Responding to "Gold Boy, Emerald Girl"
1. What does the work mean and why do you think that? Explain the writing's overall significance or message to its readers.
2. Tell about how you feel toward this writing or its author and why.
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
Write about 150 to 200 words in one or several paragraphs. Refer directly to the story at least once in the form of a quotation.
Online copy of story (for easier copy and paste quoting)
*I've given you the wrong location for Yiyun Li's residence on our worksheet, sorry. She currently lives in Oakland (across the bay from San Francisco) and teaches at the University of California. She's 37 years old and has written fiction only in English and never in Chinese.
Also of great interest is the fact that Yiyun Li is a huge fan of William Trevor, the author of "The Woman of the House"! She, in fact, pays tribute to him in the story in its design. If that idea intrigues you, read this interview with her (the comment on Trevor is about half way down the page). Interview with Yiyun Li
15 comments:
Yiyun Li makes me feel some melancholy truths of being human in her richly detailed tale of three “lonely and sad people.” Each character is eccentric: Siyu with her “reputation as unmatchable”; Hanfeng, a gay man who went to America; Professor Dai chasing “a strutting owl down a dimly lit hallway.” Li paints a picture of life that seems to me realistic: to be surprised, for example, as Siyu is by the fact that she is “no longer a young woman” when matchmakers propose marriage to men about her father’s age. Hanfeng, at forty-four, who realizes that his “ambitious business plans” were more a convenient way to explain why he was returning to China, rather than admitting to friends the attraction of, with his mother, “reading the same newspapers and comparing notes on the stories that interested them both.” This tale of “half orphans” is a pleasure to read (and read again) with its insights into human nature, the effect of our choices on our lives, and the realization that, sometimes, it is better to live a “lonely and sad” life in the company of others than to endure alone.
—190 words
The story Gold Boy, Emerald Girl leaves me feeling privilaged. Yiyun Li reveales many secrets with me, the reader, but the main characters do not know the full picture. Similarly, we have issues that influence us but we keep them to ourselves. It pleasantly surprised me how Siyu, Hanfeng and Professor Dai found a socially acceptable solution for their situation (which also fulfills their desires: Siyu’s wish “to be a companion for Professor Dai in her old age”, mother’s wish to see her son married and Hanfeng’s wish to live a familiar quiet life and to protect his mother “from the hostility of the world”). I wonder if his mum had ever suspected that he was attracted to men. I think Professor Dai had intentionally set up the date; she knew Siyu “was not the kind of woman who would take much away from him”. Despite her lack of social skills, she reflected on not being “a good mother in the worldly sense” but gave him two important things: bread-winning career and music. She never questioned his choices. Siyu keeps distance from her father as he would caringly asked about everything. The non-judgemental approach makes me observe and learn from their stories.
-Question #3:
I still don’t understand why people are going gaga over a marriage, especially after I’ve read the short story. Of course, people would say that they marry because of love, but is that true? They marry because they love each other? I don’t exactly sure because at the end of the story, Professor Dai, Hanfeng’s mother says to Siyu, “When you’re young, you marry for passion,” and then “when you’re old, you marry for companion.” But, I still don’t think they marry because of companionship, they simply marry because they want to carry their names down, or want someone to clean after mess. Especially when Siyu “had turned twenty, neighbors and acquaintances, pitying her for not having a mother to fuss over her future, [marriage]” as if women are made only to get married, and be maids to their husbands for their rest of lives. And men to have servants. And obviously, I didn’t mean women nowadays, of course. But who knows somewhere in the world, these things are still going on. I still don’t know why people are head over heels and get married. I don’t know, maybe I’m still youthful.
-196 words.
I found it was an interesting short story about quiet desperation. The story’s meaning has a lot to do with issues conforming to conservative social ideals. The psychological aspects of the characters were intriguing also. The domineering Professor Dai, her passive son Hanfeng and the oddly eccentric Siyu give good dynamics to the story plot. Hanfeng and Siyu, an unlikely couple, soon realize that they have a lot in common on an emotional level. Not only were they raised by an overbearing opposite sex parent, but both had a need to separate from them. Seems like the relationship between Hanfeng and his mother hasn’t changed that much from when he was a boy. “When you are young, you marry for passion,” she said, looking first at her son and then at her future daughter-in-law. “When you’re older, you marry for companionship.” This story quote made me wonder that maybe she also meant companionship for herself. – 155 words
The story by Yiyun Li, “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl”, gave me an insight on what it feels like to be in an arrange marriage. Professor Dai was so demanding towards her son being married to Siyu and wanted him to have a wife to share his life with. Although, her heart was in the right place, she felt the need to fulfill his loneliness. She felt that Siyu was the right match for her son, being that they both grew up with only one parent. This story was heart-warming, and gave me some knowledge of how two people can come together and find love to accommodate their loneliness. In all the pictures that Siyu had seen of Hanfeng, both his parents were in them. She mentions his parents were enviable for their matching good looks that they would have been called “gold boy and emerald girl at their wedding.” It seems as though his parents were beautiful, but were they happy? There were parts in the story that had me puzzled, like the part where Professor Dai mentions being trapped by the “wrong man.” The way that she describes being unhappily married was that it makes you wish for that person’s death every day of your marriage, but, once the wish was granted by a miracle, you would never be free of your own cruelty. I agree to disagree with this description. In some ways that’s what would happen living in an unhappy marriage, but you also have a choice, if you’re sitting there wishing death upon a person, why not just get a divorce?
--269 words
I enjoyed reading the poignant story,“Gold Boy, Emerald girl,” by Yiyun Li because Siyu`s sad smile lingered for a while after reading the story.
Siyu was born in a wealthy family from her mother`s side, however, that fortune turned out a tragedy result in her mother committed suicide when she was only four months old. She has no memory about her mother and she comforts herself ,“She had grown up not knowing her loss, so there had not been any real loss.” Nobody could replace this emptiness and “she had spent her life looking for a mother .”
Apparently her life has been simple with her oddness and singleness. Unlikely Hanfeng, who left home and floated around world, Siyu stays close to her father by maintaining monthly lunch together and Professor Dai with a weekly phone call.
Now, she is thirty-eight and about to getting married left behind the dishonorable reputation as “unmatchable.” Regardless Henfeng`s uninterest of women, she is hoping this would be “a love marriage” and wishing to be a companion for Professor Dai.
I hope this arranged marriage would be a breakthrough for those lonely and sad people “[to] accommodate their loneliness.”
195words
Yiyun Li's short story "Gold Boy, Emerald Girl" becomes interesting after i read it for a second time. The story tells us how life can be when you're not yet married at the right time and age. Professor Dai started everything. She sets up a date of her son, Hanfeng, to Siyu. It's very unusual that the mother is the one who set up a date for his son, Hanfeng. The date works well. At the first date, we know that Hanfeng likes Siyu becuase he "hoped that the wind would not die down" so they continue their romantic date. At the middle of the story, we knew that Hanfeng is gay which explains why he doesn't want to marry Siyu, but his mom stills want to date her. At the end, Professor Dai said that "when you are young, you marry for passion" looking at his son and her future daughter-in-law, then she continues "when you're older, you marry for companionship." This leaves me a question; does age really affects the marriage? I also don't know that marriage can be complicated when you're older, until I've read this story.
-192 words
Gold boy, emerald girl means perfect match in Chinese, and the novel shows us the reconsideration of the writer to the marriage. People can marry “for passion” and also we can marry “for companionship.” Young Chinese people tend to be more practical now when choosing a partner to get married, besides the appearance and the similar family background, many other factors should be taken into consideration as well, such as work, financial status, and education background. But other factors will be neglected if the person is financially strong as most young couples are facing the pressure of buying a home to live in.
Another conclusion that we can draw from the novel is that Chinese people are paying more attention to their own inner feelings rather than the outside conditions. And people are beginning to be aware of their sexual inclimations and are becoming more tolerante to spinsterhood, single parent or marriage between different ages. Siyu’s father married “a woman thirty years his junior”, in other words, her stepmother is almost of her age, and the matchmakers introduce her to “ a wodower or a divorce, in his fifties or sometimes sixties” who is of similar age to her father. People even turn a blind eye to “rich man’s mistress”, which illustrates people’s respect to difference and privacy.
218 words
To be frank, I’m depressed by the story “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” which is inextricably blended with aloofness, alienation, bleakness, loneliness, melancholy, and sorrow.
The title is a Chinese traditional idiom, symbolizing a couple of immortal love and a divine marriage. Ironically, however, Siyi and Hanfeng went so far as to forgo their first romantic stroll in the Summer Palace, a scenic imperial garden for lovers in Beijing, let alone liked or deeply loved each other. Obviously, Hanfeng was forced to date Siyi just to fulfill “his mother’s wish without humiliating the woman with his lack of interest.” Personally, I think it’s an implied answer to his mother’s question, “Do you dislike her?” Such being the case, would they become “gold boy and emerald girl”? I’m also confused at the eccentric mentality of Professor Dai, who merely desired her imaginary couple of companionship “to maintain a marriage” but not to keep a perfect marriage although “she expected theirs to be far from the worst.” Perhaps she was unconscious that she had turned out to be the actual victim of the seemingly “gold boy and emerald girl” decades ago, which must have been the greatest calamity of her life.
The story ends in a sense of suspense and anticipation. I sincerely wish that the swiftly established new family could stay away from a state of intangibly triangle disharmony. Hopefully, Hanfeng would play four-hand on the piano with his mother, the newlyweds, despite living in their individual bedroom, would “make a world that would accommodate their loneliness” without repeating Professor Dai’s unfortunate fate.
--- 258 words
Gold Boy, Emerald girl is a love story in which Yiyun Li shows us the many shapes of love. Although Professor Dai, Hanfeng and Siyu are described as “lonely and sad people” they have the same compassionate mind to care about their parents, children and loved ones; it is just that the form of their love is different from others’. What makes them truly “lonely and sad” is that they are all looking for love but each of them has a different perspective on it.
Both Hanfeng and Siyu are “half orphans” and they know nobody can fill the absence left by a departed loved one. However, together with Professor Dai, the three of them also know that they can still share love in their lives with a different point of view. That is the reason why I felt something warm in my heart after reading this story; Gold Boy, Emerald girl tells me that love causes loneliness and sadness, but also have power to accept many different interpretations.
169 words
Li’s fictional story is very relevant in today’s society not only in Asia but from around the world. The story was to let the readers realize that there are some people sacrifice their own happiness because of the love of their family.
Dai’s concern to her son’s welfare and security is very common to a mother or any parents who look after for their kid’s future companionship when the time they will die. She was taking chances on her former student named Siyu, whom she eyed as a prospect to be her daughter in-law. She mentioned that “when you are young, you marry for passion,” and “when you’re older, you marry for companionship.” And she is afraid that his son might get married in his old age for the sake of having somebody around.
I am amazed by the bravery of Hanfeng and Siyu. In spite with all the events that makes them one big family, there was a hindrance. Hanfeng is a gay. I can sense that if he will marry Siyu he will not be totally happy. But in contrast each of the main characters were making a good solution in facing the challenges where they come up into a heartily decision by leaving together and shared the love among the three of them.
In my point of view, it doesn’t really matter how complicated your life is. To sacrifice your own choice of life in exchange for the happiness of your family, the kind of love that you rendered to them will somehow find a way for your own fulfillment and satisfaction in life.
The story “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” makes me feel very lucky to be able to live my life the way I see fit. Yiyun Li's story consists of three lonely people living with a secret in order to remain socially acceptable in their gated community of Beijing. Siyu who lives “her life with a reckless speed know only to herself,” Hanfeng who repeated the “same pattern of hope and heartbreak,” and Professor Dai who “decided to live alone with the secret until her death,”all have their secret in common. Living in today's Canada people have many advantages, one of which is being able to follow their own sexual preference, so one can live a fulfilled and happy life; it saddens me to think that in some parts of the world people feel forced to conceal their sexual orientation, and therefore, never having the freedom to follow their own path. The story’s end made me feel a little better about the three characters situation, as they were able to “accommodate their loneliness” through a marriage between Siyu and Hanfeng, but i am not totally content as non of their true passions were ultimately fulfilled.
----198
No doubt, Yiyun Li is a wonderful writer who is basically from china but now she live in New York. I have a feeling that she had or her someone close is for sure related to this story. I found this story “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” sad and depressed. The relationship between Hanfeng and siyu is weird. Hanfeng’s mother professor Dai always forced her boy for marriage. Professor Dai is a lesbian and her son (Hanfeng) is a gay. I don’t understand that why she (dai) want to get her son marry with siyu. Hangfeng and siyu relationship is different than normal couple. In this story, both like each other but they don’t get married. In the end of the story they decided to get married for the sake of their mom (professor Dai). For me, this story is really strange.
----141words
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl is a story worth reading several times. At the first time, I didn’t like it because the atmosphere was so depressing. I even thought the author wrote it to disgust the readers. After reading it again, I realized that it is a reflection of many social problems in China, for example, being gay or lesbian is not acceptable. I guess one of the reasons why Hanfeng agrees with the marriage is to be regarded as normal by the society. How the half orphans differ from others is also a solemn issue. Another common phenomenon is that parents always decide their children’s future, and they believe they do it for their kids’ own good. Furthermore, Professor Dai says, “When you are young, you marry for passion. When you’re older, you marry for companionship.” In my opinion, our passion should last for a long time; companionship seems to be an extremely materialistic purpose. In addition, I really admire the author’s writing skills. I wouldn’t even know she is Chinese if I had not found her name. Her writing is natural, smooth and fluent. I wish someday I can handle English as remarkably as she does. (197 words)
Reading the story “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” makes me feel depressed, sad, and sorrowful about the human solitude and choices. Still, I believe life is a matter of choice that can deprive our pleasure to collapse in a labyrinth brimming with misery, especially when we realize we are “No longer young.” That is what affects Professor Dai who “Felt trapped by wrong man,” and seemed unhappy about her marriage. However, that affects her view, too, to look deeply in her son’s future to “Not repeat her fate,” by arranging marriage for Hanfeng who has a “Lack of interest,” of getting married because he is not straight. In addition his way of looking at life through other choices such as, “Giving up the Instrument at twelve for games,” disliking engineering and “Pursuing a literature degree,” instead of what his mother chose for him. Yiyun Li plays with our emotions to pity three main characters “Half orphans,” which reflects the reality of cruel life when our choices don’t work as we wish, but it ends in a positive way. In the way of finding a solution, which is not late I guess for “Lonely and sad people,” by the marriage of her son to Siyu to “Make a world that would accommodate their loneliness.”
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