Judgement: the forming of an opinion, estimate, notion, or conclusion, as from circumstances presented to the mind (“Judgement”). The theme of judgement is intertwined in these short stories in Gao Xingjian’s Buying a Fishing Rod For My Grandfather: “The Accident”, “The Cramp”, and “In the Park”. Within these three stories, a couple, a crowd, and a man are quick to make assumptions about a person or event without any prior knowledge to the situation. Gao Xingjian provides these short stories to prove how judging others in human nature.
In the short story “The Accident”, the main character is uncertain about crossing the street ahead of him with his toddler attached to his bike. He sees a bus coming and takes the risk, pedaling across the road anyways. Halfway across the road, the man realizes the bus is unable to break before it hits him. The man unlatches the child from his bike, and while doing so, is hit by the bus and dies upon impact. This instantly gathers a crowd, and many of the townspeople come to their own conclusions as to why the man took the chance to cross the street in the first place (45-47). The bus…show more content… Throughout the story, the main character and his childhood sweetheart decide to meet at the local park one day to see if there is still a spark between the two of them (19-22). Upon arrival, the main character is nervous to see her after such a long time. When he lays his eyes upon her, he realizes his feelings for her are still true, but unfortunately, she is married with children. All while the two are catching up, a young lady is pacing back in forth in front of them, as if impatiently waiting for someone. Seconds, minutes, and eventually hours pass and the lady is still nervously waiting (22-23). The man tells her, “She’s waiting for someone” (24), without knowing her true intentions of being at the park. Judging others is easily done because of prejudice
