Q: Compare The Street Sweeping Show by Feng Jicai and The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek Feng Jicai:

Feng Jicai (b. 1942) is a popular Chinese novelist and short story writer.Most of his work consists of stories which explain historical events that have occurred in his hometown of Tianjin, China. He also writes stories about the lives of several intelligent men. He is now the vice chairman of Chinese Association of Literature & Art, vice chairman of China Literature Association, chairman of China Novel Association. Born the son of a merchant in Tianjin, China, Feng grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. A gifted student, painter, and athlete, Feng read a wide range of traditional and modern Chinese literary works throughout his childhood. Though, as an adult, Feng worked for many years as a painting teacher and local newspaper art critic, he was forced to stop his creative pursuits during Communist China's Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. He and his family were torn from their home by Mao's Red Guards and forced to live in a bare and dilapidated room for years. Feng heard many horrifying stories of the widespread sufferings of ordinary citizens during this repressive era and felt compelled to write in secret about what was happening around him. In time, he would have stacks of manuscripts to hide. Allowed in 1973 to study Chinese history and to work again as a painting teacher, Feng became engrossed in the study of the Boxer Rebellion (1898-1900). During this uprising, Chinese peasants rose up with righteous fists and mythical beliefs in an effort to drive out Western influence and foreign gunfire from China. Feng's first novel, The Boxers (1977), explored this era from a Chinese-Marxist perspective. The death of Mao Zedong that same year paved the way for Feng to join a writer's union and to begin publishing his numerous short stories and novels, among the most noteworthy being Flowering Branch Road (1979), The Magic Lantern (1981), Thanks to Life (1985), and Voices from the Whirlwind (1991).

Slawomir Mrozek:

Slawomir Mrozek (b. 1930) is a Polish dramatist, prose writer, and cartoonist, whose works explore alienation, abuse of power, conformity, and the limitations of human freedom under a totalitarian system. He belonged to a postmaster family with a peasant background; Mrozek spent his early years in the village of Borzecin, in southern Poland, and in Krakow. Mrozek is perhaps the best-known and the most widely performed contemporary Polish dramatist. His work is also often staged in Western European theaters. Mrozek's early dramas written in Poland dealt with the socialist experience in the manner of the Theater of the Absurd. They appealed to such a wide audience that the phrases "straight from Mrozek" or "Mrozek himself could not invent that" were colloquially used to describe reallife situations. His later work, written during the thirty years he spent abroad, is more universal in orientation and ranges from commentaries on the experience of exile and contrasting studies of Western and Eastern European mentalities to attempts to analyze the human factor in the historical process. Since his return to Poland in 1996, he has continued his career there as a leading dramatist, widely read and author of popular satirical drawings. His satirical short stories have been widely translated, including two volumes in English (The Elephant and The Ugupu Bird).His most famous plays include Tango (1964), a multileveled family saga, and Emigranci (1974), about the collapse of illusions.

Summary:

The Street Sweeping Show by Feng Jicai

Secretary Zhao handed over the list including the names of all top city administrators and public figures that were going to participate in the National Cleanup Week. The mayor saw it thoughtfully and pointed out that there were none from the Women's Federation and ordered his secretary to add two names from it. At one-thirty that afternoon the mayor was whisked to the square in his limousine. All kind of people were out sweeping the streets, and the air was thick with dust. All top city administrators had gathered to wait for the mayor's arrival and policemen stood for guarding them on all sides. When the mayor got out of the limousine, the officials in the waiting crowd stepped forward with smiling faces to greet him. The mayor walked at the head of the crowd to the square where he was supposed to sweep with broom. The square was so huge and not dirty. Only litter was a popsicle wrapper, which all the officials pursued like children chasing a dragonfly. Photographers kept on clicking shutters. A photographer from TV station came up to Zhao and asked him to line up the officials single file. They formed a long line to be shot regardless of whether there was any dirt on the ground. After finishing the sweeping, the mayor answered some questions of the reporters. Then the mayor went home where a nice bath prepared by his servant was waiting for him. After taking bath, as he went up the stairs to eat dinner; his grandson told him that he was on TV. On the screen, he was sweeping the street. He turned away and said "it's not worth watching'

Summary:

The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek

The director of the Zoological Gardens was an upstart who regarded his animals simply as stepping stones of his career. He was careless about the educational value of his establishment. The zoo lacked some of the most important animals including elephant. On the anniversary of the liberation of Poland, the zoo was informed that it was receiving an elephant. The staff of the zoo was very happy but it was surprised that their director was preparing a plan for a more economical elephant. The director had written a letter to the higher authority suggesting an economical elephant made of rubber. Thus, money can be saved to buy a jet plane or to conserve some church monument. His letter was officially sanctioned and the ministry approved the idea. The director ordered the zoo keepers to blow air into a rubber elephant and to make it as if a real one. He insisted on haste because he expected a bonus, if his idea turns out to be a success. The keepers who were assigned to blowing the huge rubber elephant at night could not make it big enough to look like a real elephant. They got exhausted and came up with an idea to fill it with gas and they did. In the morning the elephant was placed next to the monkeys cage in front of a real rock with a big notice proclaiming: "Particularly sluggish. Hardly moves". A party of children from the local school came to see the elephant. At the moment the teacher was explaining to the children how heavy an elephant is, the rubber elephant filled with gas rose in the air and was blown away by a gust of wind and disappeared behind the trees. Later the elephant was found in the nearby botanical garden being punctured by landing on a cactus. The children who witnessed the scene turned into hooligans and no longer believed in elephants.

Comparison of The Street Sweeping Show and The Elephant : Title:

The title of the short story The Street Sweeping Show exhibits the irony of the situation. The word show refers to the hidden mockery behind the scene. This word also shows that the occasion is not more than a show-off. There are no actual services for common people behind the whole act. The politicians play the political game just like the dancers dance to win the applause. The mayor just didnt care about his citizens. What intrigued him most was just the power to control his citizens and the good feeling of considering himself superior to the ordinary mortals. The title of the story The Elephant refers to the unwise laws with are forcefully bestowed upon the ordinary people and the citizens.

Style:
Both the short stories The Street Sweeping Show and The Elephant are written in the communist regimes in China and Poland and both exhibit the absurdities and irrationalities of those eras. Both the stories are satire on totalitarianism, the powers provided to the higher authorities, their misuse of power and the helplessness of the citizens of the country. The short story The Elephant has the allegorical plot and The Street Sweeping Show has the linear plot. In the story The Elephant, Mrozek used the technique of symbols through which he indirectly highlights the drawbacks of totalitarianism whereas, in The Street Sweeping Show, Jicai directly yet briefly draws attention to the similar drawbacks of totalitarianism.

Setting:
The setting of the short story, The Street Sweeping Show is China. The whole incident of street sweeping occurred in the Central Square, China. Whereas, the setting of the other short story, The Elephant is of the zoo which is located in provincial town of Poland. The zoo is substandard in this communist society in which appearances mean everything and in which major inadequacies are overlooked because they would, if articulated, reflect badly on the bureaucracy governing the country. Both the short stories are written in the communist regimes in China and Poland and highlight the absurdities of the communism.

Similarity in theme of the two stories:

Both stories highlight the theme of deception and pretension. In both stories the writers satirize the political institutions, bureaucrats and officials that they are not serving well the

public and pay least regard to the problems of the common people. In The Elephant, the director of the zoo driven by ambition decides to have a rubber elephant instead of an original one. He represents the government officials who have concern for their ambition and career. The big notice in front of the elephant proclaiming: particularly sluggish. Hardly moves actually shows the sluggishness of the government, slow progress of the staff and its apathy. The wrong policies of the government officials are criticized that they think that in this way they can save money significantly and utilize it in other useful purposes to buy a jet plane or to conserve some church monument .Their notions show that they are mainly concern with power and appearances, they have no genuine concern and feelings for the common people and are not sincere towards their responsibilities. They are indifferent to educational importance and care about their own bonus and promotion and are soulless as the problems of common people dont have any impact on them as they dont bother themselves to look into the heart of the matter whether it is right and wrong but carry out the directions and make preparations of faking elephant, they have no fear that they are deceiving people. It shows the hypocrisy of the people of government. They think that they are doing the welfare of the people and have concern for them and it would be a source of entertainment for them but actually they pretend to be good that they are saving money for the betterment of the people and their security but actually they are pursuing their own ambitions and goals. The common people believe on the surface things, they are not aware about their sharp planning. Same is the case in The Street Sweeping Show in which the mayor who represents the government officials, wants to be in good books of the people. The hypocrite officials like the mayor show humble, kind behavior and pretend that they have concern for the people. In this story they are having the big bamboo brooms and cleaning the square although there is no litter but little grit which they moved back and forth with their brooms. They have the notions that people would consider them good and are with them, no action would be taken by the people against them as they provide opportunity to retinue to stand with them and in this way they make them fool and get their confidence that they are kind with common people. In this way they will remain on their post and enjoy the facilities, these are the intensions which they usually pursue and easily deceive the innocent people who are on their mercy. Thus, the people of the government dont fulfill their responsibilities in a rectitude way. There is also a distortion of the views of children by their elders like in The Elephant; a party of children from the local school comes to see the elephant. At the moment the teacher is explaining to the children how heavy an elephant is, the rubber elephant filled with gas rose in the air and is blown away by a gust of wind. The children who witness the scene turn into hooligans and no longer believe in elephants. This shows that the people of the government are indifferent to the education of the children that their actions and behavior can affect the students education and distort their minds. In this story the children refer to the common people that their unfulfilled expectations and disillusionment make them reactive body and they put themselves in burning tires and start drinking liquor. The truth, reality and the deception of the government people never remain hidden, it does get revealed and make them realize that they are not doing the honest job for their people but still they go on with the same process. Same is the case in The Street Sweeping Show when the mayor tells his grandson that it is not worth watching to see him in the T.V. It can mark deep influence on the child's mind that might be his granddad is not sincere to his job thats why he stops him from watching as it is not important. The people of the

government know the fact that they are merely deceiving the people and are not sincere towards them as mayors own actions are worthless for him. They are hollow from inner self but they never change themselves. There is also the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class in both stories. In The Elephant, the upper class employs the lower class in order to make the fake elephant although the reward goes to the upper class as the director expects promotion at the expense of the labour of the zoo keepers who do not get any reward in return. Thus the upper class uses the effort and labour of lower class to meet such conditions. They do little work and dont put themselves in much trouble, the lower class becomes tired and exhausted but still they have to suffer. In The Street Sweeping Show, the square has already been cleaned by the common people but in media it is shown as if it is cleaned by the mayor, and the officials. The intention behind this is that people would appreciate the officials that they are humble and are with them and want to set the example for the people that they should clean the city although it is merely a pretension and nothing more. They even dont pick the brooms by themselves as the policeman selects one of the smaller neater brooms and presents it respectfully to the mayor. The writer in a very ironical tone compares them with children that they pursue Popsicle wrapper like children chasing a dragonfly. They are doing their jobs in a careless manner and hypocritical way by exploiting the lower class. The mayor enjoys leisurely bath and emerges from the bathroom with rosy skin and clean clothes, leaving his grime and exhaustion behind him in the tub. This shows how luxurious and carefree life the government officials live and do not pay much attention to their duties and have no concern for the people.

Differences in theme of the two stories:

In the story The Elephant the writer has highlighted the dilemma of the developing countries that unfortunately they have to allocate the greater portion of their budget to the defence affairs. They do not pay attention towards the education sector that is also very important. This is the reason that they lag behind the developed nations of the world because only enlightened and educated nations make progress by leaps and bounds. The author in The Street Sweeping Show does not criticize the specific policies of the developing countries; it is only a criticism on the hypocritical attitude of the politicians. On the superficial level, in this story the writer presents the idea that recreation is very important in the life of the common people who live a hard life and thus attention should be paid towards the improvement of recreational spots like zoo to enable the people to get a relief in their busy lives. Also recreational spots have educational importance and children learn a lot by visiting them. The author has not discussed about the recreational spots and their importance in The Street Sweeping Show In The Street Sweeping Show, the author has highlighted the role of media in the society that media is a very effective means to propagate any idea or message in it. A simple and insignificant event becomes very important and significant through the coverage of media. As in the above mentioned story the media gives great coverage to the activity of streetsweeping which is not worth-mentioning and thus magnifies the influence and meaning of it to the public. Media has a strong influential power in image building as in the story it

gives much importance to the mayor and treats him as a very important and great personality, like a cloud in a thunderstorm, the mayor was constantly illuminated by silvery flashes'. The marshal, police escort, and retinue of shutter-clicking photographers make the people present at the square realize that they are in the presence of 'no ordinary mortals' but superior people who are performing a great job. Thus the people become eager to see the glimpse of the mayor and the reporters want to note the precious words of him in their notebooks. Thus it can be stated that the author has satirized the media that sometimes it gives undue importance to small incidents and events. In The Elephant the author has not discussed about the role of media in society. The Street Sweeping Show also presents the idea that women are very important members of the society and they should participate in all spheres of life. As in this story the mayor ordered his secretary to include the names of women from the women's federation in the list of the participants of the national cleanup week. He told his secretary that women are the pillars of society and they could not leave out the womens representatives .The role of women in society is not discussed in The Elephant at all.

Difference in plot of the two stories:

In the story The Elephant, the writer has used the allegorical plot. At the surface level it is simple story about a small polish zoo attempts to save money by making a rubber elephant, rather than adding real elephant to the zoos collection but at another level The Elephant is a satirical allegory. This is aimed at the communist government that controlled Poland at the time the story is written. Each character in the story symbolizes something. The elephant fabricated by the director of the zoo symbolizes the manifesto of the communist government. Like the elephant the communist government is also beautiful when seen from outside with its almost utopian principles to provide every one equality. But deep within the politicians themselves are corrupt and lead to the destruction of the state. The underlying meaning attached to the different abnormal animals in the zoo symbolizes their acts the short necked giraffe can be the officials cutoff from seeing what exactly the communist politicians are up to. The badgers, who have lost their burrows, can be the officials who have lost their post for going against their leaders. The whistlers can be the revolutionists or critics. These animals may also symbolize the frustrated and deprived people during the communist regime who have lost interest in life as they are not getting their due rights. Children symbolize the common innocent people who expect that the government would fulfill their needs. In this story the writer satires on the communist government indirectly by using the technique of allegory. The Street Sweeping Show is not an allegory but follows the linear plot and through the human characters like Mayor, officials and secretary Zhao the author criticizes the government. He doesnt use the symbols to communicate his notions but we can easily understand the intentions of the writer through superficial level. The opening of The Elephant is proper as the reader can easily make out from the beginning what the story is about as it starts with the description of the zoo director and it gives complete introduction to the reader about the director of the zoo as he simply considers his animals as the stepping stones of his career. He is careless about the educational value of his establishment that is not funded properly therefore the zoo lacks

all the important animals. He decides to have an elephant of the rubber in order to save the money for some other purpose. The opening of the story prepares the reader that it will be the satirical story of the government. While The Street Sweeping Show starts with the preparations of the National Cleanup Week. They are making the list of guests and participants for the occasion and they are making arrangements for the occasion. The opening of this short story only reveals to the reader that there is a National Cleanup Week and reader cannot make out what the story is about until he reads the whole story. The climax of The Elephant takes place when the elephant is moved to a special run in a central position, next to the monkey cage and the notice in front of it proclaims that it is particularly sluggish and hardly moves. The children are the first visitors and teacher elucidates about elephant and the students are properly preparing their notes but at this moment they are not aware about the reality of the people. The Climax in The Street Sweeping Show takes place when mayor, officials and other honorable guests all of them are busy in their photo session in order to get the attention of the common people and all the people present there are eager to get a glimpse of the mayor and it appears as if a very important and auspicious event is taking place. The short story The Elephant is not open ended as at the end the rubber elephant that is filled with gas rises in the air and is blown away by a gust of wind and disappears behind the trees and gets punctured by landing on a cactus. The children who actually symbolize the common people who have great expectations from the government but when their expectations dont come true they start acting violently by burning tires and drinking liquor. At the end the reality of the upper class or government gets revealed to the common people and they realize the deception of the government. The ending of The Street Sweeping Show is open ended as the writer doesnt highlight the reaction of the child when he is stopped by his grandfather not to see him in the T.V show as it is not worth watching. At the end in this story the reality doesnt get revealed to the common people.

Characterization:
The characterization in both the stories The Street Sweeping Show and The Elephant is marvelously done by their writers. The major characters are beautifully sketched as the actual representatives of communist rule.

In the short story The Street Sweeping Show, the mayor of the city is characterized as a hypocrite; who is apparently represented in a story as a responsible, loyal to the common people and a person with great leadership qualities. However, while traveling in limousine, surrounded by photographers who are capturing his profile and the people standing there to admire him; he is not the least concerned about the cleanliness issues of his city. Throughout the story till the end, he is represented as very loyal person not only with his job but also with the ordinary people. In the end, there is disillusionment when he actually tells his grandson that the whole incident of street sweeping was not worth watching. The whole street sweeping ceremony is only held to get the appreciation of common residents of the city and to pretend that the higher authorities are serving them rightly. There are small incidents that also depict the real irony of the situation. When they are traveling in limousine and there is sweeping going on in the streets and the air is thick with dust, Secretary Zhao instantly rolls up the window. Then, the mayors act of immediately taking bath upon his arrival at home also depicts the mockery and hypocrisy of the characters. On the other hand, in the short story The Elephant, the government is symbolized by the zookeepers, the elephant symbolizes some of the unwise laws that the government make up, the children symbolizes the people who are obedient to the law and the wind symbolizes the people who question the laws. The director of the zoo appears as the highly responsible, intelligent and sincere with his post. He, a keen patriot, eager to make a modest contribution to the common task and struggle, writes to the authorities and suggests they save money by sending the zoo an inflatable rubber elephant instead. He is acting as a dictator and not as part of a team. He does what he thinks is right and acts upon it without anyone knowing about it. The story also covers the submissiveness and helplessness of the ordinary people when the duties are unjustly forced upon them in communist rule.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that although both stories have the same theme about the deception and hypocrisy of the politicians but there are some differences in them as far as plot, settings and characters are concerned. Both writers have used different techniques to highlight the situation of political institutions of both countries i-e China and Poland and have effectively presented the situation and the problems of the common people during the communist regime.

REFERENCES:
http://www.cbi.gov.cn/wisework/content/7224.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Jicai http://kirjasto.sci.fi/mrozek.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Mro%C5%BCek