Grace Lin’s short story “The Difficult Path” tells about the life of Lingsi, a girl who was sold to a wealthy family in Imperial China. Grace Lin takes the reader to China, where Mrs. Li teaches Lingsi, whom she recently purchased as a servant girl (Hudson & Hudson, 2019). Lingsi, although serving in the family, is an exceptional student, in contrast to Mrs. Li’s son Fu Dong. When no one else wants to marry him, it is finally determined that Lingsi will be his bride. Eventually, the ship on which she was had been attacked by pirates, and initially, they did not want to spare anyone’s life (Oh, 2017). It was Lingsi’s ability to read that led her to the pirates’ captain, who let her live and offered to stay on the ship and read books to him. The main treasure of pirates, as it was emphasized by Lin, is the collection of books, and the ability to read them became the most praised ability a human possesses.
Via the protagonist, Grace Lin explores the power of reading and how Lingsi can be taught through her mother’s strength of character. Lin compares a pirate’s existence to freedom, something Lingsi has been deprived of her entire life. All of her decisions were made without her knowledge or agreement, and sticking with the pirates became her ultimate and probably the best choice. The main conflict of the story revolves around societal issues and their historical repercussions. Lingsi became the representation of a woman who can reach her own freedom by her eloquence, desire to study, and immersive diligence. In “The Difficult Path,” Lin attempts to detail one of the most acute cleavages in society – the rift between education and human development. Even pirates, traditionally depicted as antagonists, are interested in books, while a rich family’s son despises reading and does not want to be literate. While its plot is not complicated in its essence, Grace Lin reveals it from the other side, emphasizing the importance of society and its education through the number of metaphors and Lingsi’s pursuit for freedom.
References
Hudson, W., & Hudson, C. W. (Eds.). (2019). We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices. Yearling.
Oh, E. (Ed.). (2017). Flying lessons & other stories. Crown Books for Young Readers.