In The Wine Shop – Evanthia Peikidou

6. What aspects of this short story seem to you to be particularly modernist?

   Two are the most obvious aspects of this story that seem to be modernist. One of them is the lack of a plot that is a characteristic of modernist. In the story of “In The Wine shop” we only see two men meeting in a wine shop and having a conversation, and nothing particular is happening besides that. The second characteristic is how we see our protagonist Lu Wei-fu being an anti-hero. In both the stories he mentioned in their conversation we see that he couldn’t do them because he was late so he “missed the opportunity” to be the hero. I also think that as we saw on our previous reading from T.S Eliot, “The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock” in modernist literature there is an emphasis on the thoughts and the character himself rather than what is around him. We see Lu Wei-fu towards the end telling to the other man “ Because I know very well how unwelcome I am, I have even come to dislike myself and, knowing this, why should I inflict myself on others? “ As Prufrock did, he criticizes himself and what others might think about him.

5.Describe an instance of filial piety in the story. What is the significance? 

  An instance of filial piety in the story is where Lu Wei-fu is doing what his mother told him even if he didn’t believe it is going to make a difference. When he went to move his brother’s grave and he finds that there is nothing there he still buries an empty coffin just because his mother told him to in order for her to be calm. I think that has a connection with him being a rebel back in the days when he was trying to revolutionize China as he said to his friend and it shows a contrast on what he is now. Also this particular story emphasizes the anti-hero characteristic of modernist, to connect it to my previous answer. A hero would not have acted that way, he would stick on his beliefs of his rebel past.