First Reaction for the Story, "A Man Like Him"
Choose one of the topics below and write a response in paragraphs (not an essay). Write a minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 200 words. Include at least one direct reference to the story through the use of a short quotation but do not quote more than 20 words total in your answer. Link to "A Man Like Him" full text at NewYorker.com
1.Write about something that surprised you, angered you, delighted you, or evoked any strong reaction as you were reading. Write about anything that stays on your mind after reading.
2. Explore a social or ethical issue raised in the writing. Judge the behaviour of the characters or the views of the author. Are they right or wrong in your opinion?
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
NOTE: Please finish all work before your class on Wednesday, May 5.
17 comments:
Question 1:
Yiyun Li had me reacting from the very first page of her story, “A Man Like Him.” Teacher Fei “[flings] a magazine across the room,” reacting to the girl in the fashion magazine and then, ironically, feels “himself beyond the trap of useless emotions.” He’s angry, that is clear. But why are emotions “useless” to him? His internal conflict made me curious to know more. Then we find that he, like the middle school children at the Internet café, is also “impersonating people”! Li’s story deals in the differences between what we see (or think we see) and what is real. His mother pretends dementia with Mrs. Luo. The children in the café cast “disapproving glances” at him, seeing (quite rightly) a “disgraceful old man.” There are “borders” between people, much like the sheet used to protect his elderly mother’s privacy. We think we know others, but, often do not. Painfully enough, Teacher Fei still believes he can see the “beauty and wisdom” of the girl in his class and of his own mother. Can he, truly? YiYun Li presents us with a complex and interesting protagonist and plot, but doesn’t answer that question, leaving us to wonder.
—198 words
After reading the short story “A Man Like Him”, my mind is full of questions which I cannot find the answer. The author, Yiyun Li, presents too many points which unfortunately makes her points pointless. Through the sadness of two men who are groundlessly objectified as an unfaithful husband and a dirty-desired teacher, I see lots of ugliness of this world: Human intolerance, resentment, life’s cruelty, and political manipulation…. But what do we do to make this world a better place? Yiyun Li does not give a simple hint. She just exposes the painful wounds without giving a cure( perhaps, she does not know the cure or she wants to challenge readers.). But I want to ask the author: Is narrow-minded people too evil to worth any word of enlightenment? Or is “a man like [teacher Fei]” too proud to prove his innocence? Isn’t it necessary to give at least one try to defend human dignity? Should we blame them all or should we chose one to blame? If so, then who is the one to blame? Someone please tell me the answer, as I just do not get it. Finally, please allow me to borrow teacher Fei’s mother’s comment: “ I have nothing to say about this world.”
--209 words
I am delighted to see Yiyun Li’s thought provoking portrayal of Teacher Fei in A Man Like Him, who is an insignificant and even invisible person in China. After living some years in Canada, looking back at our life in China through Fei’s eyes, I have a much clearer understanding of the roles of morals and justice play in a society. Li deliberately reveals Fei’s secret desire of “[his mother’s] farewell to the world” by being “intentionally careless about [her sleeping] pills,” and yet after five years waiting, he abandoned that idea and has been taking care of his frail, elderly mother in a thoughtful and tender way. Comparing this with his “dirty desire” of a girl student’s face, for which he was labeled as a pedophile in the school’s file, I am wondering if desire or thought should be punished. Thinking of the Cultural Revolution as the story’s backdrop—when intimidation is a tactic, destruction is desired—Fei is the prey of that era. Now, more than forty years later, seeing the same kind of hasty accusations from many heated minds—the cyber violence—Fei offers his sympathy and support for his fellow-man, whom he believes is wrongly accused. Even for those “easily bullied by the world,” Fei believes they deserve people “to see through the truth” based on their actions instead of harsh assumptions.
--226 words
In “A Man Like Him” story, I am surprised by teacher Fei’s mind. I wonder why he lived until most of his hair turned “gray” without marrying! However, during his life, he had never touched a woman’s “breast”, so one day he “watched [a] boy sneak a hand under [a] girl’s sweater” then he immediately hoped for the boy to evaporate, so he could take over the girl. Talking about teacher Fei’s life, he was proud of his life because he declared that (no one could accuse him of being an unfaithful husband or a bad father.) I assume that he didn’t perhaps expect any responsibility, so he chose to stay as a single man.
The most delightful thing about the story though, it is how Fei’s mother gave her dowry to “her husband support his parents and siblings in the countryside” which is very useful thing that she did, and I believe that Fei’s father will never forget the offer, and he will be very gentle to his wife because she showed him that she cared about his parents the most.
--182 words.
This story raises a social issue “filial”. The author uses comparison to outline the issue. Teacher Fei, an obedient son, who shows filial to his non-blood-relationship mother; meanwhile, the revenge girl shows his anger by presenting conditional love to her absent father.
As filial has been a traditional moral and character among China people for thousands of years. Mr. Fei shows his filial by accompanying her. He lives with her, takes good care of her eating and bathing, listens to her endless chatter about the people she knew when she was young. He is a good son from Chinese people’s point of view.
On the contrary, the girl in the blog shows her conditional filial with malice, condemnation and even threat. The author uses his mother’s words to give her a fair opinion – "The weak-minded choose to hate, and it’s the least painful thing to do”. She claims that she will be obedient to his father as long as his father comes back to her mother and her otherwise she will do three things to hurt her father. She even deletes different opinions sent to her blog, just presents the pro. messages which makes Teacher Fei and we believes that she is a liar. Her behavior is not the real filial but the hate from my point of view.
-220
After reading "A Man Like Me" I had a lot of mixed emotions: anger, disgust, and compassion . At first I believed the girl was in the right for wanting her father to pay for his unjustifiable actions. I was angry that Teacher Fei could not see how infidelity (unfaithfulness; disloyalty) in a marriage is the worst kind of betrayal. When you start to fade away from your marriage - due to being unhappy, and feeling unfulfilled with your partner - it is best to talk to the family members and come to a conclusion to the problem: be it divorce or couple counseling. The pain the child feels will hurt, but it will be treatable. By cheating, they will forever feel like they have been deceived ,and lied to. As the story continued, I started to see why Teacher Fei reacted like that; he was once accused of "pedophilia" when he was innocent. I later in the story we found out that the husband did not even have the affair. Teacher fei had the right idea when he said "the world would be a better place when one learns to see through to the truth instead of making hasty and unfounded accusations.".
200 words
Question #1
I wonder how relationships affect in our society.Begin by the nineteen old year girl and her divorced parents,also teacher Fei and his real fact of life.He spent his time working without getting married and have family(responsibilities). There's no doubt that human is the first responsible about time in life and behaviour weather in a clear way or no.
I delighted how Fei's mom was a great and faithful woman,"she accompained her husband"In her fisrt hand the bucket and in the other hand holding her husband's hand.She believed well that God gave her two hands one to help herslef and the other is to help other,but "he couldn't save him from despair".Unfortunately,Fei's father killed himself after while.
Finally, the chat rooms that threatned the society nowadays. People lie on each other and pretend that they are perfect to give and take flirtation.I really liked the clear question in the story:"who could blame them" [student]"for paying little attention to the beautiful April afternoon?".
-160 words.
The story “A Man like Him” written by Yiyun Li, surprised me from the beginning. “A man”- teacher Fei- was taking care of his adoptive mother just like his biological mother, better than some biological children will do. He would listen to her even she was mentally ill. He would yet make notes of what she said. He knew that she was suffering from dementia, he never considered her anything less. I like his attitude of respecting her, and never wanting her to end- up in a hospital, “He could not imagine her in a cold bed in a crowded hospital ward.”
The disrespectful behaviour of the girl form the fashion magazine towards her father annoyed me. She blamed her father publicly of being “unfaithful husband and bad father.” She was just the opposite of the teacher Fei. The father said, “She would come with rat poison” and he expected, “I am waiting for her to fulfill her promise” because she already tried everything on him. She wasn’t a child when he left them, so she did not have the right to blame her father wanting to have a life of his own.
Delighted thing is how teacher Fei was keeping himself busy purchasing fashion magazines, and spending time in an internet club; that was the only thing he found to do since he had a limited time to spend out of the home.
234 words
Honestly, I don’t get the point of this story. Probably because of the “bizarre” life story of Teacher Fei (as a “Pedophile”), and the girl’s dramatic outrage to his father, I think there’s no connection at all. But my emotions are provoked (at least) by the the girl and her father, and Teacher Fei’s mother (but I like the image when Teacher Fei draws a scorpion pointing in the girl’s face). When the girl called his father “[a] less of a creature than a pig...because he is an adulterer,” there should be an acceptable and heavy reason behind those “piercing” statements (imagine someone called you like that). Disappointingly, her outrage in the world seems no confirmation: it is non-sense. It’s all accusations--no evidence. And the people just agree with her. What gullible they are. I agree with Teacher Fei’s mother--that “the weak-minded choose to hate.” The girl hasn’t made any efforts to clarify the situation to his father. She just blamed him immediately and made “scandalous” exposés. What she’s doing is disgraceful not only to her ex-father, but to her mother and to herself as worse. What if the truth unfolds in the whole world? I wish Yiyun Li had made this story like that.
--207 words
The story “A Man like Him “by Yiyun Li surprise me. Especially teacher Fei surprised me that he never crushed at a woman. It’s hard to believe that a sixty year old man never had crush on a woman. No wonder he is going crazy after nineteen year old girl. In the story he is carefully going through the nineteen years old girl ‘file and pictures .He is behaving like a teenager boy. It seems that he is trying to search for what he knows he had missed over the many years.
The teacher ‘Fei is behavior makes me angry to. When he suggested to her father “you should sue your daughter.”On the other hand her father still remembers his daughter three threats “first she would sue……………..she would come with rat poisons couldn’t find in the story who want what? It’s not clear for me whether he had sympathy for her father or anger towards for that girl.
After reading the story I was surprised by Teacher Fei ‘dirty contemplation about girls who are same as his daughter s’ age or his grandchildren if he got married. It was really disgusting when I read about his thought in the internet cafe when he was looking at teenager young couple. Purchasing fashion magazines and spending time in chat rooms are relating to a young man more than sixty years old retired art teacher.
I was angered by the girl’s divorced parents because of an untruthfully. Sometimes diminutive mistakes drive the life through to complicated problems. Punishing someone for nothing was not fair, and her conditional punishment to take back her father was ridiculous; her” weak-minded choose to hate,” instead of deliberation.
I was delighted by Fei taking care of his mother and paying too much attention to her health and intellectual passionately while her blood [not] running through his vein. It was kind-heartedness of Teacher Fei s’ mother to” help her husband to support his parents,” meanwhile some people did not care about their parents.
After reading the short story “A Man Like Him” I felt a lot of mixed emotions. Teacher Fei surprised me, that he was an older man who is in his sixties and never been married or had a sexual relationship with a female. I was surprised that he still lives at home, and takes care of his older mother who is ill. The part of the story that angered me was when he was at the internet cafe and watched the boy sneak a hand under the girl’s sweater. “When he walked past the couple, he raised his thumb” this showed me that Teacher Fei was a pervert. Teacher Fei never cupped his hands around a women’s breast and wished that he could make the boy disappear and take his spot. Clearly he was an experienced old man who looked at nineteen year old girls. After reading the magazine, he reads about a girl who is revengeful of her father who she thinks had an affair and led to the divorce with her mother. It delighted me that Teacher Fei went out of his way to meet up with the girl’s father, I found it pointless!.
After reading, “A Man Like Me”, I had so many different emotions running through my head that I started getting confused at the end. Teacher Fei is a retired art teacher, who is responsible for his aging mother. At the start it shows he is reading a fashion magazine (probably more familiar to women than men) he reads an article of a girl who ‘suspects’ that her father was committing adultery. To Teacher Fei’s interest he makes so much of an effort, he finds a blogging site for the girl’s article eventually contacts the father and soon meets him. He was so direct asking the girl’s father, “what are you going to do?” making him confused to the question. Possibly, Teacher Fei interest was out of boredom? Or is trying to connect with someone who was accused of something they might have not done. Since Teacher Fei was accused of fancying a young female student. Teacher Fei’s behaviour is even revealed when he watches the boy “sneak a hand under the girl’s sweater and wiggle it around”. Teacher Fei’s reaction was that he wished he took the boys place next to the girl. At this point of the story, I was so eerie I didn’t know what else to expect.
-- 210 words
After I read this story, “A Man Like Him”, my heart was full of upset. The attitude of the girl’s parent made me angry. In my opinions, when the couple have some problems, they can argue, negotiate, or divorce; they shouldn’t deliver their feeling of hatred to their children, and children should have an opportunity to grow normally as others. Although I didn’t know about the detail story of the girl’s parents, she must get some bad information from their parents. In the story, she seemed live in the malice, and hated any persons who not agreed with her. Maybe, “it’s the least painful things to do,” but she will ignore some problems that she can probably overcome. Everyone isn’t perfect, but everyone should have a right to not inherit hatred from their parents. At the end of the story, the father of the girl had given up explaining anything to her; he just waited her daughter to attack him unscrupulously. Maybe, he “could’ve denied all the accusations, but what difference would it have made?” I pity the couple, the parents of the girl, but it made me angry that the war of the adult continuously extends to next generation.
Question 1:
In the beginning of “A Man Like Him” by Yiyun Li, I had started to sympathize for the girl in the fashion magazine article. Her persistent accusation towards her father led me to believe that he had truly made the crime of infertility. When most of the world was siding with the girl, Teacher Fei had a “sudden burst of anger” after reading the article. I was surprised by his anger. Why was Teacher Fei angry that the girl wanted to ruin her father’s life? Her father had done their family wrong, hadn’t he? A quote that stayed on my mind throughout the story was “the weak-minded choose to hate.” I didn’t understand it the first few times, but when I got to the end of the story I realized that the girl was upset that her parent’s had divorced, she chose to hate her father because it was the “least painful thing to do.” She made her mind believe that her parents’ unhappy marriage was due to her father’s infertility. I realize, there are always two sides to every story.
“A Man Like Him” illustrates us a complex story through contrasting Teacher Fei's family with a nineteen revenging girl's family. According to Chinese traditional culture (maybe in most cultures), it's disgraceful to have any notion to a little girl that untruth but made Teacher Fei disgrace and never married. Whether or not Teacher Fei was innocent, it was unfair to him that “a man's dirty desire” was written into his file only basing on a precocious eleven-year-old “unseeing” “imagination.” That made Teacher Fei strong reaction to a man treated unfairly by his daughter especially he had read other signal form the photo: “Happier Time.” Teacher Fei was shocked when he saw the girl's father looked like sixty on his forty-six; the girl had given her father more painful even than throwing him into the jail. “What malice” the girl was! She poured all dirty on her father's head despite marriage was an affair of both of her parents. She almost took revenge to her father as her career. Why her humanity distorted like this? Maybe it originated from her mother just contrasting to Teacher Fei's mother especially when she said “The weak-minded choose to hate.”
-- 195 words
"It's the innocent ones who are often preyed upon by life's cruelty." Countless people's life was been ruined because of unfounded accusations. A person's vengeance, envy, paranoia, political belief are some reasons to smear someone's dignity. To aggravate the situation, the accuser uses media (trial by pulicity), network technolody and much worse -rumor- to justify their suspicions.
This seems what had decided the fate of the live's of the protagonists in Yiyun Li's story, " A Man Like Him". They had live a life bearing the reputations casted upon them. The unfortunate circumstances of Teacher Fei's family did not only humiliated them but it had influenced their destiny. His father commited suicide. Her mother disliked strangers. Teacher Fei remained a bachelor.
This is also true to the girl's father who is living in prison cell with invicible bars.
The author presented human's cruelty in order to achieve their end in different ways. On the otherhand, Yiyun Li presented wisdom in enduring the cruelty; keeping oneself afloat and survive the onslaught of the predator. "One should never hope for the unseeing to see the truth." Well, going against the current wear you down.
(192 words)
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