Sealed Off
The short story by Ailing “Sealed Off” has various levels and interpretations of the title. The first being the war background and what happened throughout the city. Shanghai grew quiet every time an air raid attack happened when the Japanese frequently bombed them during the Second Sino-Japanese War. When these air raid attacks happened the city would seal off temporarily. The tramcars would halt and seal off as well, and whoever was in the tramcars would be stuck inside until the raids were over. The passengers react in a manner by finding ways to pass the time. The second interpretation of “Sealed Off” is more of a psychological meaning behind the two main characters meeting in the tramcar while they are “sealed off” from the city, pursuing a conversation that creates a fantasy of romance
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between them where they are also “sealed off” from the rest of the passengers.
Lu Zongzhen was sitting on the tram reading the paper that his dumplings were wrapped in trying to fill the emptiness and time with something he caught the eye of a relative, his wife’s cousin’s son. Lu detested him and tried to seal himself off from him by quickly changing seats across the way hoping he could hide from him. He ended up sitting next to a woman named Cuiyuan. The cousin eventually saw him so Lu decides to use the woman as a decoy by flirting with her to hopefully scare him off. Lu shocks Cuiyuan by asking her to talk and saying how he saw her get on the tram and noticed her. Lu then starts to reveal his personal problems to her about his marriage and begin an intimate personal conversation. They eventually create a connection which is shown here, “He looked at her, and she
blushed. When she let him see her blush, he grew visibly happy. Then she blushed even more deeply.” (Ailing p.504) This shows they were sealed off from the rest of the passengers and the outside world busy falling in love. They create an intimacy in this short amount of time while Lu reveals all his troubles of his marriage and talks about himself yet never asks Cuiyuan much. On another level, Cuiyuan and Lu Zongzhen reveal a lot about themselves to each other but still hold a lot of things private and “sealed off” to each other as well, especially Cuiyuan. For example, “Men in love have always liked to talk; women in love, on the other hand, don’t want to talk, because they know, without even knowing that they know, that once a man really understands a woman he’ll stop loving her.” (Ailing p.505) She chose not to expose to much of herself knowing what the end result would be.
between them where they are also “sealed off” from the rest of the passengers.
Lu Zongzhen was sitting on the tram reading the paper that his dumplings were wrapped in trying to fill the emptiness and time with something he caught the eye of a relative, his wife’s cousin’s son. Lu detested him and tried to seal himself off from him by quickly changing seats across the way hoping he could hide from him. He ended up sitting next to a woman named Cuiyuan. The cousin eventually saw him so Lu decides to use the woman as a decoy by flirting with her to hopefully scare him off. Lu shocks Cuiyuan by asking her to talk and saying how he saw her get on the tram and noticed her. Lu then starts to reveal his personal problems to her about his marriage and begin an intimate personal conversation. They eventually create a connection which is shown here, “He looked at her, and she
blushed. When she let him see her blush, he grew visibly happy. Then she blushed even more deeply.” (Ailing p.504) This shows they were sealed off from the rest of the passengers and the outside world busy falling in love. They create an intimacy in this short amount of time while Lu reveals all his troubles of his marriage and talks about himself yet never asks Cuiyuan much. On another level, Cuiyuan and Lu Zongzhen reveal a lot about themselves to each other but still hold a lot of things private and “sealed off” to each other as well, especially Cuiyuan. For example, “Men in love have always liked to talk; women in love, on the other hand, don’t want to talk, because they know, without even knowing that they know, that once a man really understands a woman he’ll stop loving her.” (Ailing p.505) She chose not to expose to much of herself knowing what the end result would be.