老人的肚子
“Being so thin, he didn’t actually have a stomach at all, just wrinkled skin forming innumerable tiny folds on his abdomen. When he began to sing the wrinkles billowed out, forming little waves that rippled across his tanned and gleaming. The band of plaited straw that served as his belt began to undulate too. Every now and then, it disappeared into a roll of skin, but just as seemed lost forever in the tidal flow it re-emerged, dignified and pristine. A magical waistband.” (73)
“The old miller smiled too, and went on singing while the skin eddied across his stomach. Luo and I rolled over the ground in a paroxysm of hilarity.” (74)
Thesis: Sijie uses the symbol of the old miller’s stomach to emphasize the point that part of growing up includes letting go of vanity and other hardships. The old man is wrinkled, small, thin, and he sucks on pebbles and sings crude songs in his spare time, but he is one of the happiest people in the story. Therefore, he has fulfilled his life and made the most of it, which is part of growing up. One cannot truly be an adult until they are free from life’s hardships and desires, which is exactly what the stomach represents.
By Sarah, Izzy, Carissa, Lauren
