“After a Life” by Yiyun Li is a short story that illustrates some major domestic peculiarities. It features two families that are experiencing such problems, as parenthood and marriage, each of them unhappy in its own way. One couple – Mr. and Mrs. Su have a sick child whom they conceal from the outside world. The other family – Mr. and Mrs. Fong are also not the happiest, as the husband’s long lost love for his wife had transformed into a feeling for a young woman that is fit to be his daughter. The above circumstances of having to hide a sick daughter from one side and marital betrayal of a husband from the other makes the involved characters feel ashamed. Shame is the feeling that can be observed as the major theme filling the lives of both portrayed families.
Concerning the Su family, the sense of shame is noticeable even back in the childhood years of Mr. and Mrs. Su. As they were first cousins, who fell in love in the beginning of their teenage years, planned to get married, and both their families have been opposing to their decision. This doubtlessly induced a somewhat disgraceful feeling in both of them. But in spite of all oppositions from the side of relatives, they still decided to get married. “My wife and I are first cousins. Everybody opposed the marriage, but we got married anyway. You just do it”. (p. 29). And this was a courageous thing to do. Mrs. Su still experiences a great deal of shame. This becomes evident when she becomes overanxious of a thought that her daughter might be seen by a stranger, and the society will become aware of her struggle. So she hides from the world her poor disabled 28 year old daughter Beibei, who is suffering from infantile cerebral paralysis. She is so afraid that someone might discover her secret that she tightly shuts the curtains in her child’s bedroom, and still worries about people being able to see her through cracks in the wall. “Of all the people in the world, a private detective will certainly be the one to find out about Beibei”. (p. 33).
The paralyzed daughter can in a way be referred to as a symbol. It is symbolic of the communist proletarian China that is trying its best to adopt the new capitalist standards, but at the same time those efforts are unavailing, as the non-democratic government rule is still in power, slowly nearing its end, just like the unfortunate Beibei. The cold-eyed realist people are anticipating this decease, just as the poor girl’s parents are eager for her to relieve them of the burden, so that they could go on with their lives.
The reader can observe the theme of shame in the Fong family as well. As Mr. Fong’s wife got a jail sentence for taking bribes, all the people who they have considered to be their friends turned their backs on them. Mr. Fong feels that his wife in some way had disgraced their family, and that is why he is having an affair with a younger woman, trying to start over his dishonored finished life. From the other side, Mrs. Su is battling her shame with honor, hides it, but this feeling imprisons her. Mr. Fong’s affair with a 40 year old woman, in a way mirrors the unbearable pain of the Su family. “Husband and wife promise each other a lifelong love that turns out shorter than a life”. (p. 38). By saying this phrase, Mr. Su implies to the fact that he doesn’t feel any love for Mrs. Su anymore, therefore his life is finished. Mr. Fong also indirectly implicates to this in the beginning of the story by saying: “You’ve got it right, Old Su. But the thing is, a wife is a wife and you can’t ditch her like a worn shirt after a life”. (p. 30). By saying this, Mr. Fong basically states the idea that his life was only real, while the life-long mutual love promised by the married couple had lasted. Now that the feeling of life-long love that “turned to be shorter than life” had run out, the life is for the most part over. The same could be said about the life of Mr. Su.
Another theme that is clearly visible concerns the problem of parental happiness. Mrs. Su learns to cope with the fact of her first disabled baby and is not feeling too distressed about it. When her husband expresses a desire of a second child, she does not understand his reasoning, as she has constructed her own model of happiness around Beibei. “Even when Jian was growing in her belly, that they would get a good baby and that it would do nothing to save them from what had been destroyed”. (p. 36). It is paradoxical, how Mrs. Su has the ability to share the feeling of grief with her husband, and feel satisfied about it, and at the same time is unable to feel happy for herself, her husband, and their family, when their second baby Jian was born completely healthy.
All these family problems and a few others, such as the question of underdeveloped China with its backwardness and economical ruin being ready for the new era of democracy are portrayed in this short story through revealing its character’s secret lives, explaining their insecure situations vividly and in good cheer. As the country where the story takes place has just started its long journey on a burnt-over route of reforms that will eventually lead to distant democracy, there are still strong moral traditions operating in the Chinese society. These principles cause universal feeling of shame, as the overall population is repressed by the savage regime for their ordinary actions. The shamefulness is not only associated with people being ashamed for themselves, but also with people being ashamed for their country that resists adopting proper life standards. If the era of Chinese communism comes to an end, the people in the Peoples Republic of China will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and not feel ashamed for their doings in the past, present, and future. Although both families are feeling ashamed, lacking love, and Fongs do not show any signs of hope for the future, there is still a trace of hope for better life in the Su family. Both spouses are subconsciously anticipating the passing away of their daughter, as she was an extremely heavy burden that they had to carry for 28 years, and also a source of shame, just as the communist regime was a disgrace towards humanity in general. Those feelings towards Beibei are clearly visible, when Mrs. Su has a desire to keep her hand on her mouth and nose to relieve herself and her daughter of constant pain by making her suffocate, but at the last moment she restrains her anxiety to do so. With their daughter’s death Mrs. Su will not have to feel ashamed for having a paralyzed daughter, and if she gains love towards her son Jian, she might win back the love of her husband who apparently favors him more than their Beibei. Having mentioned Jian, the other barrier the Su family will have to overcome on their road to happiness is to adjust their attitude towards their son. Even though he is living on his own and does all he can to avoid his closest family, Mr. and Mrs. Su must treat his way of life with respect and feel proud for their only child. Having overcome all these awkward circumstances, the Su family can have expectations of a more happy life, and maybe even regain long-lost love for one another.
References
Li, Yiyun. “After a Life”. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.