–The story’s narrator is revisiting a place he once lived. Explain the significance that this “revisiting” has in relation to the themes of the story.
–What is the connection between our narrator and Weifu? Why do you think so much of the story is spent on Weifu’s life, while the narrator shares very little about his own life experiences?
–Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?
–Weifu recalls when he and the narrator used to pull the beards off religious statues in the Temple when they were younger. What is the significance of this memory?
–Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
–What aspects of this short story seem to you to be particularly modernist?
Weifu recalls when he and the narrator used to pull the beards off religious statues in the Temple when they were younger. What is the significance of this memory?
This is significant in term of implying the changes of Weifu’s character. Weifu was a ambitious person back in the day when he did not believe in religous institute, instead, he believed that he can be part of revolutionizing China. However, he compromised in reality since several years passed by, he did not find a place where he can exercise his ambition. Instead, he almost did not do anything in pass ten years. His aspiration was consumed and vanished in reality as he now is more concerned about how to support his family life. Weifu is an epitome of those young and aimless youths who may had wonderful dreams at the beginning, then later realized that society is cruel and is difficult to be successful unless they work diligently.
Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
Filial piety is when children put the desires of their parents over the desire of their own. This is common in Chinese culture. In Lu Xun’s “In The Wineshop”, an example of filial piety is when Weifu comes back into town to do his mother the favor of reburying his brother’s grave to avoid physical and spiritual disaster. When he goes to the grave, he finds that the coffin is completely empty. However, he still buries the new coffin and fulfills his duty as a son. One reason Weifu does this is to put his mother’s religious heart to rest despite not believing in it himself. Another reason is because he does not have the will or care to argue a way out of the seemingly futile task.
After understanding the narrator and his colleague were assumed to be students of the Republic Revolution of China, it is hypocritical for Weifu to attempt to rebury his little brother. Students were the main cause for the Republic Revolution because they were the younger generation who rejected Confucianism and filial piety. The same student fighting for a new culture in China turns out to be just like the people he used to protest. Weifu’s story is hypocritical because he only attempted to rebury his little brother because it would please his mother and put her at ease. The younger version of himself would have rejected his reburial and argued the idea that it was more important to please his desires than the desire’s of his parents.
Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
An instance of filial piety in the story was that in which Weifu went to unbury his brother’s corpse so it wouldn’t be lost in the flood. Despite his brother’s remains being gone, Weifu felt it necessary to rebury something (even if not his brother), in the new coffin to put his mother’s heart at ease. Despite his lack of belief in religion and all the traditional beliefs taught to the children of China, filial piety is one that Weifu adopts. He goes to any extent to satisfy his mother.
Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?
Throughout the story we learn that the narrator and Weifu had very secular ideologies when they were younger. The two wanted to modernize China by creating movement away from religious ideologies. As Weifu tells the story of re-burrying his little brother we see that his “strong” secular views have lessened. He has become more respectful towards people’s spiritual ideologies. This was made evident when he decided to still go through with action of burying his brothers coffin although there were no remains to bury along with it. It was possible that Weifu could just have done nothing and said he did as he was asked. Instead he decided to respect his mother’s wishes and continue on with an empty ritual. This story showed us that there has been a loss of his strong secular views. If he was anything like he was in the past he would have rejected doing it altogether. But as he has grown older he has become less ambitious and much more open to other people’s ideas/ways of life.
–Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
Filial piety is a common Chinese culture that the children shows the filial piety which is the respect to the parents or elderly.it is significant in the story when weifu’s mother asked him to rebury his younger brother, but the coffin was completely empty, not a piece of bone left. However, in order to please his mother and fulfill the duty as a son, he still rebury the coffin to fulfill his mother’s will.
Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?
Weifu was sent to rebury his little brother by his mother. When Weifu reached the burial site, he was able to dig up and find the coffin but unfortunately the body of his little brother was not found. Weigh could’ve just left everything where it was and go back home and tell his mother that he did the deed she asked him to do. Instead, Weifu thought of how he wanted his mother’s mind to be at rest so he decided to rebury his little brother’s coffin without the body being inside of it.
–Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
An instance of filial piety can be seen when Weifu helped rebury his brother for his mother. His mother requested him to do it and he did it because of her. He seems like an unmotivated individual, so he did it out of filial piety. Even when he did do the job and discovered that there was no body there, he still filled the coffin with rocks. That way he could say he still moved his brother’s coffin and he accomplished his goal for his mother. He was just focused on fulfilling the task.
Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?
Weifu’s behavior shows filial piety which is an traditional manner in China that young people should respect the elderly and don’t go against their will. He was sent to rebury his little brother by his mother. He found out that nothing is in the coffin but to ease her mother’s mind he buried a new coffin but other in there.
Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance
In Chinese culture, filial piety is the most common thing. Children have to have their piety toward their parent. Parents can never be their children’s friend. Whatever the parents want their child to do, they have to do it otherwise they are unfilial. Unfilial is considered a sin. Therefore, when Weifu’s mother asked him to rebury his brother, he has to do so in order to show his filial piety.
There are three accounts of returning to a place where one had once been. In all situations the person returning is faced with a reality that is different from what they imagined. They were also all negative. I think this reflects the feeling of disappointment in the trajectory of their lives, from young and promising intellectuals to middle-aged men without families wandering trying to find purpose. Just as Lu Wei-fu said about feeling like a fly moving in circles, he is not pleased by this trajectory. He wishes to move forward but consistently finds himself having to visit the past to his own dismay.
Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?
The significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother shows filial piety. His mother was the one that asked him to rebury his little brother and he did what he was told which is filial piety, respecting what an elderly person (i.e. parent) wants. The body was not there but he still filled it with rocks which was done just to show respect to his mothers wishes.
What aspects of this short story seem to you to be particularly modernist?
There are many aspects in this story that stroked me as being modernist. First, there is the obvious loss of faith in religion and patriotism. Both Weifu and the narrator grew up with dreams of being someone, someone outside their small village. They wanted to revolutionize China and move away from religion. They remembered the times where they used to pull beard off of religious statues, showing their secular motives. Despite having moved away from this original personality, both characters experienced the need for it, the need to move forward and forget about their traditional beliefs. Secondly, both left their village in search of something better, depicting the modernist belief of urbanization. Finally, the story follows somewhat of a chronological order, but their seem to be a lot of flashbacks and memories flooding in throughout the narrative suggesting a resistance to narrative coherence.
Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
Filial piety is all about putting your parents’ desires before yours. An instance of filial piety in the story is when Weifu goes to unbury the corpse of his brother. He does this so it does not get lost in the flood. Although Weifu’s brother’s remains were gone, he still decided to bury something just to put his mother’s heart at ease. Even though Weifu is not into religion as well as the traditions of China, he still did what his mother wanted to please her.
Filial Piety When our protagonist Weifu goes back to town to bury his brother into the ground. Even though he found an empty tomb he still did it to put his mom in peace. This is when we put our own goods for our parents. This can be seen in day to day life when he decide to do something for our parents even if we really hate it. It looks like in the story Weifu really cared his about his mom.
–Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
As a traditional value of Confucianism, Filial piety advocates that children put the desires of their parents above their own desires. By following Weifu’s mother’s asking, Weifu comes back to South in order to rebury his brother’s grave, whom he “can’t even remember clearly what he looked like” (4). Due to traditional religious perspective, he has to do as his mother tells, even though he doesn’t have money and time. The eager to see little brother’s body disappears when he finds out nothing of body left. Though it is unmeaningful to rebury an empty coffin, for him it is meaningful to satisfy his mother, he wants to set her mind at rest. Affection between him and his mother provides him sense of security in this unstable society.
Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
One instant was when wei fu’s mother wanted him to rebury his brothers coffin. when Wei fu finds his brothers coffin he saw that it was empty. wei fu realizing the that his brother body wasn’t there could’ve saved himself money and not burry him again but to make his mother happy and satisfy her he buried him again.
–Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is its significance?
Filial piety means that children put the desires of their parents above their own desires. An instance of filial piety in the story is when Weifu rebury his little brother’s coffin to make satisfy his mother. At that time, China tried to revolution and Weifu was between old things and new things. However, filial piety was not changing. The revolution can change their culture or religion things, but the revolution is not effected on their pure filial piety.
Weifu recalls when he and the narrator used to pull the beards off religious statues in the Temple when they were younger. What is the significance of this memory?
This is a turning point for Weifu. Before the suffering of the life, Weifu is a ambitious young man. He wants to overthrow the feudal superstition. He has a dream to evoke the people’s mind. Let them to see the future and even change the society of the China. like cultural renaissance for the China. However, after he is back to the town. He wants to rebury his brother. He finds no body in the tomb. He takes a gift, the artificial flowers, to his lover Ah Shun. But she died. He dodges life’s blow. At the end of story, he tells to narrator,“I cannot even think about tomorrow”. Weifu accepts his life and choose to forgive his dream.