Border Town: Chapters 13 – 16

“Cuicui, the songs in your dreams lifted you up the cliffs to pick saxifrage; if someone really sang to you

from the cliffs across the stream, what would you do?” (Chapter fifteen, p113)

Knowledge Check Can you answer these questions from memory? If not, skim and scan chapters 13 – 16 to find the answers. Discuss your findings with a classmate or your teacher; record the significance of these moments in the novel:

1. Why does Cuicui cry in chapter 13? What is her Grandfather’s reaction?

• Significance:

2. How do the symbolisms of songs and dreams interact in this section of the novel?

• Significance:

3. How does Grandfather inadvertently upset Tianbao in chapter fourteen?

• Significance:

4. How does Tianbao die?

• Significance:

5. Describe Shunshun and Nuosong’s reactions to the death of Tianbao? Are they similar or different?

• Significance:

6. How does chapter 16 end?

• Significance:

Discussion Point: ageing and death

“Shooting stars come only in the seventh and eighth month of the year. Might my death

come then too?” (p117)

At the end of chapter 15, Grandfather’s

thoughts turn to the idea that death is the one

thing that can take him away from Cuicui. But

this is not the first time death has been

contemplated in the novel. Are characters

particularly attuned to ideas of death and

dying? What is the attitude of people towards

ageing and dying in the story? Does everybody

share the same attitude?

Important Symbolism: moonlight In Western Literature, moonlight is often a symbol of mystery and sometimes evil. But in Chinese Literature, moonlight is symbolic of several other ideas. Most commonly, the moon is associated with family: each year, the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is time to observe the Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival. The full-moon round shape symbolizes family reunion. Therefore, the day is a holiday for family members to get together and enjoy the full moon - an auspicious token of abundance, harmony, and luck. Other symbolic meanings of the moon include gentleness and beauty, ideas that can be linked back to the family. However, in some Chinese literary works, the moon has also been used as a symbol of desire. Chang E is the goddess of the moon, and in Chinese poetry she watches over the secret and intimate lives of humans – seeing parts of life conducted under the cover of night, lit only by moonlight. Therefore, the moon can also be associated with passion, pleasure and secrecy. Chapter 15 of the novel takes place after dark. Cuicui sits on the floor listening to her Grandfather tell stories. Soon enough, the subject turns to the songs Cuicui heard in her dreams, songs that, in reality, were being sung by Nuosong, standing in for Tianbao. Confused by her Grandfather’s words, Cuicui walks out of the house and stands under the full moon: “Look how big the moon is, Grandfather,” Cuicui comments on page 115. From then on, for the rest of chapter 15, the moonlight is associated with Cuicui’s latent desires. For example, later on the same page Congwen writes: “The moonlight was very gentle… It would have been the perfect time for someone to sing from across the creek, and to be answered from the other side.”

• Read through the rest of chapter 15. Can you find any other references to the moonlight? Record them in this quotation bank:

“They’d ascend the high bluffs where the moon shined bright and… earnestly sing for the girl – an unspoiled maiden, made unafraid by her innocence.” (p102)

“The moonlight was very gentle… It would have been the perfect time for someone to sing from across the creek, and to be answered from the other side.” (p115)