Mr. Nurenberg's World Literature Class Blog

Can anyone tell me what this was about?

Here is where we will discuss and possibly revise plans for the Persepolis reunion trip.


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Please RSVP at the blog if you can go. There is a chance the movie will no longer be playing by next Friday…if that is the case, we will work out an alternate plan for our reunion. Check in on the blog for updates.

Thanks for a great semester!

- Mr. N.

Use this area to ask one another questions, and to respond, in preparing for the exam

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- Mr. N.

1. Please post once with your reaction (include a quotation)

2. Then please post a second time with a response to someone else's post.

- Mr. N.

I agree with both Maddy and Greg and I too was surprised about the relationship between Wan Erxi and his wife. When she left after becoming married to him she had tears in her eyes and was crying when she faced her mom and dad on her way leaving the community. She seemed happy to be with her husband and this was nice to see even though she ended up dying. We know that she was happy in her life even tough she was not able to express herself through words. It was very interesting to see the relationships that were built in the movie and it was very well produced.

I was soo sad when the doctor went into like a trauma and ended up dying...
anyways he died because they tried to help and the water just made things worse... but he was put arrested because he was a doctor and students were left in-charge.
With the doctor scene... one also learns that even the red guard were corrupt... Fengxia's husband took out the doctor and even treated him with the respect he deserved yet he was also taking part in sending people down... but they realized that they needed them to survive went to get the doc but in the end it was too late so the idea of sending people down is a good but could have been done differently so that no one suffered any bad consecuences of removing all doctors from their practice.

Now that I have completely seen the movie and have had a chance to think about it, I realize how it would be banned in China. Also watching the movie allowed me to understand the characters better because I learned about thier past and not saw how they were after communism had take over.

Firstly I was really surprised at how much Wan Erxi actually loved Fengxia, after such a cold start to their relationship.  Remodeling the house and sneaking the doctor into the hospital to help deliver their baby were definitely above and beyond the call of duty.  Also, another thing that surprised me was that he continued to visit Fugui and Jiazhen even years later and remain a great help to them. 

In continuation, it may at first seem like all was lost for Jiazhen and Fugui by the end of the movie, but I am not sure that that is totally correct.  Though they have lost their only two kids, they still have Little Bun as a grandkid and Wan Erxi, who is almost like a son to them.  Additionally, it seemed like after a few years Jiazhen and Fugui did in fact get over their childrens' death, which I am sure improved their quality of life.  The most important change that occurred by the end of the movie was definitly Fugui's disbeleif in communism.  He has definitely seen most of the worst things that can go wrong in communism first hand, and his new understanding I am sure helps him to live a more confident life.  Maybe all is not lost after all.

The end of the movie was sad. Throughout the whole movie, Fugui always seemed to do something wrong. As I said in class, this movie was very cyclical and Fugui went through everything a person could experience in one life time. He and his family experienced communism and it is probably good that they did so. They would have been poor if not for communism. The saying goes "everything ... touches turns to gold." Fugui did not turn everything to gold that he touched. It was a shame because his intentions were good but everything he thought was a good deed just ended up in harm. The movie was very well directed and put together and the parallels between Balzac and the movie will create for a very good paper I feel.

Post #1: Although the end of the film was really powerful, I felt a little like it was too nice of an ending and too abrupt. Fugui's daughter died from giving birth, and the film flashes forwards and ends. After all the hardships Fugui and his family have faced, the film just ends implying all the problems have been solved. I feel like it should have been maybe a more somber ending and imply that their past still haunts them. I know it is harsh, but I really feel like after all the ups and downs of the film, and it just ends too peacfully. (And the ending even just leaves Fugui back where he started, but older and without his two children.)

Post #2: This is in response to Danielle's comment. She pointed out how this movie showed the effects of Communism on one family, but through that one family showed the effects on China as a whole. I just think it is interesting how the story of this one family, accurately portrays the experience of a nation.

after seeing this portion of the film, i had one thing i was very confused about. I could never really tell whether the feelings that the main characters daughter had for her new husband were genuine. Apart from the one little clip where you see the parents look in on her and see her trying on the hat, she really does not show much affection at all towards him. You especially get that feeling when everyone is riding away on bikes and she gets off, staring at her parents off in the distance, wishing she could come back. On the other hand, the husband seems to feel right at home with his new wife, he even calls the main character and his wife mom and dad. The only reason i am not convinced that the daughter has no feelings for her new husband is that no one else in the movie seems to agree with me, they seem to think that everything is fine, which makes me think that maybe she just has a very wierd way of showing how she feels about her husband, and that underneath it all she really does love him.

Arley, I think your point about Fugui's son's death being foreshadowed is a great point. The violence that Fugui showed toward him when hitting him does show a misunderstanding between the two and it is very ironic how Fugui forced is son to go to school that day where he was eventually killed. Also he went against his wife's thought as we ave sen other times in the movie!

I was so disappointed to hear that is was Chunsheng who killed Fugui's son.  It was really sad that he died at such a young age, and if Fugui had not insisted upon making him go smelt iron his death would possibly have been avoided.  This was really a turning point in the film what with the daughter being married and the puppets being burned.  I was skeptical of the man Fugui's daughter married but after their visit to Fugui and his wife I had a much better opinion of him.

I found it interesting how the roles in the story have somewhat reversed under communist rule.  Chunsheng went from a very respected district commisioner to a man who is being prosecuted for being a capitalist. Also how over the course of the story Fugui changed from being a gambling addict to becoming the father in law of a red guard.  All in all Fugui has benifited greatly under the communist system.  

The end of To Live caught me extremely off guard. It was so intense and sad, it took a few minutes to sink in. It might have been even more powerful with no sound, then with sound. I was happy that Fugui's grandson was named "little buns", in sort of a remembrance to his mother. I thought it was so sad that Fugui still blamed himself for the death of their daughter and most of the suffering the family went through, which was a lot. It was a very powerful film that i think demonstrated the effects of communism on China very well, but more so, how it effected an individual family which we grew closer to throughout the film.

I thought it was really interesting how the death of Fugui son was kind of foreshadowed in a way. When Fugui hit him in public it showed a lack of understanding of what was going on with his family and his son. His son was killed by this same lack of understanding. His wife knew that the kids were making fun of their daughter and she also knew that Youquig was too tired to go to work that day but eventually she gave in and Fugui basically brought his son to his death. The movie seems to be so unhappy right now, and I am just wondering how everything will be resolved in the end. The marriage of their daughter seemed to make things look up some more but not entirely. I also wonder how things with his friends from the war will pan out. Feel free to comment back!

Today's segment of the movie was a little hard to watch. When Fugui was carrying his son on his back, I thought he would be dead because he was not talking but when he said something I was relieved. It was shocking to know that he was killed at school after his mother felt strongly that he should stay home and sleep. It was hard to see The mom feel as though she caused her son's death. Knowing that the Head chief killed the son was shocking to me. Again, the daughter was married and seeing her cry as the was leaving with the husband was hard for me because there were so many emotions running through. I hope there is something happy coming in the end.

 one thing that i didnt understand  about the part of the film we watched yesterday was why the main character said that it would have been him getting excecuted if he had not lost his house to long'er in the gambling hall. i did not think that the excecution of long'er had anything to do with his status, i thought it was because he was a revolutionary. why would the main characters keeping of his house change his view on chinas political situation, because its appeared tahts why the executions were taking place. if anyone has any thoughts feel free to reply.

Audrey, I love your point about how Fugui had never seen the "real world" because his wealth allowed him to have everything close. You are right about how he has now experienced more in his life since he lost everything. It was very ironic that gambling caused Fugui to lose everything yet it ultimately caused him to see a new side of life.

I enjoyed watching the part of the movie we watched today because it showed me how Fugui doesn't really seem to have much "worldly" experience.  He hasn't to the knowledge of the audience ever traveled outside of his village because all his needs were within it.  Yet after this segment of the movie he has now dealt with death, surrendering to an enemy, being recruited for war, and sincerely worrying about his family.  I was glad to see the other side of Fugui today.