# XXXIII: The Song of the River explained — On a Chinese Screen

> Chapter companion for On a Chinese Screen by W. Somerset Maugham.

## What happens

This chapter describes the various songs heard along the river, from the rowers and trackers on junks to the coolies carrying bales up the town steps. It captures the effort, strain, and indomitable spirit of the laborers, as well as the despair and suffering inherent in their toil.

## Themes in this chapter

### Colonial Ennui and Isolation

The observer's detached yet empathetic description of the laborers' suffering highlights a sense of isolation and the ennui of witnessing relentless toil without direct participation.

### Futility of Western Superiority

The raw, agonizing song of the coolies challenges any notion of Western superiority, revealing the brutal reality of human endurance against nature.

## Key lines

> You hear it all along the river. You hear it, loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stern, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream.

The river is filled with the sound of rowers chanting as they propel a junk downstream.

_Introduces the pervasive song of the river and the rowers' role._

> They strain, strain fiercely, against the pitiless might of the stream. The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo on the naked back.

The trackers pull with all their strength against the current, and the overseer beats anyone who slacks off.

_Highlights the physical strain and coercive discipline of the laborers._

> It is a sigh of despair. It is heartrending. It is hardly human. It is the cry of souls in infinite distress, only just musical, and that last note is the ultimate sob of humanity.

The coolies' song is a despairing, barely human cry of profound suffering.

_Emphasizes the dehumanizing agony expressed in the song._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se/chapters/xxxiii-the-song-of-the-river
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_a_chinese_screen_se/chapters