On a Chinese Screen · Question
How does On a Chinese Screen develop the theme of Cultural Clash and Misunderstanding?
Answer
On a Chinese Screen by W. Somerset Maugham develops Cultural Clash and Misunderstanding across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book repeatedly contrasts Western and Chinese values, customs, and worldviews, highlighting the mutual incomprehension, prejudice, and often absurd attempts to impose one culture upon another, as seen in the transformation of a temple into a Western-style home or the disdain for Chinese language and art among expatriates.
The chapter illustrates the deep misunderstandings between Westerners and Chinese, from language barriers to differing worldviews.
The narrator's perspective as a foreigner observing the city and its inhabitants highlights the gap between Western expectations and the reality of Chinese life.
The lady's renovation erases the temple's original religious and cultural significance, replacing it with Western aesthetics.
Evidence in the book
- On a Chinese Screen
The chapter illustrates the deep misunderstandings between Westerners and Chinese, from language barriers to differing worldviews.
- The Rising of the Curtain
The narrator's perspective as a foreigner observing the city and its inhabitants highlights the gap between Western expectations and the reality of Chinese life.
- II: My Lady's Parlour
The lady's renovation erases the temple's original religious and cultural significance, replacing it with Western aesthetics.
- III: The Mongol Chief
The Mongol chief's proud, aloof demeanor contrasts with the diverse traffic of the pass, hinting at cultural and historical tensions between the nomadic steppe and settled Chinese civilization.
- V: The Cabinet Minister
The minister and narrator discuss the persistence of historical dress codes, revealing a mutual awareness of cultural symbols but also a deeper clash between Eastern and Western values.
- VII: The Altar of Heaven
Untermeyer's act of carving his name on the sacred altar contrasts sharply with the Chinese caretaker's erasure, highlighting a clash between Western individualism and Eastern reverence for tradition.
- VIII: The Servants of God
The two missionaries, despite their shared faith, represent different cultural and national backgrounds, highlighting the subtle clashes and misunderstandings within the colonial missionary context.
- XIII: Her Britannic Majesty’s Representative
The consul's aggressive assertion of British norms clashes with Chinese revolutionary authority, highlighting mutual incomprehension.
