Paragraph Answer for "Gold Boy, Emerald Girl"
Write an answer that is based on information found on the page you have been assigned. Try, as best you can, to connect what happens on that page to events that occur either before or after in the story. Use at least one literary term (setting, conflict, plot, irony etc.) in your answer. Quote the story at least once, but no more than 20 words, maximum, for all quotes. Identify the page number, please, as a heading before your paragraph. See my model answer for more ideas on what to do.
Write between 150 and 200 words. Bring your word processed work to class on Wednesday.
Online copy of the story for quoting.
21 comments:
Page 8
On page eight of the story, the true character of Siyu’s love for Professor Dai becomes clear to the reader. After giving us a long paragraph full of details of Siyu’s relationship with her father, Yiyun Li proceeds to explain the reasons for Siyu’s “ungrateful and coldhearted” approach. Indeed, Siyu loves Professor Dai, but in a way “she could not explain and did not have a right to claim in the first place.” That Siyu must keep it a “secret” is not a surprise, and by giving us lots of detail, Li lets us catch a glimpse of a complex and round character and helps us to better understand her. Indeed, the story shows us a great depth and complexity in its characterization, one of the reasons I find it interesting and worth reading and rereading. The boundaries of human experience are wide and in a story where three characters need to “make a world that would accommodate their loneliness,” it is good to see non traditional ways of living shown sympathetically. This way, it is easier to understand Siyu’s love and the sensible arrangement the three characters make to live together. —194 words
On page eight, the narrator, Yiyun Li, described the motive why Siyu was sitting on the bend under an ancient gingko tree in front of the Biology building every morning at six o’clock. Hangfeng was not the reason she continued to be a friend of professor Dai. Her hard efforts were to see Professor Dai because she was in love with her. Siyu had to choose between two things; staying within sight of her dad or looking for what she is missing. Even though she will look “Ungrateful and cold hearted in the eyes of old neighbors and family friends”, she chose to look for a mother in her love of an older woman. In my opinion, if Siyu was nurtured by both her loving dad and woman, this would have made a difference in her life. Hanfeng now understood both sides of the marriage’s story; first, why this beautiful sad woman did not get married till now. Secondly, why his mother had allowed the younger woman to remain a friend. Professor Dai knew that Siyu would not betray her because Siyu was always there for her. Page eight is an important page that makes all the details clear, and gives us more description of Siyu’s characteristics.
207 words
Pg 8 Much of page eight describes Siyu’s past memories with her father. Siyu was always aware of her father’s love for her. To old neighbors and friends, she may seem “ungrateful and coldhearted” because of not attending her father’s wedding, and excluding herself from his life, spending holidays on her own, being independent. The author shows how lonely Siyu is. Some might say “she had spent her life looking for a mother in her love of an older woman”, although Siyu seemd to know professor Dai as her student. Hanfeng compared Siyu to his mother, beautiful and sad. He wonders if this was why his mother set them up. Not having a mother figure while growing up make a child feel that he or she is missing a piece of their life. As a son with both parents living with both parents, I cannot begin to think of how my life would have been if I was in Siyu’s position. Professor Dai’s proposition for Siyu to move in with her and Hanfeng would benefit all three characters. Having the company of each other would accommodate the loneliness they all share.
Page 3
On page three Henfeng, during faltered conversation with Siyu, realizes that she in some ways resembles his mother, who was trying to fulfill the expectations of the society rather than going with her heart desires. To this point, the story shows the common features of the characters, their loneliness and unhappy lives. Li, through the narrator’s omniscient point of view, gives us a better understanding of Henfeng’s and his mother’s characters (and their relationship), by giving Henfeng voice and describing a few episodic plots (past and present) from their lives. The pretence of a perfect relationship triggers in Henfeng “need of adventure” and life “away from a mother.” He travels to the States to discover another disappointment. He doesn’t conquer the world, as he expects, and finds himself being a gay betrayed by his partner (we soon discover on page 5). Cheated by life, he decides to come back to China, sharing the fate with his retired mother. He “envision himself living a bachelor’s life in his mother’s flat”, but realizes that his mother has a different agenda toward him. Will she help or complicate him the rest of his life; that question Yiyun Li leaves to the readers. – 199 words
“Gold Boy,Emerald Girl”
Page 10
On page ten the conflict was about weather the couple get married or not, But Yiyun Li lets us see how they get to a resolution of why an arranged marriage was good for their situation.” She had remained unmarried for professor Dai, Siyu thought now, and she would with her blessing become a married woman”. Siyun cared so much about professor Dai that she didn’t mind to get married without loved for her husband to be, and got content with the knowledge that she was going to be near the person she loves. As for Hanfeng, he wanted to be there for his mother’s last years, and be able to take care of her. He knew that his mother wanted him married before she died, and he also, came to the realization that his mother needed Siyu at her side. They were able to compromise for their common goal. They agreed to live in professor’s three bedroom flat, and whether they are happy or not is of little significance.
Page One
On page one, Liyun Li gives us a definite idea about the couple in the story, in the first sentence of the story tells us that Siyu and Hanfeng had something in common, that they were each raised by a single parent. In the second paragraph we get a clearer picture of Siyu’s character, and that she is a lonely woman. It is also easy to see that Siyu craves the attention of the Professor Dai, Hanfeng’s mother, who had “set up their date”. After exchanging polite greetings to each other she brought the conversation back to his mother, enquiring about her wellbeing now that she had retired from teaching. Siyu had been her student first then her companion throughout Hanfeng’s time in America. In fact in the third paragraph Siyu reminisces to herself about the first day of college when she met her would be zoology Professor and how impressed she was by the Professors passion for her work. Only to admit to herself the her professor’s passion for the animals was to “mask her indifference to the human species”. I am thinking Siyu wants Professor Dai’s company her for motherly attention. This would be developed throughout the story.
201 words
Karen Smith
On page six, Hanfeng’s mother arranged a friendly supper with Siyu and her
son. But, Siyu wanted to meet before the dinner, which Hanfeng agreed to
come. The setting of this scene is an old isolated coffee house. The only light
is from the candles. I think this is a very romantic place to go, because one
can only see part of the face illuminating, while the other part is in the dark.
Too bad Hanfeng is not completely attracted to Siyu’s beauty. “He had
fulfilled his mother’s wish without humiliating the woman with his lack of
interest.”
It is also in this page that Hanfeng showed his curiosity with Siyu had not
been married for so long. Meanwhile his mother thinks she made a good
decision of bringing them together. Hanfeng and Siyu are not interested in
each other but they both like to obey elderly people (part of Chinese
tradition), and they have feelings that can be developed through marriage.
The author showed how Chinese tradition is passed on from generation to
the next generation; it is very obscure and unchanging. This story represents
a typical marriage in the early years of China.
On page four, Yiyun Li gave us a chance to take a look into the inner thoughts of the two main characters, Siyu and Hanfeng. When Hanfeng was watching his mother’s piano recital, he started to understand who she was under her “regal and intimidating” appearance. He suddenly realized that his mother, professor Dai, who had always been “a headstrong [and independent] woman” in his eyes needed his protection to defend her from the scorn and laughter of others. From the internal description of Siyu, her “mild and eccentric” but non-hurtful personality became the reason with which she could get along with and be accepted by Professor Dai who was known as a cold person in the school. It also revealed her motives of approaching Professor Dai and how she dealt with her secret as a lesbian. Those events brought Siyu and Hanfeng the result of obeying the marriage, seemingly in harmony, but actually at variance, which was arranged by Dai in the end. Their marriage was not only forced by secular pressure, but also met their daily needs.
- 179 words
Page 8
On page eight of “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl”, the relationship between Siyu and her father is further explained than the brief explanation on page one. Siyu has a short memory of her riding her bicycle to school with her protective father running beside her to keep her from falling and injuring herself, followed by her reinsuring herself that she had made the correct decision in removing herself from his new life with his new family. She allows “a monthly lunch as their only way of remaining father and daughter” because he “does not need her to complicate his life”. The way Siyu treats and feels towards her father further describes her character: she acts in ways that she believes benefits people around her, not necessarily herself. This characteristic is also seen when it is stated that “she had remained unmarried for Professor Dai” instead of trying to find a companion for herself.
-152 words
On page nine, the story approaches the interesting part which is knowing more about Professor Dai’s characteristics and the climax. Professor Dai is a cold person and her behavior with Siyu as a friend, before the engagement dinner, becomes obvious. Professor Dai is not a social person and comfortable with anyone unless someone becomes part of her family. Professor Dai says, ‘’We don’t need any formality among us,’’ to Siyu after the engagement dinner which means that after twenty years relation still there would be formality among Professor Dai and Siyu if she would not become part of her family. As a formal and solemn person, she wants to show her happiness in a different way to her son and Siyu because of the engagement, so she adds a bottle of wine into that year’s holiday, “An unusual addition to the holiday meal.” The most exciting part is revealed when professor Dai says, “When you are young, you marry for passion” and “When you are older, you marry for companionship.” She knows that there might not be passion between them to get married because they are not young anymore, so she gives them a reason to get married. 199 words
Page 4
On page four of “Golden Boy, Emerald Girl”, Yiyun Li gives a glimpse into the minds of Hanfeng and Siyu. After listening to the giggles surrounding his mother’s piano performance, Hanfang felt the need to protect his mother from “the hostility of the world”. In asian countries, the children stay close to their parents in early and late adulthood to be taken care of and to take care of their parents. Professor Dai is seventy-one years old and perhaps the parent-child border is slowly reversing for Hanfeng and his mother. When Siyu sees Hanfeng “curling his fingers around the teacup”, she imagines Hanfeng as a young piano contestant being guided by his headstrong mother. Siyu not really interested in Hanfeng and thinks that he would be a good “prize badge boyfriend”, but her true aim is to be with Professor Dai. The sad truth is that Hanfeng is simply a stepping stone to becoming closer to her true life companion and mother figurer: Dai. It’s ironic that these people can accept the idea of marriage even though they hold their own secrets.
--184 Words.
Page 4
On page 4, Yiyun Li described the way how the three main characters look at the piano as the exposition of the story. For Professor Dai, she believed “music as the only trustworthy companion and consolation” for one’s soul. Therefore, she not only insisted Hanfeng keep learning piano when he was twelve, but also started her piano lessons twice a week after she retired. The ironic part was that even though renting a piano was the priority thing to do wherever Hanfeng moved to a new city, he no longer played piano because it could not “contribute to his happiness”. Nevertheless, for Siyu, a boy who can play piano would be her ideal boyfriend when she was eighteen, and it was like a “prize badge that she could wear to make other girls jealous”; but years later, she finally realized it was not what she really desired. Although the ending was ambiguous and vague, they might form an “enviable” family. Yiyun might get a husband who can play piano, and Henfeng might have the chance play four-hand with his mother if all of them were willing to compromise.
On page five, the author exposes substantially some of the character's personalities. Yiyun Li manifests that the Siyu's nearness to Professor Dai is not exactly Hanfeng, saying “ it was not the thought of the boy that had made her wait on the bench”, and Siyu's apathy at the arranged date affirms the point. Also, page five illustrates the authoritarian nature of Hanfeng's mother when she forced him learn music during his childhood and study engineering instead of literature in college. The narrator shows that Professor Dai is very satisfying with her parenting, providing “practical skills” and the ability to understand music for “companion and consolation” in hanfengs's life. Lastly, author emphasizes Hanfeng's sexual orientation with two important examples.: in love at his twenties with a friend who got married and an unsuccessful relationship with a “Chinese boy” in America. At this point, the story starts to implies that Siyu's and Hanfeng's relationship involves a merely act of interest but not love or physical attraction.
-168 words.
On page 6 of the story, the external conflict between Hanfeng and his mother was shown to understand how Professor Dai wants to introduce her son to Siyu(a former student). It shows that Hanfeng wasn’t clear about Siyu and was asking her mother, “Why has she never married?”, “Does she wants to get married now?” In reply to the questions, his mother said, “For the obvious reason of not having felt the need to get married.” This answer to the question shows how Hanfeng’s mother is worried about his son’s marriage status. Professor Dai was trying her best to make their couple and to create interest in each other by inviting Siyu at her house for the dinner. But Hanfeng seemed bit confused and resistant to his mother’s approach of dating Siyu for the second time to have a better understanding of each other’s thoughts and feelings. All the conversation related to dating a girl between son and mother gives us an idea that Hanfeng in some way hesitant to meet Siyu, but his mother thinks Siyu will be suitable for him and they will make a good match.
-190 words
Page 5
On page five, Yiyun Li gives a better sense of what extent Hanfeng’s mother influences the choices in his life such as work, relationships, and pastime activities. She asks him rhetorical questions sternly implying she does not agree with his choices for example, “Do you dislike engineering?” Professor Dai asked her son when he considered changing his career path. Furthermore, Yiyun Li clarifies Hanfeng’s disinterest with Siyu, “…he has fulfilled his mother’s wish without humiliating the women with his lack or interest”. The mothers’ strong influence on Hanfang’s life when he was younger foreshadows later in the story that despite Hanfengs dislike for Siyu he would indeed marry her. Page 5 also portrays irony in the sense that it is quite ironic that the title of the story is “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl”, when they are leaps and bounds from the “perfect couple” seeing as how they are uninteresting with one another and only perusing the relationship for the benefit of professor Dai. Page 5 gives a better understanding to Hanfeng’s and his mothers influential relationship, clarifies Hanfeng’s indifference for Siyu and uses foreshadowing to predict the end of the story.
-190 words
Page 7
Beginning of the development of relationship between the characters the author shows on page seven in the scene of their spontaneous meeting before the dinner. Siyu was not indifferent to the idea of marriage, as she accept it from the person she loved and respected, the mother of Hanfeng. Siyu, as the initiator of unplanned meeting, thought that it was "a regrettable mistake"; since she doubted that they could normally talk to each other. The idea of getting married was still new to both of them. Sue intuitively tried to improve relations, which she never had before. After they had together some memorable moments of their parents, Siyu found “a gentleness in Hanfeng’s eyes where before there had been only aloofness”. In order to be not alone through the life and to match the partner like “a gold boy and emerald girl”, they started with their choice to settle a marriage. All the reasons that led the characters to such a decision and had to make a choice to exist together were not clear. Three of them, like all people, hope for the best. The story is unusual because motives of human behavior are very complex to understand and appreciate.
-200 words
Yiyun Li revealed some of the comparisons that Siyu and Hanfeng shared in common on page seven of the story. Not only the fact that they were both raised by single parents, but also the fact that they were both missing their late loved ones. It was ironic how Siyu “imagined it was not very different from growing up with a mother.” But on the next page, she kind of confessed her true feelings about Professor Dai, who provides her that motherly presence. Meanwhile, Hanfeng reflected on his father and “there was a gentleness in Hanfeng’s eyes” that he seemed to agree with her. Prior to that, Hanfeng asked “what is it like to grow up with only a father.” Based on that question alone, we get the point that he also wants somebody to fill the absence of his father. And when Li suggested “they would have been called golden boy and emerald girl” the idea kind of occurred to me that regret is inevitable; that things might have been entirely different if maybe they did the other way around; that things might have been in their side if perhaps they chose the right path. Indeed, their early losses affected their long term decisions in life as inscribed on the previous pages.
Page 10
On the page ten, we finally understand three main characters’ attitude of marriage—needs. Siyu and Hanfeng did not show us they have common interests. They date twice, but it hardly to say they have any joyful experience. Only one thing in common, both of them were growing up from single families. The excuse that Professor Dai asked Siyu to move in with her as a daughter—in—law is that she did not want Siyu wasting money on rent. As a person who saved her life for a stroke and had New Year’s Eve together with her, Professor Dai did not show how she was grateful and exciting that she wants to live with Siyu. That can explain why Hanfeng was lacked the excitement of communications. Technically they are suitable match everyone’s needs. Professor Dai wants a girl to be her son’s wife and she also can get along with. Siyu wants a mother, a friend to talk, and a husband as a backup companionship. Hanfeng realized that his mother happy, then he will happy. They will “make a world that would accommodate their loneliness.” That is an acceptable result for all of them. (196 words)
On page 2 of the story, Yiyun Li illustrate the details of the setting where Hanfeng and Siyu first meet on their first date and also describes Siyu’s first encounter with Professor Dai. Li describe Professor Dai as “tall, rusty, heavy-built one”” and how long it had taken her to notice Siyu. Nevertheless, Siyu and Professor Dai developed a relationship wherein not everyone can understand. The story shows us the complexity of love and tells us that love has no boundaries. It is not an ordinary kind of story but it teaches us a different perspective of human relationship. How Siyu devotedly love and remained unmarried because of Professor Dai is an exemplary example of love. She also demonstrates how to compromise even if she would be in a situation where it is difficult and untraditional. The arrangement that the three characters have befitted all of them in a way that they “make a world that would accommodate their loneliness”, it is a very different relationship but for them it’s the most sensible arrangement that they can have.
(187 words)
Page 3 explains a lot how Hanfeng and his mothers relationship is changing. How Hanfeng’s ideas and want for freedom is changing. He explains how his mother is getting older and he is “no longer a young man in need of adventures he had kept to himself”. Thru ought the story the mother is very independent and distanced from her son. They seem to lack a closeness. In the close past it is clear they were more distanced by the way Hanfeng said “she did not ask about his plans for the future, in the same way that she had not questioned his decision to leave or to come home”. They both seem content living there own independent lives. However it is clear they both care for each other and recognize that she is all he has and same vice versa. He gives half of his money to his mother to make sure she is taken care of. Now Hanfeng is back living at his mothers flat, he doesn’t feel any urgency to have his own place, he realizes how things are. Neither of them were too ambitious to “go out into the world and fulfill any duty”. In the end of the story, it seems twisted and strange to me. The same as in every relationship it is easy to judge from the outside. However on the inside Hanfeng, his mother and Siyu all serve a purpose to each other and realize they all need companionship. The dynamics of the 3 people seem to serve them.
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