Analyzing Shen Congwen's Short Story 'The Inn'
Changhoon Yang
Chinese 151
04 Nov 2015
The Inn
Considering Shen Congwen’s short story “The Inn”, it is worth saying that the title itself has much in common with romantic dimensions. However, at the beginning of “The Inn” one cannot help but become aware that fin de siècle images as well as emotions appeared to prevail over the other constituents of the story’s setting; the focus here lies in arguing that the inn appears to be placed at the foot of a range of hills close to the town frontiers. Each day, the exhausted people, being involved in walking “a distance of eighty or a hundred miles” (Congwen 107), would approach the house and seek for the bed. Subsequently, they would fall asleep similar to the logs on a straw, with their bodies deprived …show more content…
The short story goes by with a zoom-in to make an emphasis on the paper traders. The thing is that their thoughts are also put into chains of uncertainty and illusions. The author focuses on a single person because of his death in young age. After becoming a widow, Black Cat appears to be entirely engaged in the duties of the lady owner of the inn. Consequently, she did not have sexual affairs for three years. The point is that this young woman occupied a position of the inn’s master, incorporating the negative attitude towards the rich egoists. All in all, her natural sexual needs prevail over the reluctance to focus on carnal desires; yet, initially Black Cat manages to cope with her physical needs. Regarding the guests of the inn, it becomes clear that they all represent the decay of the fin de siècle, and it results in a widow’s failure to continue going decades without sex. Evidently, decadence as well the decay was thought to be the consequence of urbanization, alcoholism, and serious illnesses. The personages of the given short story emerge to be driven by the willingness to earn money and wound their identity in the …show more content…
The writers expanding the insight into the decadence movement preferred to utilize peculiar symbols in order to demonstrate people’s despair as well as pessimism. Considering Congwen’s “The Inn”, it is important to admit that Black Cat who suffered from her sexual desires was described in quite a revolting way. The author utilized extraordinary bizarreness in order to picture Black Cat wondering “which one she would like to be naked with her” (Congwen
Chinese 151
04 Nov 2015
The Inn
Considering Shen Congwen’s short story “The Inn”, it is worth saying that the title itself has much in common with romantic dimensions. However, at the beginning of “The Inn” one cannot help but become aware that fin de siècle images as well as emotions appeared to prevail over the other constituents of the story’s setting; the focus here lies in arguing that the inn appears to be placed at the foot of a range of hills close to the town frontiers. Each day, the exhausted people, being involved in walking “a distance of eighty or a hundred miles” (Congwen 107), would approach the house and seek for the bed. Subsequently, they would fall asleep similar to the logs on a straw, with their bodies deprived …show more content…
The short story goes by with a zoom-in to make an emphasis on the paper traders. The thing is that their thoughts are also put into chains of uncertainty and illusions. The author focuses on a single person because of his death in young age. After becoming a widow, Black Cat appears to be entirely engaged in the duties of the lady owner of the inn. Consequently, she did not have sexual affairs for three years. The point is that this young woman occupied a position of the inn’s master, incorporating the negative attitude towards the rich egoists. All in all, her natural sexual needs prevail over the reluctance to focus on carnal desires; yet, initially Black Cat manages to cope with her physical needs. Regarding the guests of the inn, it becomes clear that they all represent the decay of the fin de siècle, and it results in a widow’s failure to continue going decades without sex. Evidently, decadence as well the decay was thought to be the consequence of urbanization, alcoholism, and serious illnesses. The personages of the given short story emerge to be driven by the willingness to earn money and wound their identity in the …show more content…
The writers expanding the insight into the decadence movement preferred to utilize peculiar symbols in order to demonstrate people’s despair as well as pessimism. Considering Congwen’s “The Inn”, it is important to admit that Black Cat who suffered from her sexual desires was described in quite a revolting way. The author utilized extraordinary bizarreness in order to picture Black Cat wondering “which one she would like to be naked with her” (Congwen