The History Background of Song of Everlasting Sorrow and Balzac and the Little Chinese - Essay Example

1. 2. 3. 4. Song of Everlasting Sorrow and Balzac and the Little Chinese Wang Anyi’s novel “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” (2008) is a translation of a tragic story from China, that enumerates the events that take place over a long period of time. It highlights the major changes that took place in Chinese society and how these changes impacted on the lives of others, and served to change the entire course of their lives. ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ is a popular novel by Wang Anyi that revolves around the life story of a small celebrity named Wang Qiyao, who belonged to the Shanghai elite prior to 1949. However, in China, writers had to be careful on incorrect or poor criticism where politics or the history of the country are concerned, because a wrong depiction or criticism could land them in major trouble and at times such books may even be banned. The author brings out the uniqueness of the history of Shanghai that traversed by her characters in the maze of alleyways (Longtang) where Gossip was rampant. Name 2 “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”, (2008) has the backdrop of post World War II, Shanghai, China. This story narrates the infatuation of the female protagonist Wang Qiyao with glamour of Hollywood during the 1940’s. She yearns for fame as she participates in the beauty pageant in Shanghai, and the stardom she experiences for a fleeting period of time is treated as the pinnacle of her lifetime. Wang Qiyao lives a reckless life in the four decades that follow, as she engages in a couple of decadent pleasures, in a yet conservative Shanghai. In addition, she indulges secretly in the game of Mahjong while the anti-rightist Movement takes place. In both the stories, the authors highlight the fact of promiscuous behavior of their female protagonists as they have no qualms about exchanging lovers as they wished. “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie is another Chinese story that revolves around the lives of two teenagers who were compelled to leave their hometown of Chengdu to be re-educated in a mountain village. In this story, one of the youths is the narrator who is not named and his parents are doctors, while his friend Luo’s father is a famous dentist. This essay attempts to trace the path chosen by these characters in relation to the female protagonist. Luo has an exceptional skill for story telling and hence the village headman sends both the youths to Yong Jing, a nearby town to watch movies and then come back to the village and retell the story to the villagers who are illiterate. Luo who is both dramatic Name 3 and theatrical makes a great success of it and everybody seemed to love “the oral cinema show.” (19) Since the first show was a great success, the headman sends them regularly to the town to watch movies and narrate them on their return. The female protagonist is this story is the little seamstress who lived in a neighboring village and Luo soon falls in love with her. However, Luo felt that she was not educated or refined like him and made up his mind to make her more civilized in the future. Their regular scheme of things gets spoiled when the female character comes in and the narrator feels jealous of the relationship between his friend Luo and the seamstress. It so happens that Luo is called back home for a month due to his mother’s illness but before leaving he requests Luo to keep away the other suitors who follow her. It is at this juncture that we see a complete change in the course of action, as the narrator falls in love with the female protagonist, who very soon becomes pregnant and the narrator takes her to a gynecologist for an abortion. Luo, who is unaware of all the happenings, returns after a month and continues his attempts to civilize the seamstress. Though she tries to change her style, accent and clothes to suit the urban life, yet one day, she is not to be found and is told by her father that she has gone to the city. They go in search of her and finally find her in the graveyard paying her respects to her ancestors. When they ask her to accompany them back to the village she refuses. The central theme that recurs through the story of ‘Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress’, is the celebration of academics. Dai the author explores the value or worth Name 4 of academics as against practical knowledge. It is knowledge and learning that differentiates the narrator and Luo from the rest of the villagers and makes them seem more superior to them. At the same time, they understand that though the villagers lack academic knowledge, they possess knowledge and skills of a different kind which are equally useful in life. Both the stories depict the historical upheavals that take its toll on those who lived during that time, with a special focus on the youth of that particular society. The authors Wang Anyi of “Song of Everlasting Sorrow” and Dai Sijie of “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” clearly depict the historical background of China at that time and detail the tragic course of events of their female protagonists in their stories. They explain how China was striving to break away from the shackles of Communism while they strived towards Liberalism. In the struggle between the old China and the new China, the lives of individuals took its own course. In “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” (2008) the author has a constant thread of ideas of the historical background of Shanghai and she traces the path of her characters as they are tossed and turned during the tumultuous period filled with its ups and downs. The semi-colonial era was ever present and the author emphasizes this clearly in the portrayal of the scheming and complex female character that is crafty in her dealings and how they change their courses of life as it suits them. During this period in history, women were not political in any way and had no power over anything and therefore were just as Name 5 objects of entertainment. In “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” the historical background was that of a Cultural Revolution by Mao in China. It was during this time that universities were shut down and intellectuals were banished from the country. The two teenage male characters are only middle school but when they are sent to the town, they meet a beautiful seamstress and Luo immediately falls for her charms and from then on tries his best to refine her tastes and attitudes through literature. However, the seamstress seemed to be an opportunist, very calculative and a woman of low character and rightly changes her course of action as it best suited her, thus representing the stereotypical women who lived during that historical period. In both the stories, we find that the youth, both male and female lead reckless lives. They were carefree, ambitious and lead promiscuous lives. The female protagonists were petty minded and ambitious and the values they had of themselves and other people were cheap. Though they chased after transformation and outward beauty, they led pitiable lives trapped in their own skin. They looked upon themselves more as commodities, than that of human beings who needed love and respect and this aspect is clearly brought out by the authors explaining about the number of lovers they had. Both the females traverse a pathway of tragic disillusionment. References Dai Sijie, “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress”. Study Guide. Accessed in May 2014. www.gradesaver.com › Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. www.readinggroupguides.com/.../balzac-and-the-little-chinese-seamstress Gregory McCormick’s Review on ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ by Wang Anyi. Columbia University Press. 440pp. Accessed in May 2014 www.quarterlyconversation.com/the-song-of-everlasting-sorrow-by-w. The Song of Everlasting Sorrow by Wang Anyi. A Review(2009) Accessed in May 2014 www.mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/reviews/hockx.htm Wang Anyi. (2008) The Song of Everlasting Sorrow. A Novel of Shanghai. Pgs. 456. Accessed in May 2014. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0.../the-song-of-everlasting-sorrow Read More