Sealed Off
The short story by Ailing “Sealed Off” has various levels and interpretations of the title. The first being the war background and what happened throughout the city. Shanghai grew quiet every time an air raid attack happened when the Japanese frequently bombed them during the Second Sino-Japanese War. When these air raid attacks happened the city would seal off temporarily. The tramcars would halt and seal off as well, and whoever was in the tramcars would be stuck inside until the raids were over. The passengers react in a manner by finding ways to pass the time. The second interpretation of “Sealed Off” is more of a psychological meaning behind the two main characters meeting in the tramcar while they are “sealed off” from the city, pursuing a conversation that creates a fantasy of romance
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Lu Zongzhen was sitting on the tram reading the paper that his dumplings were wrapped in trying to fill the emptiness and time with something he caught the eye of a relative, his wife’s cousin’s son. Lu detested him and tried to seal himself off from him by quickly changing seats across the way hoping he could hide from him. He ended up sitting next to a woman named Cuiyuan. The cousin eventually saw him so Lu decides to use the woman as a decoy by flirting with her to hopefully scare him off. Lu shocks Cuiyuan by asking her to talk and saying how he saw her get on the tram and noticed her. Lu then starts to reveal his personal problems to her about his marriage and begin an intimate personal conversation. They eventually create a connection which is shown here, “He looked at her, and she
Lu Zongzhen was sitting on the tram reading the paper that his dumplings were wrapped in trying to fill the emptiness and time with something he caught the eye of a relative, his wife’s cousin’s son. Lu detested him and tried to seal himself off from him by quickly changing seats across the way hoping he could hide from him. He ended up sitting next to a woman named Cuiyuan. The cousin eventually saw him so Lu decides to use the woman as a decoy by flirting with her to hopefully scare him off. Lu shocks Cuiyuan by asking her to talk and saying how he saw her get on the tram and noticed her. Lu then starts to reveal his personal problems to her about his marriage and begin an intimate personal conversation. They eventually create a connection which is shown here, “He looked at her, and she