The story from “A Chinese Studio” Literature & Language Essay

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The story from “A Chinese Studio” that I will be discussing in this paper is “The Laughing Girl”. In the first parts of the story, Wang and the girl that he saw while walking, which he did not know at the time to be Yingning, seemed to be on a start of a romantic love story. My first thought while reading about Wang getting sickly and not eating was somehow involved with an adventure that he will have and the participation of Yingning, the girl he saw in the countryside during the lantern festival, to regain his health. But there is a twist and the participation of Wu, Wang’s cousin was evident. He was able to give Wang hope regarding the girl that Wang is infatuated with. This still supported my first thoughts about the story especially when Wang went on his way to find the cousin that Wu told him was the girl that he saw during the lantern festival. Up until the time when Wang saw the girl outside her home, met her “stepmother” and “aunt”, as well as being able to take her hand into marriage, it was similar to most romantic stories and fairytales which supported my first thoughts with this piece of literature.
The scene which challenged what I first had in mind regarding how the story will go was when the truth about Wu lying and that there is no living aunt that is the stepmother of Yingning because the aunt of Wang already died several years ago, as well as the man he was married to. A further twist in the story unfolds as the story about a fox spirit was presented, adding fantasy to the theme of the story. In this part of the story, there is already unveiling of the truth and this shifts the focus from the love story of Wang and Yingning to the issue regarding her past. This also adds intrigue to the whole story like a feeling that there is something more that will unfold which is different from the expectations that were set in the first parts of the story. The mystery and fantasy with the character of Yingning are further supported when her charming personality turned everyone smitten and charmed. Her eccentric laugh was also emphasized throughout the story.
In the s...