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9 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Great Papas in "Immortality"
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The Great Papas: Eunuchs who work in the palace of the emperor. At the beginning, mentions a Great Papa from the village who cleaned himself and became head of the palace. Great Papas gave their village and family meaning and pride because without them, they would simply be another small village that is meaningless to the emperor.
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Why Great Papas are important in "Immortality"
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Just as the Great Papas gave meaning to their villages, so did the boy with the dictator's face. Because he is chosen as the dictator's look-a-like, he gives importance to his family and village. It is ironic, however, that the Great Papas are cleaned before they become great, and he cleaned himself only after he fell from esteem.
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The Impersonator
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The father is executed for a joke he makes about "mother heroes." The mother is left alone to raise the child.
The Impersonator grows up as the poor son of a disgraced man and a widow. His face, exactly that of the dictator, saves him from consistent beatings by the people of the village. He is then treated with great respect and curiosity. He is chosen to be the dictator's impersonator after his death. He appears in movies about the dictator and becomes very famous. The dictator's popularity fades, however, and so does his. He is still a virgin in his 40s and realizes he will not marry--no one is good enough for him. He is caught with a prostitute, though nothing happened, and is disgraced. His mother dies. He returns home and cleans himself at her grave. No one finds his male root and wonders what will happen to him when he dies, as it is imperative to cross over. |
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Significance of the title "Immortality"
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The Great Papas were always remembered--immortal--for their sacrifice.
The Impersonator would have been remember for his face, but he was disgraced. After cleaning himself, the village prays for his to live forever as they do not know what will happen to him after death without his missing body part to be complete in the afterlife. |
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Significance of the title "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers"
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The chinese believe it takes hundreds of years of good prayer to find a good friendship. The relationship between a father and daughter is considered to take a thousand years.
The relationship is very important to traditional Mr. Shi. His daughter, however, is very Americanized and does not agree with her father on most things. The title suggests his thought pattern behind his actions in the relationship between himself and his daughter. |
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Mr. Shi's Marriage
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Mr. Shi was fired from his job because he refused to publicly admit an affair. The relationship was not a romantic one. He did not want to shame his wife in this way. He thought she never knew, but she did.
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Daughter's Marriage
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She married a traditional man from China. The marriage failed because he claimed she would not talk to him and they divorced. Mr. Shi saw this a shameful.
She cannot express her emotion in Chinese. In English, with her new lover, she is happy and can express her love. Mr. Shi does not understand this. |
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Madam
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Mr. Shi's Irani friend. They speak little English, but communicate well anyway. They meet each day at the park to "talk."
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Language in "A Thousand Good Years of Prayer"
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Though Mr. Shi and madam do not speak much of the same language, they are able to communicate well because they are patient and seem to have an understanding. Daughter cannot communicate well in Chinese because her model of communication in Chinese was her father and mother who did not communicate or have a fully functional marriage because of Mr. Shi's alleged affair and disgrace. English allows her to express her emotion and so her relationship flourishes in English.
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