- A Son of the Celestial
A Son of the Celestial is a short story by
Willa Cather . It was first published on 15 January 1893 inThe Hesperian [Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 540] .Plot summary
In
San Francisco , Yung and Porter share their penchant for bothSanskrit andopium . When Yung fails to understand "Hamlet " byWilliam Shakespeare , Porter blames the Chinese man for being heathen. As requested, after Yung's death, Porter sends him back toChina .Characters
*Yung Le Ho, a white-haired Chinese man who lives in
San Francisco . Although he was born inNanking , he moved toIndia and finally to the United States. He understands Sanskrit and makes opium. He runs abazaar for a living.
*Ponter, a Professor of Sanskrit. He now works in a boarding-house and as an amanuensis for a lawyer. He likes to smoke opium.Allusions to other works
*Painting is mentioned through
Michelangelo
*Religious texts are mentioned throughThe Bible ,Buddha ,Confucius , andVishnu .
*Plato is also mentioned.
*There is a quotation taken fromHorace 's "Odes".Allusions to actual history
*The Chinese Treaty of 1880 is mentioned.
References
External links
* [http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/cather/writings/shortfiction/celestial.html Full text]
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