Speaking is easy, you just have to open your mouths and pour out all the words that you know but talking is different especially when it involves other party. Imagine yourself as a father travelling through continents to visit your daughter who you have not met for 12 years and you find it difficult to talk to her. This is what happened to Mr. Shi in the short story, a thousand years of good prayer written by Yiyun Li and the movie of the same title directed by Wayne Wang. They chat rarely and most of the conversation occurred during dinner when the father cooks for her daughter.
What is it that makes it hard for us to communicate, to talk to each other, to deliver our feeling, to share our thoughts? Simple enough, it’s just because the other party does not want to respond. No matter how hard we try to persuade them in conversation, they refuse to riposte. It must be heartbreaking when this happened. We can see the effort that Mr Shi put in inducing Yilan to talk but she responded coldly with almost no face expression or body language.
When she was asked by Mr Shi why she was so quiet, Yilan said it was because of her upbringing and the culture she grew up with. She said that she had used to Mr Shi who was a quiet person too before but is it true? Well, this can be applied but we grow up, gain experience and meet others. Yilan herself speaks happily on the phone when she talks to her friend. Thus, it can be concluded that they have problem to communicate just because Yilan choose to be quiet and she was the one who create a barrier of silence between them.
However, we should consider the generation gap too, between Yilan and her father. Moreover, they have been separated for twelve year and this can lead to awkwardness in communicating with each other. Plus, the younger generation have their way of communication and their own way of talking. Not only Mr Shi but other parents nowadays are also facing the same difficulties in communicating with their child due to the generation gap. The older generation perceive thing differently compare to the youngster and this causes clashes of opinions thus sparking conflict in conversation.
Apart from that, Yilan herself is shielding her emotion from Mr Shi. The only way to break this is for her to be brave enough to share her problem, thoughts and feelings with Mr Shi and she managed to do it as what was portrayed in the movie. They reconcile and have a calmer conversation on a park bench in the end before Mr Shi sets off on a train journey.
What is it that makes it hard for us to communicate, to talk to each other, to deliver our feeling, to share our thoughts? Simple enough, it’s just because the other party does not want to respond. No matter how hard we try to persuade them in conversation, they refuse to riposte. It must be heartbreaking when this happened. We can see the effort that Mr Shi put in inducing Yilan to talk but she responded coldly with almost no face expression or body language.
When she was asked by Mr Shi why she was so quiet, Yilan said it was because of her upbringing and the culture she grew up with. She said that she had used to Mr Shi who was a quiet person too before but is it true? Well, this can be applied but we grow up, gain experience and meet others. Yilan herself speaks happily on the phone when she talks to her friend. Thus, it can be concluded that they have problem to communicate just because Yilan choose to be quiet and she was the one who create a barrier of silence between them.
However, we should consider the generation gap too, between Yilan and her father. Moreover, they have been separated for twelve year and this can lead to awkwardness in communicating with each other. Plus, the younger generation have their way of communication and their own way of talking. Not only Mr Shi but other parents nowadays are also facing the same difficulties in communicating with their child due to the generation gap. The older generation perceive thing differently compare to the youngster and this causes clashes of opinions thus sparking conflict in conversation.
Apart from that, Yilan herself is shielding her emotion from Mr Shi. The only way to break this is for her to be brave enough to share her problem, thoughts and feelings with Mr Shi and she managed to do it as what was portrayed in the movie. They reconcile and have a calmer conversation on a park bench in the end before Mr Shi sets off on a train journey.
so academic
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