The short moment I chose to write about was a moment taken from my grandma's brave story happened in the 1940s in China. I drafted the "moment" with a background narration and an ending scene, with the thought that they would help to explain the complicated historical and cultural background of the short moment I wrote about:
Background
Lin was born in the late 1930s in an extended rich family in southern China. At that time, China was still a country under the transformation from a feudal society under wars and invasions to a new China. Lin's father was one of the most powerful landlords at the local village. Everyone in the family followed the decisions made by her father, so did Lin and her mother.
Lin was an active girl, good at climbing trees, and also mazed people by her embroidery work, one of the essential skills girls were required to grasp in that age in order to get a good marriage. Lin was close to her mother. From her childhood, her father seldom talked to her graciously. Lin knew that in his mind, like many old-style Chinese males, girls were just “wastes” that would sooner and later belong to another family.
Lin's peaceful life was suddenly stirred one day when she became 14. Her mother ran into her room with tears. Lin never saw mother act in such an anxious way. She was brought up in an aristocratic family and she always behaved peacefully and calmly.
The Beginning of the Conversation (Optional Focused Moment 1)
"What happened, Mom? " Lin asked.
"Oh, my little sweetheart," Her mother couldn't help crying, "your father will let you marry the Wu family next month."
"Mom", she stammered, "which…which Wu family?"
"My poor girl, my baby, you will marry the oldest son of the Wu family in the Kim Village...He is ten years older than you... How could I live without you?"
"My godness!" There was a moment of blankness in Lin's mind, "why father would arrange this marriage for me? Just because the Wu family is rich and powerful? What should I do? I don't want to move to the Kim village. I don’t want to leave Mom. I don't want to marry a guy whom I never met. "
"Mom, I don't want to get married. I don't want to leave you! Let me go to talk to father."
"My silly girl, are you crazy? You will be beaten to death. Oh, my poor little girl." Mom held Lin in her arms and continued to sob.
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Focused Moment
Lin rushed back to her room and cried hardly in her bed. "I hate him. I hate this suffocating family!" The hatred and pain soared in her heart, " I hate the fact that I have to follow and accept everything arranged by others. Why I have to follow father and why women have to always follow men's decisions? Why women as kind and noble as Mom could never be well treated by father? Why? Why?!!!"
"No, this is not what I wanted." Lin wiped the tears on her face.
Suddenly, there was something glittering in her black eyes: "Why not run away from this family and never be controlled by father and any man in the world?" She recalled: "Lu mentioned that there were jobs for women in the nearby city Yichun".
Lin's face turned red because of excitement and she could hear her heartbeat: "Yes, I should go to Yichun. I will find a job in Yichun and lead my own life there! " "But how about Mom?"Her face turned back to pale and another voice was heard in her mind, "Who will take care of Mom? I will miss Mom very much. If I escaped from home, father would blame on her and beat her again..."
"Oh, Mom," Lin felt hopeless, hesitated, and painful again, "I don't want to hurt Mom...I don't want to get married...I have a lot of dreams I wanted to try and I even haven't really seen the outside world...God, please help me."
The Ending of the "Moment"
Lin walked to the window and stared at the light from her Mom's room. Everything around seemed frozen and there was no other sound heard except for her own heartbeat.
Finally, Lin walked back to her bed with the decision made. "I love you, Mom. But I have to pursue my freedom. I will save you out of the prison once I get settled," Lin muttered to herself.
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The Ending Scene
The next morning, before the dawn came out, a girl sneaked out of a big house and walked towards the mountains faced by the village. On the other side of the mountains, there was a city called Yichun. The girl started to climb the first mountain. The sun was rising. Bright sunshine started to cover the peaks. The girl’s face became as rosy as the dawn. She continued climbing, without even one glimpse of the house in the back which was becoming farther and farther.
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