The Unexpected Birth of Butterflies

Twist is always been a pleasant surprise while reading a book or watching a film. The surprise
that we got makes us reconstruct our thought about the plot, and this also gives us a sense of
enlightenment in regards to something that might be unclear or even something we surely think we knew.
“The Butterfly Lovers” is a Chinese folklore told a story of a girl named Zhu who, in order to be able to
school, had to disguise herself as a boy, and later fell in love with her colleague. Consisting of 3 climaxes
and 3 resolutions, the story itself was actually full of things that, when you realize it, quite surprising. The
surprise could give the reader a sense of absurdity, amusing, or even other kind of feelings, but surprising
nonetheless.
The surprise of the story of “The Butterfly Lovers” began in the very first resolution, situated in
the orientation, in the story. In the first climax, Zhu, granted permission by her father to go to school as
long as she got admitted, solved her problem by disguising as boy (Paragraph 3). This was quite
surprising turn of event, since there are other common resolution that can be taken like finding a mentor,
especially for an orientation of the short story. The surprise weren’t very ‘out of place’, however, since
the school was where Zhu meet the love of her life, Liang. The surprise was there to let the story set in the
school, so the plot can continued to the main plot.
The next climax too wasn’t the climax of the plot that I identified as main plot, but rather also an
orientation for the story. Realizing her feelings for Liang, Zhu reveals herself to Liang that she actually a
girl and has a feeling for him (Paragraph 9). Liang was thrilled hearing that (Paragraph 10), and later, as
her father’s blessing for their marriage (Paragraph 11). However, the surprise turns out not only for Liang,
but also for the reader. In the story, Liang revealed that he actually had fallen for Zhu even before she
revealed herself as a girl. “Liang readily agreed. He too did not want to lose Zhu. If he married her sister
they could continue to meet.” (Paragraph 7). This is the reason why Liang, even before Zhu told him her
true identity, obliged to get a job and proposed to Zhu’s sister (Paragraph 6). Unsurprisingly, Liang
rationalized this fact by saying, “Now he knew why he had felt such a strong love for Zhu,” when he
knew that Zhu was, in fact, a girl.
The true climax of the story began when Liang was refused when asking for Zhu’s father’s
blessing as her father revealed that Zhu was already been betrothed to a wealthy merchant resulting in
Liang’s death (Paragraph 11 and 12). In the resolution, the event took an unexpected turn when suddenly
Zhu, ignoring the fact that she was about to marry, jumped on Liang’s grave when suddenly a bolt of
lightning stroke the grave open. Zhu jumped into the grave, and when the people look inside the grave,
came out two butterflies dancing happily (Paragraph 15 and 16). The turn was very surprising since the
plot suddenly turned into a fantasy plot.
I identified two kinds of feelings that might be conveyed to the children, and might even be
adults, when reading this short story. The first is the sense of rebellion as this story began with rebellion
(Paragraph 1) and ended with rebellion (paragraph 15). It is true that what Zhu’s rebellion for her
education is right since everyone should be able to learn regardless of his/her sex. However, there are a lot
of things to be considered when we rebelling, for example when Zhu’s refused to marry the wealthy man
and instead threw herself onto Liang’s grave, we might think, “is it a good thing?” since perhaps, Zhu
would have a better life by marrying the man. Children however, would not think such a hard question,
they will feel and empathize Zhu’s life in the story. Thus, making the parent’s guidance is a must.
This story also evokes another kind of feeling, a pleasant one. This feeling is called hope. Zhu,
even though having many disadvantages in her life, she kept fighting and finally got what she wanted.
The only thing that she require miracle to get what she wants is when she want to live forever with Liang.
This can convey to the children that even if they are at disadvantages or their situated in a difficult
position, there are always ways, and even if the problem seems impossible to resolve, as long as they keep
fighting, miracle might happen.