Owen Hamilton
March 20, 2014
Brio/ Heart Rattle
Tone
Towards the end of the book, Mark is soon to leave China, so there is a sorrowful atmosphere in his last months. He hastefully strives to fulfill everything he came to achieve. Learning wushu from the world's greatest warrior is coming to an end, but he wants to make it count. One day Pan tells him seriously, "We don't have much time. Just a few months. I don't have time for English anymore--there's only wushu now. What is the one thing you want to learn before you leave? Choose it, and I'll give it to you" (pg. 185). As a parting gift, Pan gives Mark the choice of any teaching he would like. The time to leave had come too soon, and Mark must end his time with Pan with one last teaching. During his last months in China, Mark meets many people such as an African studying medicine in China, a beautiful woman who wants to learn more English, and an old calligrapher. This old calligrapher hears of Mark, and hastily asks him if he will come to his house before he goes back to the United States, "I heard recently that a young American at Hunan Medical College was interested in calligraphy, and had even gone to the trouble to learn it himself to understand it further. When I heard this I was deeply moved, and hoped I could meet you before you returned to your country" (pg. 193). Mark spends much time meeting new interesting people in his last months to learn new things in China. He has many interesting experiences, but he sadly knows that he will be leaving them behind soon.
Favorite Part of the Book
My favorite part of the book was within the first twenty pages. Mark has just started teaching an English class, and they want to give him some feedback on his teaching. "At the end of the first week of classes the Class Monitor read aloud the results of their 'Suggestions for Better Study' meeting: 'Dear Teacher Mark. You are an active boy! Your lessons are very humorous and very wonderful. To improve our class, may we suggest that in the future we (1) spend more time reading, (2) spend more time listening, (3) spend more time writing and (4) spend more time speaking. Also, some students feel you are moving too quickly through the book. However, some students request that you speed up a little, because the material is too elementary. We hope we can struggle together to overcome these contradictions! Thank you, our dear teacher'" (pg. 18). First of all, it is hilarious how they wrote this so enthusiastically! "You are an active boy" is such a funny line. It is also hilarious how they compiled the different suggestions for better study, and came up with contradicting things. It seems that the students all want different things. If every student got what they wanted, Mark would have to teach more of everything! (Reading, listening, writing, and speaking). It is also funny how they leave him with a terrible problem, and don't give any suggestions on how to solve it. Why would they make a class with almost fluent speakers and beginners together?
I agree with what Owen said about how the last portion of the book was written hastily and also props to you for not making it seem like a bad thing. Some other posts I read seemed to make it seem like the writing itself was hasty - like the way you write the ending of a rough draft really late at night? And I think that has a really negative connotation and I also think that Mr. Salzman definitely didn't do that. Owen specified that his story ended hastily because that was where his story ended in real life, not because he was sick of writing the book and wanted it over with.
ReplyDeleteQuite on the contrary, I believe this book ends in a hopeful tone. The author's voice remains omniscient on whether he's sad to be leaving, especially in the quotes above. They don't describe a feeling of melancholia. Naturally, as these quotes show, we tend to infer that one would be sad that they are leaving a place they seem to enjoy, but there is not actual proof above. In the quotes above Pan and the calligrapher both mention that they need to teach Mark fast because he will be leaving soon, but Mark does not show any sadness. This doesn't mean he wasn't sad, just the voice and tone of the book didn't show this. I think it ended on a more hopeful, optimistic outlook. As a parting gift to one of his favorite students, Pan gives Mark a long sword on the last day of his training, "Then, very slowly, he spoke: "I brought two swords tonight. I am taking only one back with me" (211). By giving Mark one of his long swords, used in a routine he's never taught anyone except Mark, he is showing his compassion and trust he has in Mark. Pan hopes and trusts Mark will not abuse this gift and treat it and his skill of the long sword, as humbly as he does. This shows that the end of Mark's life in China is just the beginning of his mastery of Wushu. This leaves me with hope and assurance that mark will leave China with a new acquired wisdom he has learned from his experiences and connections in China.
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