Dead, but Never Forgotten

             For this week, I read a selection of short tales in the book "Chinese Ghost Stories, Curious Tales of the Supernatural," by Lafcadio Hearn. This novel tells many different tales from a multitude of different perspectives, but all centralizing around themes of dedication, duty, honor, and family.

             For a majority of the book, the various tales throughout focus around men and women who must put aside personal goals or gain in order to help others, even if it risks their mortal frame. The idea of sacrifice for the sake of others is incredibly preeminent in Asian culture, kept in their traditions for hundreds of years and exemplified in these stories. These traditional values of honoring ones family, removing personal pride and others are often put into the spiritual realm of the meta-physical. Upholding promises and honoring family are represented physically by ghosts and beings beyond human understanding, helping and praising those who maintain the value(s) in the story; whilst punishing those who do not.

·                                   For these stories, there is often not huge focus on “good vs evil,” more so to pay homage to various aspects of a "morally just life," especially when the central theme includes keeping with traditional values. There is supposed to be a balance, the idea that upsetting tradition will have horrendous effects on the people around them, don’t overturn society, maintain order, keep humble, abandon pride but do your best for the masses, etc. For example, in the story of "The Should of the Great Bell," a young girl sacrifices her life so that her father can keep his promise to construct an incredibly beautiful bell to his master. Although this means her own life is ended, she is given the reward of everlasting honor as she not only saves her father from punishment, but also becomes a spirit of the bell, forever able to bring beauty to those that hear or see the bell. 

                     Self sacrifice without want of personal gain, while also paying respects to those who have done the same are two major themes that seem to conquer much of asian culture; highlighted even more so in this book. These moral standards have existed so long as to survive modern culture, because many asian families agree on these foundations of respect and duty to help people become greater as a mass of dedicated united beings, accomplishing more as a whole than any one individual could ever aspire towards.