Empty Seat by Yuan Qiongquiong short story

Preaction

Make a mind map of the title “Empty Seat”. What comes to mind?

Empty Seat

GLOSSARY About the Author Yuan Qiongquiong Yuan Qiongquiong (1950–) is a Taiwanese novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet who focuses on women’s role in the family and workplace and on battling stereotypical female roles. Often her stories end unresolved, and the reader is left to reconcile inner conflict with external experience. Written in 1988, this short story was first published in the collection Tales of Tapei.

He heard somebody sobbing. It was the woman sitting next to him. At first he hadn’t noticed. He’d simply spotted the empty seat when he boarded the bus and sat down in it. But once he was settled in he heard a strange sound like an imperfection in a machine wheel. Click, click, click, click, rhythmic, constant. Hard to tell what it was, what with the bus noises and all, but after a while he identified it. The woman next to him was sobbing. He turned just enough to sneak a look. She wasn’t trying to cause a scene or anything, since she had buried her face in her hands to stifle the sound. But she couldn’t hide the depth of her sorrow, no matter what she did. Her shoulders were heaving, yet the way she was being bounced around by the bus made it look kind of silly. What in the world could cause such unhappiness? He faced forward and instinctively leaned away from the woman. He didn’t want people to think he had anything to do with her. But he had to hold on to the seat in front to keep his balance, and even then he rocked a little. He glanced at his fellow passengers. A college boy in the aisle nearby was staring at him, but he looked away when he realized he was being watched. Too obvious. No doubt what he was thinking. He glared, wanting to catch his eye one more time to let him know he had obviously nothing to do with the woman. But the college boy not only looked away nonchalantly, but even turned his back on him. No one else paid him any attention. sobbing hulke imperfection feil sneak a look tyvtitte/tjuvkikke stifle dempe heaving riste instinctively på instinkt nonchalantly ubekymret/ubekymra crinkled his brow rynket pannen / rynka panna indecisive ubesluttsom/tvilrådigVurderingseksemplar She kept sobbing. Impossible to tell how long she’d been at it. But she’d begun long before he sat down. The other passengers would have to be deaf not to hear it. Some were already glancing his way. The person in the seat in front turned to look, then quickly faced front again without showing any emotion. He crinkled his brow to show how disgusted he was, but even that didn’t prove he had nothing to do with the woman. A couple of indecisive seconds later he slid over until he was more off the seat than on.

She was still sobbing. Nearly in convulsions now. Why did she GLOSSARY have to cry on a bus, of all places? He looked at her again. She was pouring her grief into her hands. You’d think she was the only person on the bus. He returned one of the passenger’s stares. The man shrank back. But he wasn’t the only one. Strange how they were more interested in him than in her. He wasn’t crying, why gawk at him? Of course! He should have known there was something peculiar about an empty seat on a crowded bus. No wonder. With a show of insouciance he got up and mingled with the passengers in the aisle, stopping in front of the college boy, who smiled, as if to say, I know what you mean. Of course! The college boy had vacated the seat before he got on. The bus pulled up to a stop. He and the college boy watched one of the new passengers take the seat.

convulsions kramper/krampar shrank back krympet tilbake / krympa tilbake gawk glane peculiar merkelig/merkelegVurderingseksemplar insouciance likegyldighet/ likegyldigheit vacated flyttet seg fra / flytte seg frå

ACTION ACTION

11 Go online and watch the video on reading fiction. a Do a STAR analysis of the protagonist.

b Note down basic emotions in the story. c Visualise the setting and characters either by drawing or describing them in writing. 12 Act out in groups: Display the following emotions through non-verbal communication. SAYS

PROBLEMS

WANTS

sadness love fear anger boredom

13 In what way could the story have ended differently if the characters had spoken to each other? 14 Would you have helped the crying lady? Give reasons for your answer. 15 How would you have reacted to strangers expressing strong emotions in public and when is it acceptable? 16 Research the display of strong emotions in public in other countries. a Find and note down at least one culture that accepts this behaviour and one culture that does not. Use examples to explain your answer. b Do you think some emotions are more acceptable than others around the world? Find pictures online and use them to support your answer. 17 I n this story, nobody speaks. Make a list of what is communicated without words by the man, the crying woman and the college student. See page 130 for more on nonverbal communication. 18 Draw a cartoon of the story with thinking bubbles for all characters. Compare and DOES THINKS HE Vurderingseksemplar discuss your drawings in groups. 19 How should we deal with the public display of emotion at work? Where and when is it appropriate, if ever?