The Bus Stop by Gao Xingjian - Essay Example

Number] The ‘Bus Stop’ by Gao Xingjian ‘The Bus Stop’ is a play written by Gao Xingjian, a Nobel prize-winner. He was a writer, translator, dramatist, director, and an artist and was very fluent in French language and his native Chinese language. This play has eight characters: a middle-aged ‘silent man’ who does not talk to anybody in the whole play; another old man in sixties, passionate about chess competition; a young twenty year old girl; nineteen year old boy, who is called hothead because of his rude behaviour; a thirty year old guy, ‘glasses’, who spent his whole life in struggling; a forty year old mother, who sacrificed everything for her family; a forty five year old carpenter, who wants to promote his ancestors’ arts; director Ma is fifty years old and is very bold and flaunt-natured. Name of each character shows appearance of people belonging to their specific age groups. They are waiting for a never arriving bus; if, by any chance, it arrives, it never stops for its passengers. Place The place where eight characters are desperately waiting is a bus stop; however, the bus almost never arrives at this bus stop, and when it does, it passes by without stopping. There are two iron railings where time and again all the passengers ask each other to form a queue. Sign board is almost erased due to being so old, and people wait for endless hours on the bus stop and then leave without ever catching a bus. Time is passing very slowly and the waiting passengers are looking at their watches over and over again. Somebody says it’s an hour, another says that a whole year has elapsed. In China, the most common and most convenient way of traveling is through bus, and, therefore, people from every class use it quite often. That is why whatever is happening at the bus stop is the portrayal of the real life issues. Even though a lot of their time is wasted while they are waiting for the bus, which, in turn, makes them annoyed, rude, irritated and violent, yet they still go through this whole process of waiting every day. They pass their time by talking and discussing different things with each other. Although all of them are destined to go different places and have different purposes and ambitions of life, this bus stop is the element that connects their lives, links them to each other, with people belonging to every group of age. The bus stop has become an important part of their lives, where they expect to find someone with whom they can indulge in discussions about things of common interest and who can help solve problems by talking about them and figuring out solutions. However, there are also others who prefer to keep to themselves and only nod their heads in reply when others try to talk to them. And still there are others who don’t lose any moment of showing off their high status and wealth. However, such an important aspect of majority of the population is being ignored by the government, due to which the transportation condition is deteriorating at many places. Chinese Culture This play represents the urban lifestyle of the general public. Everybody is passionate about a specific thing. They spent years following the same routine. Going at a bus stop, waiting, and hoping. They suffer every circumstance to achieve their goals. The silent man does not talk to anybody. After waiting for a while he leaves the bus stop. Other characters realize his absence during continuous arguments. The old man has a chess match. He studied many manuals of famous chess players. He proudly shares this information with the young girl. This shows the nature of old people. They love to discuss their achievements with youngsters. When a hot head misbehaves and taunts at him in reply, “go ask the bus company”, he becomes angry. This is not acceptable for old people, no matter what they are doing. Leaning over and over again on the railing and teasing the old man and replying rudely to everyone is immoral. The hot head’s behaviour shows the careless nature of youngsters who are do not care about their responsibilities, and when anyone tries to interfere, they tend to fight. Mother asks them to form a queue. She was bringing laundry to her husband and a child. In this way, a mother manages everything. She sacrifices her likings for her children. The young girl shares with the mother. Due to her family culture and conservative behaviour, she feels jealous when she sees other girls doing whatever they feel like doing. She wants to wear high-heeled shoes to look good. Her hair turned grey waiting for these facilities. Mother comforts her by lending her shoulder. She tells about her dreams. Her dreams always collapse. They end up in working the whole day. She did not even have proper sleep. They both start crying about her fate. The guy with glasses is preparing for his college entrance exam. He is having a thought that he’s spent his whole youth in struggle. Still he is preparing to appear in college entrance exams. Expecting the success, Carpenter is going to teach his art of making carved furniture to spread his ancestors’ art. The director Ma is a corrupt personality. He has a general supply store. Due to his marketing habits, he even advertises himself. He was flaunted and bold and used to talk bluntly. Waiting for so long people normally start talking to each other. He is going at a dinner organized by one of his old clients. He praises himself in front of people about the quality of playing chess, about painting, knowledge etc.; in reality, he is lying as he does not even know the name of the chess champion. It was published in last day newspaper. Ethnicity of China Waiting crowd of the bus stop starts conversation on different topics of daily life. They do not care about the ethnicity and religion of each other. In this play they are only discussing their skills and achievements. The director Ma shows off his high standard of life style, the old man discusses his talents, and the carpenter talks about his skills. They only chat about the general things of life. Normally the atmosphere at the bus stop is the same – people hardly know or talk to each other. There are almost 56 ethnic groups in China, and people belonging to these groups and almost every walk of life travel by bus. This practice and behaviour of Chinese people is appreciated by the tourists visiting this country from all over the world. Chinese people believe in following the proper etiquette regardless of the place or situation. So whether they are shopping in markets, visiting friends and families, or when they are alone, they portray their best behaviours and find it offending when others do not pay heed to the trivialities of behaving with proper etiquette. The foreigners who spend even a fleeting time with Chinese are bound to learn a thing or two from them about etiquette, as showing best behaviour is the integral part of their very character (Herbert A. Giles, Chapter XI). People of China are famous worldwide for these very traits, and, regardless of where they are or whom they are with, they do not under any circumstances ignore the basic in-built characteristics of their etiquette. Issues of the Play There are several issues discussed in this play. Each character shows a specific lifestyle and problem. The main thing portrayed is the transportation problem. China is a very highly populated country, but the exact number has never been established. However, various foreigners traveling this country like Sacharoff in 1894 have estimated the figure to be more than four hundred million. The census of 1902 claimed the population to be of four hundred and ten million. Therefore, though the bus service is used by the majority of the population, due to deteriorating conditions and negligence this service is becoming meagre and not fit to be used. Along with this, people have to wait longer than they can afford, and so a lot of time is wasted in doing so. Apart from the abovementioned issue, women’s issue is also portrayed in this play. It is done so through the character of a mother depicting the problems and dilemmas of Chinese women. Their whole life is spent in sacrificing themselves for their families. As women, they are considered inferior beings and are usually treated as slaves. Their abilities are underestimated by their own family. Another issue is that of increasing westernization among the younger generation. Although the younger Chinese generation follows western culture, it does not affect their traditional culture, as Chinese have preserved their civilization over the centuries and they do not believe in westernizing it. Following western trends is one thing and changing one’s cultural identity according to them is another. Due to changing times and priorities, people are becoming stressed and aggressive, which, in turn, is an increasingly important issue to date. All of the play’s characters have some specific issues and portray the real problems the Chinese people face. Bibliography Xingjian, Gao. “The Bus Stop”. 1983. PDF file Read More