LOVE

Love in a Fallen City

Love in a Fallen City

Introduction

The analysis of Love in a Fallen City reveals that it is a romantic story expressed in several themes such as drama, emotion and passion. Nevertheless, Eileen Chang, the author of the story is one of the successful writers of China that gained success in a short time. There were several masterpieces provided by Chang in her lifetime. This story is the first English story among the huge compilation of works provided by Chang. The story was published in China in 1940s, where the stories are, for the most part, set. Every work of the author represents the culture of China; especially, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The theme of the story is a cocktail of tradition and modernity. The story reveals that in love, there are several secret conspiracies and desires that devise the human emotions according to their schemes. Despite Love in a Fallen City, Fan and Bai are the exceptional entities presented by the author. The themes of these novels differ from Love in a Fallen City; however, these novels have successfully contributed to the accomplishments of the author. The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore diverse themes used by the author in the story Love in a Fallen City. In addition, the paper will enlighten the core concept of the story in light of literary analysis.

Formulation of Thought

The stories presented by Chang are appreciated by the audience, and enjoyed tremendous success along a continuum of roughly 1940s. Chang's characters are, for the most past, upper-class or aspiring to be upper-class. In Love, in one of Chang's trademark surrealistic scenes, Liusu has a horrifying vision of herself growing old in empty time rooted to the drawing room, "where a single day, creeping slowly by, was a thousand years in the outside world," and "all the days would be the same, each one as flat and dull as the last one". Coupled with this physical immobility is the cultural biopolitics of female reproduction. Liusu's vision then unfolds onto a sight of "children born one after another, with their bright new eyes, their tender new mouths, their quick new wits (Chang, 2007). The very first story, “Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier”, is about a young girl, Weilong, moving in with her scandalous aunt, Madame Liang, to further her studies, but who is quickly diverted by Liang's lifestyle, full of manipulating men for money, sumptuous clothing, and parties.

At the site of the ruined polis, Liusu achieves the domestic victory of the romance plot--a desirable marriage combined with the approval of society, made complete by moments of ordinary and un-ironized happiness (Young, 2000). While Chang's focus is usually on women trying to find a place, security, and marriage for themselves in this state of transition, the final novella, “Red Rose, White Rose”, focuses on a man with a twisted relationship towards women. I've always wondered how a man could treat a woman poorly if he was raised by a ...