Love in the fallen city

“Love in the fallen city” People tend to show real emotion and love when they suffer

In the Eileen Chang’s Book; “Love in the fallen city”, the story revolves around the romance between a Liuyan who is a British-educated young man and a 28-year-old Liusu, who is a divorcée and a daughter to a late imperial official (Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury 36). Liusu had divorced her husband due to his abuse nature only to return to her mother’s household where she is resented and later coming to note that the relatives had spent all her saving. The story starts with the death of Liusu’s abusive husband, which forces Liusu’s family to press her to return to her late ex-husband’s household or to remarry again as they could not support a divorced and a penniless daughter. In this confusion, Liusu confides in a Chinese-born young British-educated man Liuyan who was the heir to their large fortune. Liyuan falls in love with Liusu who had accompanied her niece on a date to Liyuan as a prospective husband. The two then leave for Hong Kong to escape from the materializing Liusu’s family. Their love is, however, not blossoming in Hong Kong due to various flirtations series. However towards the end of the book, the two are happily married.

The book “To Live” by Yu Hua is an epic novel which highlights the transformation of a young landlord son Fugui, from a spoilt son to a cherished honorable and a citizen with a kindhearted.  Fugui who squanders his family’s fortune in brothels and gambling dens is forced by the Communist Army to leave his family and to settle as a farmer after witnessing horrors of the civil war which has cost the lives of the other three characters in the novel. The only property he has been left with is an ox which he settles down with as a committed farmer.

The two books can be used to explain thesis statement for this term paper which states that: People tend to show real emotion and love when they are suffered. To explore on this thesis statement the arguments will be based on the sufferings by Liusu through her marriage to abusive husband, her eventual divorce and the loss of her savings to her unwelcoming relatives. The statement will also be explained through the transformation of Fugui from the spoilt landlord son to a humble peasant farmer.

The book’s title “To live” is the motto of the humbled Fugui whom as already seen was a part of a wealthy family. He had everything including material wealth and servants, but he squandered all these wealth. He started gambling and visiting brothels which left him with nothing. His life changed them from being the affluent young man to peasant farmer living in a lowly rural village. Here the simplicity of Fugui is well portrayed as brought out by the author that simplicity brings the hidden drive of companion (Yu, Hua, and Michael Berry 23). This companion is brought as Fugui realizes the need for the love and family devotion. He protects his family, though most had died in the civil war, and achieves this through suffering. The life here was the simple but fair share of struggle; food was scarce, the jobs to be done were hard and the family endured many disasters. Fugui consoles himself that simple life does not mean the life devoid of pain, emotional trauma and working hard. In using this humbling experience by Fugui the term paper has been able to show the relationship between suffering and emotional love.

The thesis statement in the book “To Live” can also be portrayed through the confession by Fugui on a former worker called Changgen. He says that when he was in private school he never used to walk as the family had hired a worker who would carry Fugui everywhere; this worker was Changgen whom he had no respect for. However, through the humbling experience, Fugui had he later came to visit Changgen in a show of companionship. This gesture is in the line with the thesis statement. The turn of events has forced Fugui to look for friendship which answers the question (Yu, Hua, and Michael Berry 25). Do misfortunes test the sincerity of love?

Another character that has been used by the author to show the sincerity of love beats misfortunes is Jiazhen. She is a childhood friend to Fugui and pregnant with his child. Born from a rich family like that of Fugui and with their parents enjoying the same economic status, the bond between the parents has reflected the children. However, following the loss of wealth by Fugui, Jiazhen’s family is against her association with the poor Fugui which she vehemently opposes. Her actions show that misfortunes can test the sincerity of love and friendship. She sympathizes with Fugui for the misfortunes and the suffering that Fugui is undergoing. It can thus be concluded that   Jiazhen answers our thesis statement in that suffering made their emotion love with Fugui to be brought out by the author.

Lastly, the author uses the character Wangxi to bring out the theme of misfortune and love. Mr. Wangxi is seen sending his son to take silk clothes Fugui before his death. This act is used as a show of love towards the now poor Fugui. Mr. Wangxi still feels that despite the misfortunes that have befallen Fugui, he still needs to wear luxurious clothes as before. This sum up the correlation between the theme of love in the novel and the thesis statement of the term paper which brings emotion and love when people suffer as seen in the case of Fugui (Yu, Hua, and Michael Berry 26).

Liusu in the book “Love in a Fallen City,” is faced with two choices to make after the death of her abusive husband. One of the choices as proposed by her brother Third Master is to go into mourning period by returning to her late husband’s household which was a common practice for divorced women in Patriarchal society (Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury 38). The other option that was in Liusu’s radar was to remarry. The traditional of the classical Chinese tradition can be explained in the options that were available for Liusu. “Returning” to her ex-husband’s household means that she would be going to her original home since the other option of remarrying was not possible in the society (Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury 36). This brings the concept in the main thesis statement. The suffering of Liusu has been portrayed through the ridicule see constantly receive from her relatives and the society as a single mother. By her returning to the ex-husband’s home this is seen as a way to look for acceptance and emotional love from members of her “rightful family.”  Thus, the author connects the tradition of women seeking companionship and love from their late husband’s family with a thesis statement in the term paper. The suffering that Liusu had endured through an abusive marriage, divorce and finally the death of her ex-husband is seen to be washed away by the love guaranteed by the family members of her late husband. This, however, is not the route which is taken by Liusu as she opts to remarry.

Liusu in the disguise of taking her niece to a date to meet a wealthy Chinese-born Britain-educated playboy Liuyan, incidentally falls in love with Liuyan at the expense of her niece. This is despite the age difference and the fact that Liusu was a divorce. The love between the two, however, is flirtatious as seen in the first dancing between Liuyan and Liusu. The opportunistic nature of Liusu coupled with the flirtatious nature of Liuyan sees the two develop an enigma which could not be understood. Liusu is determined to have her own family as sees Liuyan as the perfect man to start a family with due to his wealth and youthful age. This decision taken by Liusu is in line with the thesis statement. The author has successfully shown that suffering brings about emotional love. The suffering endured by Liusu makes her to look for a companion in Liuyan. Liusu family has been portrayed as the incentive towards her; the society has also been portrayed as discriminative towards widowed women. These problems and suffering have forced Liusu to look for emotional love in the most unlikely sources, a younger man Liuyan (Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury 41).

In the book “Love in a Fallen City” the theme of love is continued through the gentle nature of Bai Luisu. She banks on Fan Leiyan to provide for her upkeep when she elopes with him to Hong Kong. Their relationship in Hong Kong does not live to the expectations of Liusu who later is resigned that she has lost Leiyan who is about to leave Hong Kong. It is during this period that the Japanese army attacks Hong Kong and is fallen. During this time, Leiyan realizes the love he has for Bai Liusu and comes to protect her from the imminent attack.  The theme has been brought out about love and emotional trauma in times of suffering. Although, Leiyan was not concerned too much about the affairs of Liusu he comes to her defense during the attack by the Japanese Army. He must have been emotional as he did not want anything to happen to his love. This is well in line with the thesis statement which links suffering from real emotion and love (Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury 43). It is this emotion that the two showed towards each other that led to their eventual marriage.

In conclusion, the two main characters bring out the theme of love and suffering during the period of the fall of Hong Kong which brings a happier ending of the calamitous love between Liusu and her lover. The end of the war marked a start of the marriage between the two lovers. This is in correlation with thesis statement which relates suffering from emotion and such of friendship. The love between the two lovers was not stable as it was based flirtatious attitude of a rich playboy who had no devotion to any woman. This jeopardized the love that Liusu had for Luiyan. However, on the fall of Hong Kong, he comes to rescue his love which helps in changing the mind of Luiyan. This leads to their eventual marriage and consequently a happy ending. This concludes the calamitous affair between the two lovers which is in line with the thesis statement which presumes that people tend to show real emotion and love when they suffer. Such was the case of suffering experienced by Liusu that made her elope with Leiyan.

Conclusion

The two authors have brought out the theme of love through misfortunes. It can be argued thus that misfortunes are sometimes good in that they give us the true nature of our friends. Many people wear plastic faces only to show their real face when a misfortune strikes. Consequently, friendship may be strengthened or broken by misfortunes.

In his book “To Live,” Yu Hua uses a character called Fugui who is a rich son of a landlord who had no respect for the worker who was employed just to carry him around by the name Changgen. He befriends Jiazhen who is a rich girl and ends up impregnating her. While in the city Fugui mistreats Jiazhen by physically beating her, he sleeps with prostitutes and uses all the money in gambling. When all the money is gone Fugui is left with only an ox and becomes a peasant farmer in a poor village. It is then that he realizes who his true friends were; Jiazhen disagrees with her parents and still remaining a friend to Fugui and also Fugui visits Chaggen who his boyhood worker to make friendship. He realizes the need for friendship and he is humbled through the sufferings and the death of his family members.

Finally the author of the book “Love in a Fallen City” elaborates the relationship between suffering, real emotion, and love. This is mainly done through a modest woman by the Bai Liusu who is a divorcee. She later loses her ex-husband and is tone between remarrying and following the traditions of “returning back” to her husband’s home. On going to her mother’s household, she is not welcomed by the family members. All these tribulations lead her to fall in love with a rich playboy called Leiyan. The problems they encounter in their courtship and the eventual marriage confirms that pain and suffering tend to show the real emotion and love of the people concerned.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Yu, Hua, and Michael Berry. To Live: A Novel. New York: Anchor, 2003. Print.

Zhang, Ailing, and Karen Kingsbury. Love in a Fallen City. New York: New York Review, 2007. Print.