Applied English for Diploma in Engineering || My Old Home || Summary and Exercise

My Old Home

Summary 

Lu Xun's ‘My Old Home" is an autobiographical novel about the authors' persona, Lu Xun, as the narrator and his memories which he is recalling of his childhood in his brilliant home. He can't describe how much he loved it and how proud he was to grow up in the home. The story projects the conflict between recollections and realities.

The narrator revisits his Old Home after twenty years in 1911 during the overthrow of the Qin Dynasty; he doesn't believe his eyes at first. Here, his Old House as a symbol represents his old recollections. He is greeted by his mother and nephew. So many changes have been made but not in positive tracks rather he finds his house in a ruined position, twenty years of weather, renovations and other families. Lu Xun reconciles with his relatives including Mrs Yang, a neighbour who accuses him of being miserly. Xun feels ashamed when the bean curd lady says he is being miserly for he does not want to give away his furniture. His prior conceptions come into conflict as he faces the realities of his Old Home town. 

He comes to know that his old childhood friend Runtu will be reuniting with Lu at the home. He recalls his brief relationship with his childhood friend and a parttime labour boy, Runtu. Their friendship was lively, positive and brother-like. They enjoyed talking about catching animals like Badgers. Zha and Hedgehogs. They were not so worried about the outside world. 

After 30 years, as time passes and people change, Runtu became much more mature as he experiences a rough life due to heavy taxes social responsibilities, famines, bandits, officials and landed gentry. These factors have influencedRuntu‘ s attitude towards the narrator. Runtu does not act like a friend towards Xun, but rather an inferior acquaintance since Lu Xun ranks higher than him in society. When Runtu arrives the first thing he says is "Hello Master.” This is when Lu realizes that Runtu wasn't really his friend but more of a servant, their friendship was mutual but not the way Lu thought. Runtu behaves as if the narrator is his master and has a higher status than him. 

Finally, Lu hopes his children don't come to realize the class differences in China and hopefully they won't' drift apart that affect their friendship. Xun hopes that his nephew won't lose his friendship with Runtu’s son. He hoped that both of them will not suffer from social responsibilities like Runtu. 

To wrap up, the story forwards a message that as one leaves one destination for better opportunities and place, he/she recollects memories behind it. Xun highlight the importance of loyalty through the wary character of Runtu. A friendship won't last if one is only caring about himself and wealth. Their friendship changes because of the hardships they go through. Society dictates, disallowing them to be friends. People from different classes cannot interact and develop mutual relations. They have to fulfil their roles in certain positions.

Dwell on the Text

1. How does the narrator describe his feeling at the arrival of his old home? 

Ans: The narrator found the total difference between the expectation and reality when he arrived home. 

2. What were the three kinds of servants in China then? 

Ans: If the servants worked the whole year long for one family, they were “yearlongs”; if they worked by the day, they were “short-timers”; and if they tilled their own land but worked for a specific family just during the holidays or when rents were collected, they were “busymonthers.” In this way, there were three kinds of servants in China then. 

3. What does the existence of three kinds of workers indicate about contemporary Chinese society? 

Ans: This indicates that there was class differences in China when this story was written. There were different types of workers who were given different kinds of wages. 

4. What makes the narrator nostalgic? 

Ans: The reminder of Runtu, his childhood mate makes him nostalgic. 

5. What did he do with Runtu in his teenage? 

Ans: In his teenage, he used to collect different kinds of shells. They talked about different interesting things and set snares and catch birds. 

6. How did Runtu hunt a zha in the young age? 

Ans: In his young age, Runtu hunted a Zha using a pitchfork in his hand. 

7. How does the narrator make a humorous picture of Mrs. Yang? 

Ans: The narrator makes a humorous picture of Mrs. Yang by saying that she sat from one end of the day to the other in the beancurd shop diagonally across from the people. She used to powder her face and did excessive make-ups that would make her cheekbones high and her lips very thin. 

8. According to the narrator, what were the different factors that made Runtu a poor man throughout his life? 

Ans: One of the major factors was that he was born into a family of workers. His father and mother worked in other’s houses for their survival. Runtu could not get an education and did not learn any skills to improve his family condition. He had many children to feed. He did not plan the number of children. He paid excessive taxes and there was not a good market for this harvest. The government did not start any plans to improve the condition of poor families. 

9. How does the narrator help Runtu before leaving the old home? 

Ans: The narrator and his mother gave the old furniture that they were not taking with them to Runtu. 

Reflect on the Text 

1. How does the story talk about the existence of different classes in contemporary China? 

Ans: After reading the story, we come to know certain information about the contemporary economic and social system of China. The then society had a division of laborers as ‘yearlongs’ (if they worked the whole year long for one family), were ‘short-timers’ (if they worked by the day and they were ‘busy-monthers’ (if they tilled their own land but worked for a specific family just during the holidays or when rents were collected). The class difference is clearly seen in Runtu’s conversation with the narrator. Runtu addresses the narrator with the word ‘master. The narrator thinks that his nephew and Runtu’s son would not feel class differences in the future. This kind of division' clearly indicated the existence of class hierarchy in society. The class divisions further showed inequalities prevalent among the people. Though dreaming of a socialist society, the above division elucidates that there was a form of capitalism prevalent in Chinese society then. 

2. Can you compare the friendship between the narrator and Runtu with other stories you have read? Does it resemble the story of Krishna and Sudama? Explain. 

Ans: Yes, the friendship between Runtu and the narrator can be compared with the friendship between Krishna and Sudama. Krishna was in the palace but Sudama was poor. When Sudama went to meet his friend, Krishna embraced him. In this story, the narrator is rich but Runtu is poor. The class gap does not bring any obstacle to their friendship. The narrator treats his friend in the same manner as he treated him twenty years back when they were small boys. 

3. How does the story support the proposition that the relationships of childhood are pure and without any prejudices and expectations? 

Ans: The narrator remembers his past when he roamed around with his friend Runtu. He remembers how they stole fruits and ate and how Runtu killed wild animals. .They were small, they had no family tensions. Their friendship was not guided by any selfish interest because they did not know what selfishness was at that time. In the same way, Runtu’s son and the narrator’s nephew develop. Their friendship is not guided by any self-interest. It’s only a pure friendship. Generally, friendship at a mature age depends on interests and benefits people can draw from each other but the friendship of childhood is pure and without prejudices 

4. How does the story talk about the vastness of Chinese geography? 

Ans: Yes, the author talks about the vastness of Chinese geography. It took the narrator a long time to reach his old home. He had travelled six . hundred miles to reach his old home. He describes a lake that they had to cross on a boat to go to the other side. 

. 

Ans: Yes, he talks about the countryside, deserts and jungle near his home town. He had expected that the town was the same as he had seen it twenty years back but he found lots of changes in the town. 

Go Be end the Text

a. Human beings have kept on moving from one place to another from time immemorial. Nepal is not an exception. Write an essay on Migration in Nepal in about 300 words. 

Ans: Human Migration is not a new phenomenon. Human beings are on the road from the pre-civilizational days. Human beings originated in Africa and in their mobility of millions of years, they colonized the entire planet, wherever it was possible to make a settlement. Early human beings migrated from one place to another in search of food and safety. The impulse of migration is still the same. People leave one place and go to another place for a better life. Migration is not new even in Nepal. The difference is that today’s migration is in a large scale than before. 

Nepali migration trends are Terai-oriented and urban area oriented. About fifty years back, people were afraid of visiting the plain areas of Nepal because of the fear of malaria. Migration to the Terai started after malaria was controlled. Earlier, only indigenous people like Tharus lived in Terai developing a kind of immunity against malaria. In these five decades of malaria control, the population of the Terai has increased by hundred folds. The mountainous and hilly areas are being deserted. Earlier the clever people migrated to the Terai by selling their land but now people move to the plains leaving their lands barren in the hills because no one buys the land there. 

Another major trend of migration is city-oriented. The population of the Kathmandu valley has reached nearly five million. If watched from a hilltop, the valley looks like ajungle of concrete. Most of the government officials who are born in different villages of Nepal make their houses in Kathmandu. The people who work in foreign countries buy land in the urban areas and settle their family members there. All the lacilities are centered in the city areas and people are even forced to move to the cities for good’ education, good health care and other facilities. The corrupt politicians make their houses in urban areas, mostly in Kathmandu. In a few years to come, half of the population of Nepal will be squeezed into this small bowl of the Kathmandu valley. 

b. Ask one of your relatives or friends how he/she felt while leaving his/her old home and write a report. 

Ans: My cousin brother had migrated from a village in Gulmi district to Butwal about ten years back. I asked him how he felt while leaving his village. He replied that he had sat on the back of the truck and watched his house and villages with tears in his eyes. He saw the village as long as it was seen from the truck in which he had loaded his belongings. Even after these ten years, whenever my cousin visits his old villages and leaves for Butwal, he says, his eyes are filled with tears. It’s very difficult for everyone to leave the place where one is born and brought up. It is said that the person has a relationship even with inanimate things there.