Introduction
One of the most remarkable features of modern and post-modern personality’s condition is the isolation of an individual. With regards to this fact, communication appears to be both an urgent necessity and a near impossibility. The need for communication is often discussed in modern-day pieces of literature. This theme is also actively addressed by Chinese writers. They majorly depict humans as separated from each other by the wall of misunderstanding which leads to aloofness and absence of communication. In the following paper, the concept of communication as it is seen by Chinese writers will be examined on the basis of the example of Chen Cun’s “Footsteps on the Roof”. Generally, after the evaluation of the piece of literature under consideration, it appears that the theme of impossibility of communication along with isolation and loneliness is one of the central themes in it, and it can be even seen as the main motive of the story’s plot.
The concept of communication developed by modern Chinese writers
Addressing the topic of the concept of communication in the literature works by modern Chinese writers, it should be said there exist general consistent patterns in all of them. In particular, Chinese writers depict humans as lonely individuals unable to find someone who will show either desire or willingness to understand them and develop bonds of close relations and intimate communication. One of the most remarkable addresses to the theme of isolation and the lack of communication is seen in Chen Cun’s “Footsteps on the Roof”. Below, this outstanding piece of literature will be addressed in connection to the varied aspects of communication in it.
Chen Cun’s vision of communication in “Footsteps on the Roof”
Evaluating Chen Cun’s “Footsteps on the Roof”, the very first thing that can be noticed in the novel is the isolation of its main character. This man is in constant search for someone to understand him, and to warm his heart by means of close communication, tender affection or respect. Through the pages of the novel, the audience is able to observe how desperate is the man in his pursuit for communication and understanding by any other human being.
The story is about rootless and separated individuals. They are preoccupied with ideas of speaking less, identifying less, and providing as little information about themselves as possible. All of that creates a special atmosphere of mutual distrust and estrangement in which the characters appear unable to connect with each other. The main character describes his life by the comment full of his pain on the reason of such terrible isolation, ‘it’s no fun’ (Cun 244). These three simple words reveal how overwhelming his loneliness is for him.
Loneliness of the main character caused by his life style
When reading the novel, the question does not go out of mind, ‘how is it that the main character is lonely?’ Meditating on this person’s life, the answer becomes quite clear: ‘the person himself is guilty in it’. The man rarely goes outside, and he even rarely comes to the mirror. We read in the novel, ‘Except to get a newspaper or to take out the garbage, I don’t even go downstairs much…I rarely stand in front of the mirror, except when I shave’ (Cun 245). Such lifestyle by all means leaves the man in the trap of loneliness as he is out of life’s motion and energy. How then, such person can satisfy his need in the healthy communication with fellow humans?
Loneliness causes even more problems to the man. He is experiencing hard times at nights when nightmares attack his mind while he is asleep. Different noises from outside terrify him so much that he keeps ‘a knife by a pillow’ (Cun 245). The man seems to go insane as he often communicates with the ghost of a woman. Who knows, maybe this ghost is a vision of his sick mind? Still, even this communication does not bring relief to this alienated soul. Their romantic encounter ended resulting into mutual frustration.
The ghost-woman is also a person promoting the ideas of isolation and solitude which can be seen in a variety of situations. For example, the woman rejects the offer by the main character to go together for a walk saying: ‘I always walk alone. You’ve let me have my way in everything. I want to thank you for that. Just let me go take a walk alone now. You can either go sleep here or at your place, whatever’ (Cun 257). This expression by the woman also shows her indifference toward the main character which is emphasized by the word ‘whatever’. Thinking about this female character, similar conclusion comes on mind concerning the general idea of isolation promoted in the story. The woman seems to enjoy her isolated state which reveals the general mood of the story and its author.
The effort by the main character to improve the situation
The writer depicts each character as a person staying inside one’s inner world full of one’s own feelings, emotions, ideas, dreams and concerns. These characters make some efforts in order to develop bonds of unity and good communication with each other, but these efforts always end up as a failure. In this vein, the main body of this story is rich with dialogues between the characters; however, these dialogues appear to be leading to nowhere as each person speaks one’s own language, communicates one’s own ideas which appear to be weird for the partner in conversation.
Conclusion
Concluding on all the information related above, it should be stated that the concept of impossibility of communication and the separation between the individuals is very actively addressed in the literature works by modern Chinese writers. One of the very remarkable examples of this tendency can be explored in the novel ‘Footsteps on the Roof’ by Chen Cun. In this story, the audience is able to see how a man from urban Chinese territory which is inhabited by crowds of people suffers from his isolation, loneliness and the lack of healthy communication. The writer depicts the way the modern lifestyle robs people of their contact with fellow humans, and makes them unhappy and miserable, as a result. As the story plot develops, the main character seems to acquire serious mental problems bordering on insanity. In such a way the writer shows the negative effects of the lack of good communication among people. He seems to appeal to humanity with the call to reevaluate social situation, and to go back to the concepts of unity and mutual sustenance. In his novel, Chen Cun also shows the consequences of the situation when people become separated from each other, and, thus, communication becomes impossible for them. ‘Footsteps on the Roof’ can be acclaimed as a thought-provoking piece of literature fully revealing all the miseries behind loneliness, isolation and the lack of healthy communication.
Works Cited
“Footsteps on the Roof,” by Chen Cun, in Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused: Fiction from Today’s China, ed. Howard Goldblatt. Emeryville: Grove Press, 1995. Print.