On a Chinese Screen · Chapter
XXIV: Romance explained
The narrator reflects on the nature of romance while traveling down a river in China.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the nature of romance while traveling down a river in China. He recounts past experiences that seemed romantic only in retrospect, and describes a sudden, inexplicable feeling of romance that seizes him in his humble cabin on the boat. He tries to analyze the source of this feeling but finds it elusive, comparing it to tearing a butterfly to discover its beauty. The chapter blends a personal meditation on romance with a vivid description of the river journey and the legend of Chang Chien sailing the Milky Way.
Themes in this chapter
Search for Meaning and Identity
The narrator's quest to understand and capture the essence of romance mirrors a deeper search for meaning and identity in his experiences.
Beauty and Art as Escape or Illusion
The narrator compares the thrill of romance to the thrill of art, and acknowledges that the magic of the moment is fragile and elusive, like a butterfly torn apart.
Characters to notice
- The Stranger
The narrator is the central consciousness of the chapter, reflecting on his experiences and the elusive nature of romance.
Key passages
“I could not tell whether it had crept in among the shadows that the lamp threw on the bamboo matting or whether it was wafted down the river that I saw through the opening of my cabin.”
The narrator is uncertain whether the feeling of romance came from the shadows cast by the lamp or from the river visible through the cabin opening.
This illustrates the narrator's attempt to locate the source of the romantic feeling.
“Alas, I was like a man who should tear a butterfly to pieces in order to discover in what its beauty lay.”
The narrator compares his analytical attempt to understand romance to destroying a beautiful butterfly to see what makes it beautiful.
This metaphor emphasizes the futility of dissecting a fleeting, magical experience.