that Zhongzhen and Cuiyuan do not fall into this category. They were infatuated in the mystery of the individual and the moment.
I agree that the story "Sealed Off" demonstrates the transition from traditional views to more modern views by the Chinese society. Cuiyuan and Zhongzhen are caught in a transitioning generation and find it hard to please their parents while also following their own desires.
DeleteI think the love they have would be unsteady while time gets longers.
DeleteAs a reader, the most memorable characters for me are Cuiyuan, Liusu and Fourth Mistress. And they are important, and needless to say, Liusu and Cuiyuan are the heroines in these two stories. But Fourth Mistress is also very important, she is selfish, rude and unreasonable, and her attitude arouse Liusu’s resistance to her life and want to seek for new life. The ending of the Sealed Off interested me most in the readings, because I think this ending involves many factors and tells us a lot about that time. Why after the city started up again, Zongzhen sat back in his old seat? Why female always became the weak when facing love or marriage, including both Cuiyuan (educated, good daughter and student) and Zongzhen’s wife (uncultured)? I really like Chang’s writing style, because she always used very accurate, romantic and delicate words to describe the characters’ mental activity and the love stories. I think Ding Ling might be comparable to Chang in terms of writing style. In Ding Ling’s Miss Sophie’s diary, she is very good at describing the character’s mental activity and using accurate words.
ReplyDeleteThe most important characteristic in these two stories is the relationship between love stories and war, and I think this is very important. In the Sealed Off, the love story happened in a tram because the city was sealed. The reason why the city was sealed is the war, “The street erupted in noise, as two trucks full of soldiers rumbled by.” (Chang, p.195) From this we can see that the War made the city seal, and the sealed city made this love story happen. So the War is an important background for this love story. After the city started up again, the lights inside the tram went on and Zongzhen sat in his old seat. “Everything that had happened while the city was sealed was a non-occurrence. The whole of Shanghai had dozed off, had dreamed an unreasonable dream.” (Chang, p.197) This sentence highlighted how the war and sealed off have influenced on the city and their love story. In the Love in a Fallen City, it can be asserted that the War made them get together and married. If the war didn’t happen, Liusu could not become Liuyuan’s wife. The war made them feel like they are very important and the only one to each other.
i like the second part of yours, ow you compare and analyse the characters are good
DeleteThe most memorable characters in “Love in a Fallen City” to me are Bai Liusu and Liuyuan. The reason I think that these characters are the most memorable is because these two characters “fall in love” with each other but there love is not what we would call true love. The were trying to force the love rather than let it happen naturally. “We were too busy falling in love, how could we possibly find time to really love?” (Love in a Fallen City, 92). This quote shows that they did not take their time to let the love happen naturally. They were forcing it.
ReplyDeleteThe metaphorical wars that are being fought in these two stories is love. They are fighting to find their true love. Both of the main characters of both stories were trying to find their true love. In “Sealed Off”, Zhongzhen was subjected to an arranged marriage. With arranged marriage, you are not marrying the person you actually want to be with. So there is this constant struggle of trying to find true love. My mother arranged the marriage. Of course I wanted to choose for myself, but… she used to be very beautiful (Sealed Off, 194).
I don't think in either of these stories that we actually see any "true" picture of love between any of the characters. We have a tram encounter, Bai Liusu and Liuyuan's relationship, and the whole arranged marriage described to us, and throughout all of these there is no happiness, no "dream come true" and no real love.
DeleteI thought Love in the Fallen City is a great work by Ailing Zhang. It talks about the relationship between a girl called Liusu, who divorced with her husband, and the guy named Liuyuan, how they know that they are the best one for each other during the time that Hongkong was ocuppied.
ReplyDeleteI did some background research on Ailing Zhang, then I found out that the story in the novel is sort of similar with what happened during Ailing Zhang's early life. However, the ocupation of Shanghai did not make Ailing Zhang and her lover together at last.
throughout the novel, I think the words and lines that ZHang uses are beautiful, however, I would like to talk about the culture elements I found in the novel.
the first thing that came to my mind is the strict family manner in old China, which I forgot to talk about in my presentation, which is men always run the family and make the decision, and the women and kids have to listen to them.
secondly, divorced man and woman and second marriage. So people are usually not fond of someone who is divorced, especially woman, it is even worse if the woman has a child living with her, it is hard for them to get married again. also, for men that are divorced, they usually considered as better, because Chinese people think that men take care of everything for the family, and the women just need to stay behind the men to support them, once they are divorced, people usually think its the women's fault.
another thing is son vs daughters, Chinese people like son more than daughter, because they think the son should take care of the parents when they get older, because daughter is going to marry someone else, and son carry the generation of the family.
then, the age of woman, in China, if a girl is over 25 and she doesnt have a steady relationship or married. it is going to be hard to get married.
lastly, the arrange marriage. it still exist, however, in the old China, parents find the ideal partner for you and they make you marry him/her, its much better now, because parents find ideal partner for you and they only make you to meet him/her, it is the kid's choice now.
I also found the sentence that Liuyuan says to Liusu at the last. "we were busy falling in love, how could we possibly find time to love"(p92), how I understand this is we trying really hard to find the right one for us, but we missed him/her while we are looking for them.
I really enjoyed your presentation in class because it's interesting to hear about the cultural differences from someone who has first hand knowledge of the subject matter. Also, I did my midterm on the patriarchal family structure in Chinese culture and so I really like your mention above of how the family order was men run the family and the rest of the family are to follow in suit.
DeleteI like how Chang Eileen uses space and sound to create scenes. “Sealed Off” begins not only with Shanghai sealed off due to the War, but the tramcar is also sealed off from its environment. The author writes, “If the city hadn’t been sealed, the tramcar would have gone on forever” (pg 188) and despite the craziness from the air raid, “never before, it seemed, had Shanghai been this quiet” (pg 188-189). I think it is important to understand the tramcar scene as one of isolation from the outside world.
ReplyDeleteWhen we try to understand Chang Eileen’s notion of love between men and women in relation to the historical context, it is significant to question why she chose this isolated tramcar scene to place her “love” story. If we view Shanghai during normal times as a male gendered space, as suggested by Leo Lee in the excerpt from class, then the contrast between normal Shanghai and sealed off Shanghai/tramcar could represent the contrast between men and women during this time period. In the story, Chang writes, “the street also grew quiet: not that it was a complete silence, but the sound of voices eased into a confused blur, like the soft rustle of a straw-stuffed pillow, heard in a dream” (pg. 188). Even though Chang has created a space that is outside of male gendered Shanghai, this tramcar (possibly a female space, or neither male nor female) is like a dream; it does not exist in reality.
That is a very interesting comparison between inside and outside the tram and male and female roles. I want to say that I would think that inside the tram is the female while outside the tram would be the male, the dominate, important in everyday life type of scene. Eileen Chang paints such beautiful, clear scenes throughout her writing.
DeleteI think it is very interesting how you drew parallels between the inside and outside of the tram and gender roles.
Delete“Looking for a job won’t get you anywhere. But looking for a somebody, that’s the way to go” (Love in a Fallen City, 65). This is said right after Liusu explains that she in incapable of finding any job because she isn’t very strong and her education is bad. This is in contrast to our other main character in “Sealed Off,” Cuiyuan, who is highly educated and well off according to how the world sees her status. However, she feels quite the opposite. One striking thing to me about Cuiyuan was that she was so educated, but was so naïve and almost gullible when it came to love. “He treated her like an intelligent, sophisticated person…he respected her (Sealed Off, 190-91). One may think that this is the person she might fall in love with, a student of hers that saw past what everyone saw her as, but yet this is not the case. This is the only mention of this guy maybe it’s because she got distracted by all the other movement and silence happening on the tram.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of “war” is what all characters in most stories go through if you really think about it. I mean everyone is wanting this “thing” they fight for it or fall into it. These two stories the metaphorical “war” is clearly love while a physical “war” is actually occurring. The first quote you can see that Mrs. Xu was encouraging her that even though she was educated she could still make a life for herself by finding a husband. Now, maybe this is a little extreme, but I highly doubt if you have no other means in your life and your last resort is to find someone, anyone to marry, you probably won’t be in love. This here lies the problem that I think is a very modern and realistic mindset.
The most memorable character from Sealed Off would have to be Wu Cuiyuan and Lu Zongshen. At first, they both seemed to be a mature and educated. However, as the story progressed they seemed to be less mature and more like a love sick teenagers. The premise of the story is that two strangers meet due to some unlikely circumstances (the tram being forced to stop due to a war alarm going off during the Sino-Japanese War). Lu Zongzhen and Wu Cuiyuan considered themselves to be in love by the end of the tram ride. It is arguable this “love” was merely an infatuation stemming from the fact that they could share their issues with one another. For example, the author states that “They were in love. He told her all kinds of things: who was on his side at the bank and who secretly opposed him; how his family squabbled; his schoolboy dream…” Furthermore, Zhongshen is also able to discuss the issues in his marriage with a complete stranger. He might have mistaken this infatuation for love. He even goes far enough to ask Cuiyuan if she “was a free woman”. This can also be said for Cuiyuan, as she states towards the end of the story “he ought to remember her telephone number; if he didn’t, then he didn’t love her, and there was no point in continuing the conversation” claiming that if he was unable to remember her telephone number, he did not love her. This is an immature way if measuring someone’s love and exemplifies that the two strangers are clearly not in love. Another interesting point in the story was the role of women as exemplified by Cuiyuan’s character. The author describes that “her parents’ enthusiasm began to wear thing and now they wished she hadn’t been quite so serious, wished she’d taken more time out of her studies, tried to find herself a rich husband”. It seems that it did not matter how well she did in her academic and professional life, she could not escape the social role of a woman, which was to find a good husband.
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable part of Love in a Fallen City was the quote “We were too busy falling in love, how could we possibly find time to really love?” It was interesting to see that perhaps the characters were not actually in love. It seems that they were almost trying to force themselves to be in love to meet everyone’s expectations. They are too busy forcing themselves to love that they cannot find someone they actually are in love with. I think the main character in Love in a Fallen City is very similar to the main character in Sealed Off. As women, they both recognize what society/family wants from them.
I think that Chang’s soft writing style adds to both of these stories through description and by creating romanticism within the plot. It exemplified the struggle that many in the newer generation were going through as they tried to find their own way. It almost seems as if women are supposed to be intellectuals and accomplished, yet they should also get married and rely on men for their needs.
I love the quote you've shared from 'Love in a Fallen City'. We discussed it in class and I definitely think it is a quote that is relatable to many of us at the moment. While we might not like to agree that we are in an 'immature' state of mind in our relationships, most of the interactions that we are faced with are in fact premature and simple infatuations where we put more effort into falling in love to actually experience the love itself.
DeleteThroughout the story, “Sealed Off,” there is an infatuation that is created between the two main characters. Both the male and the female in this piece were caught up in a daydream of what they thought love should be like. However, Zongzhen wasn’t a single man talking about this idea of love with Cuiyuan, but rather he was a man with a wife back home. It is almost as if the tram they were trapped on was a stoppage in time for the two of them and allowed them to escape the real world. Neither of them were really aware or really seemed to care about the mess taking place outside. Once the tram started moving again, it seemed that the whole fantasy of love faded away amongst them. The war that was seemed to be important was the one in both of their minds. Zongszhen couldn’t truly commit himself to pursuing Cuiyuan because he did have a wife back home. While Cuiyuan couldn’t commit to him either because she had this different idea of love within her mind. The physical war being fought at China at the time didn’t really play relevance in the story. One way that the actual war in China could reflect what was going on with the main characters was that there idea of love wasn’t real and was fighting with real love in the real world. In their fantasy world that they created between one another seemed very real and alive to them for the short period of time that the tram was stopped. Towards the end of the story it states, “the whole of Shanghai had dozed off, had dreamed an unreasonable dream (197).” This quote itself shows that China as a whole was truly awake to what was going on in the country, just like Zongzhen and Cuiyuan. It seemed that escaping the reality was a better choice for those in China at the time and no one wanted to deal with the reality. The infatuation was only a temporary escape, but I don’t think would have evolved into more. Zongzhen just wasn’t ready to face his troubles at home with his wife. As for Cuiyuan, she wasn’t ready to have true love because she still had a twisted idea of what it should be like.
ReplyDeleteWhen it came to the short story, “Love in a Fallen City,” the main characters were also fighting battles within their minds. The love that Liusu and Liuyuan was a love that didn’t come easily and did portray more of a realistic idea of what love is like in the real world. Many of the characters we have read about in class have been completely delusional to the reality of love where heartbreak, jealousy and arguments exist. In this story, Liusu was fighting the battle with her family while also battling herself, trying to figure out if she loved Liuyuan. It was apparent that they cared about one another throughout the piece, but neither of them could truly accept that. Liusu seemed to be rebelling against her family when she decided to form a relationship with Liuyuan. In some ways, it seemed that Liuyuan was more aware of what true love was and he had spent more time than she did when trying to find a soul-mate. Due to his experience, he was able to expose Liusu to the reality of love. It wasn’t easy and he showed her that. They fought each other, she fought her family and she battled herself. Wars were going on everywhere in the story and the war even broke out in the later part of the story. To me, it seemed that the physical war came at the perfect time. The war came whenever Liuyuan was supposed to be shipped off and may have served as a symbol of the fact that they shouldn’t be apart from one another. Keeping them together because of the war showed the reader that maybe their love was real.
ReplyDeleteEach of these stories depicted couples who were in the immature stages. “Love in a Fallen City” was more able to walk the reader through the evolving stages as well whereas “Sealed Off” did not. I feel as though if the first piece was drawn out more than the relationship could have evolved into more, but that just wasn’t the case. Both stories were similar in the sense that the physical war was occurring in sync with the internal battles that occurred within the relationships. The “love” was complicated in these stories and the writer did a great job taking the reader on an adventure in such a short amount of pages.
I enjoyed reading about the character of Lu Zongzhen because he caused me to think a lot about the situation in which we find him. I think he’s important because in reality he is in a really sticky situation. He’s married with children but has strong emotions to this stranger he’s met on the tram. In our society, we view this as wrong. And in the story it is as well, but in the moment where the world around them is suspended in time they are left with making the best of the given situation.
ReplyDeleteI seem to always find the connection that there is some sort of ‘tragic’ love story intertwined with the chaos of the war. I believe we see this pattern because of the desperation that is in the situation. The war itself causes strife in the people directly affected but also on their individual relationships. I think we see this with the narrative of Lu Zongzhen and his love ‘affair’ that he experiences in such a short period of time even with a family waiting for him back at home.
I liked Chang’s writing style because it felt not so much of an academic writing but more of a personal writing. The style that “Love in a Fallen City” is written in reminds me very much of “Miss Sophia’s Diary”.