Hometown and Native Soil

¶ … narrator's life and memories of growing up in the Chinese countryside, and how leaving them behind has disillusioned and depressed the narrator. "My Old Home" tells the story of a Chinese man returning to his old home to help his mother and nephew move away. It is a beautiful narrative that celebrates the beauty and intensity of rural China, but it paints a sad picture of where China is heading, and what her people are leaving behind.

Essentially, this story shows that you can "never go home again," an enduring theme in much of the world's literature. In this case, a grown man (the narrator) with a family and a job in the city goes back to his rural home to help his family move away. Like most adults, the home he remembers as "grand" as a child is now old and shabby. He thinks the home is not what he remembers it to be, and it makes him think about his life and his experiences. The narrator really is coming home to say goodbye, but he said goodbye twenty years before when he left his hometown and traveled to the city to begin his "treadmill" existence. He is also coming to help his family, who have sold the old family home because they need the money, and are moving away. Throughout the story, he compares his old life to his new life, and finds his life lacking in many areas, which is one of the things the author is attempting to convey in the story.

The main portion of the story relates to his boyhood friendship with Jun-t'u, the son of his family's part-time laborer. They form a close friendship, and the narrator learns much about life in the country from his new friend. He has been sheltered behind the walls of his family's compound, and enjoys his time playing and learning with Jun-t'u. He says, "I had never known that all these fresh and exciting things existed: at the seashore there were shells all colors of the rainbow; watermelons were exposed to such danger, yet all I had known of them before was that they were sold in the fruit and vegetable shop" (Hsun). The two form a strong bond, but this is the first time they have seen each other in over twenty years, and in the true spirit of the story, their relationship is totally changed. Jun-t'u refers to the narrator as "Master," and he himself has fallen on hard times. Because a "lamentably thick wall" has grown up between them, they are no longer the friends they once were. This is the tragedy of the story, and the author uses it to say much about the people of China and their customs. Because Jun-t'u is a peasant and the narrator's family was once wealthy, they are at two extreme social levels, and Jun-t'u feels he is not equal to the "Master" and unable to be his friend. When they were children, nothing like this mattered, but as adults, the wall between them is too big to overcome. Now, when they are adults, they cannot reunite as friends because of social customs and beliefs, and this indicates China's great differences in society, and how they need to be overcome for China to succeed as a united nation with a united people.

As the story continues, it illustrates how society treats the peasants in China. The narrator is unhappy there is a wall between him and his old friend, but he does nothing to break it down. He does not protest when Jun-t'u says it would not be right for him to call him "Brother Hsun" like he did as a child, and he does not protest when his mother sends Jun-t'u out to the kitchen to cook his own lunch. She could have made it for him, and the narrator could have put his friend at ease, but they did not. This shows how they feel the peasants, even old friends, are beneath them, and this is the underlying theme of this story. The culture and class-consciousness of China are still there, and they alter life for the lowest classes of Chinese people.

As the narrator leaves his old home, he is feeling distant and depressed. He thinks about the wall that cut him off from society and that now has cut him off from his old friend. He realizes that his country and its people is headed in the wrong direction. It is no surprise that he is depressed. His memory of his good friend is fading, and he realizes there is nothing he can do to bring it back. There is too big a wall between the two men and the narrator is allowing that wall to continue. He hopes for a moment that his nephew and Jun-t'u's son can develop a relationship and make it work when he and his friend could not, but then he realizes this is not possible. He hopes that the new generation can develop common bonds, another attempt by the author to show a united China that is necessary for the future. The story ends on a relatively hopeful note, but the narrator is melancholy and clearly unhappy with his life and his lifestyle, and he wants something better for the new generation of Chinese. Ultimately, that is what most people want for their families and their lives, so this story shows that even though Americans might think they have nothing in common with the Chinese, there are more commonalities than we might think.