CHING, CHING, CHINAMAN
Presentation. The story is told in reminiscent vein by one who uses his own angle as a boy. It recalls the manner of “Treasure Island,” as “The Yellow Cat” recalls Kipling. The boy’s angle is faithfully kept, with excellent results. The first value of the boy’s angle is that much of the action was unclear to him, as it progressed chronologically, and this obscurity is carried over to the reader. The reader, then, is kept in suspense, as the boy was, until the outcome. It is a well-known and capital means of creating and heightening suspense. The second value is that the boy’s point of view is the best for unity of effect. Observe that this is true in studying the
Plot.
Initial Incident: Malden marries Sympathy Gibbs, whom Mate Snow has been considering for himself. This incident motivates the chain of events that follow.
(The following is revealed out of chronological order, as the plot is presented. But as effect resulting from cause it follows, in the plot construction, the initial incident):
First Steps toward Dramatic Climax: Mate Snow writes in the name of Gibbs, to Minister Malden, saying he is alive. “Gibbs” demands money as a reward for his silence and non-appearance. Malden, unable to bear the thought of his child being a bastard, meets the demand. He further agrees to stay away from his wife and child. (Do you think the motivation is strong enough, under the given conditions, to make the Minister do this?) Sam Kow, a Chinaman sees the exchange of letter and money.
Next Steps: (These are revealed at first reading, but cause wonder and suspense, as the preceding steps are unknown to the boy and to the reader):
Malden leaves Sympathy and his baby and lives with Mate Snow, occupying two rooms over the drug store.
The village wonders but Mate Snow seemingly takes the part of Malden. Nobody, of course, suspects his villainy.
The Minister tries to “convert” Yen Sin, the Chinaman, and motivation for this struggle goes back to the antecedent period (first paragraphs) when the minister had voyaged to heathen shores to work in “the field.” (Notice the reason given for his return, and observe that the earthly and divine loves were even then at odds in his make-up.)
Step in Chronological Order (but held back until the outcome): Yen Sin receives collars from Sam Kow on which Sam informs him of the exchange of letters and money. This correspondence keeps up for seven years.
Further Steps: Yen Sin keeps his own reserve and his own religion.
One evening Minister Malden fails to show up at prayer-meeting. Mate Snow presides. The boy creeps off to the pillar-house, where Sympathy lives. He sees
1. That Minister Malden enters. 2. That Yen Sin also sees. The boy makes a visit of a month. He returns to find Mate Snow the big man of the village. Yen Sin has grown older and feebler.
Dramatic Climax: Yen Sin is dying: he asks for the Minister. (It is from the Chinaman’s death that the change of Malden’s fortunes arises.)
Steps following immediately, and leading directly to climax of action.—The boy enters the church to see Snow in the pulpit; he stammers out the Chinaman’s need for the Minister. Snow answers the call. The boy hates Snow; he continues to look for Malden. He goes to the pillar-house. He looks beneath a drawn shade and sees Malden receiving five hundred dollars from Sympathy; he hears her say, “It brings us to the end, Will.” He hears the Minister thanking God it’s Mate Snow who holds the mortgage. But Sympathy declares that Mate has “sucked the life” out of Malden. The boy screams out that the Chinaman is dying. Then he rushes off to the scow of Yen Sin. Now follows the struggle of wills, and of races; Chinaman is pitted against American, in the
Impulse of Final Suspense: The boy hears Snow enjoining the Chinaman to confess. Yen Sin calls for his collars, and as they lie curling about him, he mildly asks for Snow’s confession. Snow finally confesses, “I have coveted my neighbor’s wife.” Here Malden enters. He reveals that Gibbs is alive, and to save his child, he has paid hush-money. (See above.) He has promised to stay away from wife and child, but has gone to them in secret. This is his confession. Then Yen Sin reveals what Sam Kow has written from Infield—on the collars—Malden has paid money.... Here Snow goes mad, fearing exposure, and blurts out enough to show it is he who has demanded the money. Yen Sin points out that at any time “Mista God” would have accepted confession, “makee allee light.” Minister Malden begins to comprehend.
Climax of Action: Snow drinks poison; he dies. The villagers rush him off to the doctor’s. The boy and Malden are alone with Yen Sin. Malden runs to fetch his wife and child. Yen Sin sends the boy for the minister. Yen Sin’s departure, “China way,” and Malden’s prayer for his soul.
Study the interval of time between every two stages of the action. Observe the quickening of tempo near the close, added to a cumulative weightiness of effect.
Theme. The story is thought-provoking in its bigness of theme which every reader will express for himself. Many will see no further than the concrete events. Others may be tempted, perhaps, to read more into the story than the author consciously included. But it seems to be clear that the end of the struggle is in the yellow man’s favor. The closing sentence emphasizes the irony of mission work.
Characterization. Is the boy’s angle uniform in regard to his apprehension and comprehension at the age of thirteen? Does he occasionally seem older? younger?
What attributes of the Minister invite your sympathy? How are his qualities given—through the boy, or through his report of acts and speeches?
At what point do you begin to watch for trickery on Mate Snow’s part? What is his dominant trait?
What trait of the Chinaman is exploited? Is it racial or individual?
Setting. Point out links that connect the locale of this story with that of “Down on their Knees.” Notice that the chief scene-settings are: the Chinaman’s scow, the church, the home of Sympathy Gibbs. Why is the drug-store residence of Minister Malden not used? Why not the transactions at Infield? Give two reasons, one with regard to unity, the other with regard to handling of plot.
Is there reason that the action might have strayed over too much time and place for the purpose of the short-story? Could a novelette be constructed out of the material included?
Details. By what early preparation does the death of Snow from poison become so logical as scarce to challenge question? (See page 442.)
“Tubbed box trees,” “the big green door,” “lilac panes,” “silhouetted against the open door,” “a steam-blurred silhouette,” “shadows of the uneasy flock moved across the windows,”—these illustrate what ability of the author? Point out other examples.
Page 447—“If—if one had faith!” To what dénouement is this a clue?
Page 448—“He’s gone out in the back-country to pray alone.” Clue to what? Do you think it credible that Mate Snow never suspected where Malden went on these occasions? If he knew, what motive kept him silent? Where did Mate Snow suppose the Minister got the hush-money?
Page 449—“The door was still open, a blank, bright rectangle giving into the deserted vestry, and it was against this mat of light that I spied Minister Malden’s head,” etc. What processes work to make this a memorable bit of description. Point out similar examples in this story and in the other stories of Mr. Steele. Point out examples in stories by other authors.
Study Mr. Steele’s use of shadows, here and in “The Yellow Cat.” Compare them with Mr. Dobie’s shadows in “Laughter.” The value of shadows lies in their suggestion. They call up the real thing in fiction more easily and economically than the thing itself, as described, can do. The reason is obvious. If there is a shadow, the reader knows, unconsciously, there must be something to cast it. Hence, curiosity may be aroused; in any event, “belief” is secured in the reality of the object.
“Approaching ... I put one large, round eye to the aperture.” (Page 455.) Did the boy think of himself as having a “large round eye”? Or does the narrator think of himself (now a man of years) as he looked? Is it sound technique, either way regarded, or would it be better to leave out the “large, round”?
Is it more fascinating to read of something viewed in part and surreptitiously than it is to read of the same scene viewed as a whole and freely under usual conditions? What primitive impulses are appealed to?
Page 457, in the paragraph beginning, “I shall never forget the picture,” occurs preparation for the “China way” departure. What is it? In the same paragraph what excellent bit of description occurs?
What do you think of the idea “—the emotion of humor, which is another name for perception”? (Page 458.)
Page 459, in the paragraph beginning, “Yes,” he murmured, is an excellent example of irony. How does it aid the action?
Do you believe that in the struggle of wills Mate Snow would have given in to the urge of the Chinaman? What circumstances argue for the result? What is against it?
Page 465. Do not fail to take the full meaning of the paragraph to heart: “He lay so still over there on the couch.” In what lines is the thought most poignant?
Page 467. Why is the expression “Urkey’s unwashed collars” used with fine effect?
What satisfaction do you find in the closing tableau?