Contemporary Eastern Literature


Elements of popular culture that teachers can use to teach students about image could be looking through social media platforms. Teachers can tell their students how social media does not tell the truth, but portrays what people want others to think of them much like in “Man of La Mancha”. Students can look through their old posts or social media accounts and reflect on themselves and what image they show to the world.


The common theme that is emphasized in this selection of readings is image. This theme is evident in “Sealed Off” by Zhang Ailing as it focuses on different people who are all on the same tram car that was blocked from going into Shanghai due to an air raid alarm. The story weaves through the tramcar describing to the reader what they may see on the outside and then describing the characters’ innermost thoughts. “Diary of a Madman” by Lu Xun reflects the theme of image because the main character is paranoid that everyone around him is plotting to kill and eat him. He is convinced of this by trying to look past the image that they show him and think in a deeper meaning to find their true motives. “Man of La Mancha” by Chu T’Ien-Hsin is obsessed with what others think of her that she goes to the extent of planning how she will be found when she is dead.
One activity to teach high school students about image can be to have students write on a paper or plastic mask. On the outside of the mask, they write what they feel others perceive them as or what they want people to think of them. On the inside of the mask, students write how they feel about themselves and what they do not want people to know about them or their fears. This activity will show them how, maybe without even thinking about it, we hide parts of us away and put on a figurative mask for the world to see.

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