Papers on "'Rickshaw'" and similar term paper topics

Paper #075275 :: 'Rickshaw'
Buy and instantly download this paper now

This paper discusses the social metaphor of the rickshaw about futile social striving in Lao She's 'Rickshaw'.

Written in 2006; 1,922 words; 1 source; MLA; $ 61.95

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the writer discusses that the central titular metaphor of the rickshaw, both coveted and pulled by the central protagonist Hsaing Tzu, forms the core metaphor of Lao She's novel of the same name. The writer describes how the rickshaw symbolizes Tzu's desire and perceived ability to attain social success, despite his humble birth in the country and his lack of parents. The writer states that upon reading the novel, at first glance, a reader might be tempted to assume that the central visual metaphor of the rickshaw, of one enslaved being to another, as a man or woman pulls another on wheels, is merely visually striking. However, the writer explains that this relationship takes on a powerful social significance, as Tzu's desire for his rickshaw and status as a rickshaw puller come to symbolize his fetishizing of money. The writer discusses his willingness to abase himself for social mobility and eventually, the rickshaw 'relationship' between puller and pulled comes to symbolize the nature of most relationships between people over the course of the novel.

From the Paper:

"Unlike family relationships, idealized in Confucian texts, commercial employment of any kind is a rickshaw relationship. A marriage entered into not for honorable reasons, but for social advancement, is also enslaving to both parties, as Tzu's wife discovers. Thus Lao She's socially conscious characters relate to objects, rather than to people and ancestors, as they should according to Confucian philosophy. A rickshaw driver like Tzu is a willing vocational slave to a trade through Chinese city dust, rain, summer heat, and winter cold. Hsaing Tzu's fetishizing his ownership of a rickshaw is still evidence of his enslavement to money and work, even though he sees it as liberation.
Tzu's fetisihizing the rickshaw, like his wife's fetishizing of the institution of marriage with a man for social advancement rather than to have children and obey her husband like a good Confucian wife, however, is not a psychological statement, as it might be in a Western novel."

Tags: wheels marriage Hsaing Tzu

More papers on "'Rickshaw'"

1. Paper #052856 :: "Rickshaw" by Lao She ( 1,035 words; 1 source; MLA )
2. Paper #010523 :: "Rickshaw" ( 1,125 words; 1 source; )
3. Paper #021611 :: Lao She's "Rickshaw" ( 1,125 words; 6 sources; )
4. Paper #056209 :: Starting a New Company ( 1,808 words; 9 sources; APA )

About AcaDemon

We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper, you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.

Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on 'Rickshaw'

This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library. Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "'Rickshaw'", Essays on "'Rickshaw'", Research papers on "'Rickshaw'", Student papers on "'Rickshaw'", Book reports on "'Rickshaw'", Dissertation on "'Rickshaw'", Thesis on "'Rickshaw'", Summary of paper on "'Rickshaw'", Articles written on "'Rickshaw'".