The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband
During the course of this short story the author manages to evoke various different responses to the story. From laughter and humour at the beginning to guilt and remorse at the end.
The first section is very thought provoking. The author is making the reader think about what we have read. In this section the author talks how we are brought up with a certain view of things and if someone or something does not fit to our ideas we find it weird and hard to comprehend. The first section has many rhetorical questions for example "Do you air your views recklessly in front of your seniors?" and "Do you presume to throw your weight about before your superiors?" The author wants us to answer no toe every question and naturally we all do. Then he asks a question about, us the readers, and whether we would choose a husband shorter than us, or a wife taller than us. Once again we answer no. We have been trapped into answering the question like this because the author wants us to. The author then goes on to tell us about "such a couple."
In section two the author begins to describe the couple and how they have unmistakable contrasts. He describes the tall woman as a "crane over chickens", "unvarnished ping-pong bat" and "scraggy as a scrubbing board." All these comments and descriptions are designed to make us laugh and I think the author does this really well. The word "ping-pong" is a comical word in itself but to describe someone as it is strange and helps to provoke laughter. He describes the short husband as "roly-poly", "pudgy little meatballs" and "looked two heads shorter." The description of the man makes us laugh once again. The word "meatballs" makes us picture his hands and feet as round meatballs. This image in our minds helps us express our amusement. Furthermore, by reading both descriptions continuously we realise how they are both opposites and completely mismatched. Feng Ji-cai, the author, at this point in the story wants us to laugh and has designed these descriptions so well that we get the response he wants us to have. He makes us have a mental image of them in our mind, which makes it humorous. He then describes how the woman holds the umbrella when it is raining and not the man. This is rather unconventional but practical in their case. Once again we find their situation comical. We are told in the story that all the people who are living at "Unity Mansions" laugh and jeer at the couple. Instead of retaliating they just take it in their stride. This makes us form some kind of respect for the couple. Out of all their neighbours there is one in particular who just cannot help but mock them and wonder what brought the couple together. This person is the tailor's wife. The tailor's wife is described as "nosey-parkers" and "ferret out their secrets." The description of the tailor's wife makes us dislike her from the moment we meet her. The word "ferret" is usually associated with vermin and as a dirty creature. Feng Ji-cai uses this word deliberately to evoke a bad response. The tailor's wife forms a theory that they have married because neither of them could find anyone else. However the woman then becomes pregnant. When the tailor's wife gets frustrated because her theory did not pan out, it makes us rejoice and feel satisfaction because she was proved wrong. We once again laugh when the baby is born because the short husband has to run along behind the woman and the baby holding the umbrella. The author makes us laugh by describing the residents at Unity Mansions laughing. If we know that other people are laughing at the couple we see that it is all right to laugh and we do. The next event that evokes a response is when the tailor's wife hears the sound of a smashed plate coming from their apartment and goes to find out more. When she arrives there she observes that they are not arguing about it. The tailor's wife is puzzled and mystified. We see how the tailor's wife must not get along well with her husband and also how the couple are together for their love and not for any other reason. The respect we have them grows a bit more because we see how much the tailor's wife is pestering them yet they do not seem to care. Right at the end of this section the tailor's wife devises another theory for why the couple are together. This new theory is that the tall woman is with the short husband because of his high salary. As readers we know this is not true because we have seen many moments where the couple do not argue and get along splendidly. This evokes are response of disgust for the tailor's wife because she has now sunk extremely low and we notice what a horrible woman she is.
During the course of this short story the author manages to evoke various different responses to the story. From laughter and humour at the beginning to guilt and remorse at the end.
The first section is very thought provoking. The author is making the reader think about what we have read. In this section the author talks how we are brought up with a certain view of things and if someone or something does not fit to our ideas we find it weird and hard to comprehend. The first section has many rhetorical questions for example "Do you air your views recklessly in front of your seniors?" and "Do you presume to throw your weight about before your superiors?" The author wants us to answer no toe every question and naturally we all do. Then he asks a question about, us the readers, and whether we would choose a husband shorter than us, or a wife taller than us. Once again we answer no. We have been trapped into answering the question like this because the author wants us to. The author then goes on to tell us about "such a couple."
In section two the author begins to describe the couple and how they have unmistakable contrasts. He describes the tall woman as a "crane over chickens", "unvarnished ping-pong bat" and "scraggy as a scrubbing board." All these comments and descriptions are designed to make us laugh and I think the author does this really well. The word "ping-pong" is a comical word in itself but to describe someone as it is strange and helps to provoke laughter. He describes the short husband as "roly-poly", "pudgy little meatballs" and "looked two heads shorter." The description of the man makes us laugh once again. The word "meatballs" makes us picture his hands and feet as round meatballs. This image in our minds helps us express our amusement. Furthermore, by reading both descriptions continuously we realise how they are both opposites and completely mismatched. Feng Ji-cai, the author, at this point in the story wants us to laugh and has designed these descriptions so well that we get the response he wants us to have. He makes us have a mental image of them in our mind, which makes it humorous. He then describes how the woman holds the umbrella when it is raining and not the man. This is rather unconventional but practical in their case. Once again we find their situation comical. We are told in the story that all the people who are living at "Unity Mansions" laugh and jeer at the couple. Instead of retaliating they just take it in their stride. This makes us form some kind of respect for the couple. Out of all their neighbours there is one in particular who just cannot help but mock them and wonder what brought the couple together. This person is the tailor's wife. The tailor's wife is described as "nosey-parkers" and "ferret out their secrets." The description of the tailor's wife makes us dislike her from the moment we meet her. The word "ferret" is usually associated with vermin and as a dirty creature. Feng Ji-cai uses this word deliberately to evoke a bad response. The tailor's wife forms a theory that they have married because neither of them could find anyone else. However the woman then becomes pregnant. When the tailor's wife gets frustrated because her theory did not pan out, it makes us rejoice and feel satisfaction because she was proved wrong. We once again laugh when the baby is born because the short husband has to run along behind the woman and the baby holding the umbrella. The author makes us laugh by describing the residents at Unity Mansions laughing. If we know that other people are laughing at the couple we see that it is all right to laugh and we do. The next event that evokes a response is when the tailor's wife hears the sound of a smashed plate coming from their apartment and goes to find out more. When she arrives there she observes that they are not arguing about it. The tailor's wife is puzzled and mystified. We see how the tailor's wife must not get along well with her husband and also how the couple are together for their love and not for any other reason. The respect we have them grows a bit more because we see how much the tailor's wife is pestering them yet they do not seem to care. Right at the end of this section the tailor's wife devises another theory for why the couple are together. This new theory is that the tall woman is with the short husband because of his high salary. As readers we know this is not true because we have seen many moments where the couple do not argue and get along splendidly. This evokes are response of disgust for the tailor's wife because she has now sunk extremely low and we notice what a horrible woman she is.
