Daniel Zhavoronkin – Wineshop response

The fact that the narrator is ‘revisiting’ One Barrel House and starts off by noticing “from the landlord to the waiter there was not a single person I knew makes me think back to William Blake’s ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’, since both of them connote the theme of reminiscing. Similarly, although both texts use this as an excuse for writing, it is not what drives the text. Rather, reminiscing is a vessel to convey the message of how people change over time. “In the Wine-Shop” becomes a dialogue between the narrator and a long-lost colleague, Weifu. Focusing on how Weifu now is slower than the younger, more energetic Weifu from his memories, and asking him about the time between then and now emphasizes how this story is not about times past, but about how people evolve between times past and the present.

Our narrator’s reminiscence is a great way to further expand on the theme of change. His younger self recalls that he not only defaced statues, but that he wanted to revolt against the ruling structures of China. Confucianism incites in the first book that respecting elders is one of the core values to being a good person in society, and defacing statues that are likely homages to past figures would most likely be considered a very bold societal statement. Now, the narrator has given up on this revolutionary nature because he believes it is a waste of time and accomplishes little. This memory serves to show the difference between the ambitions of the past self and the current self.

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