Class 12 English Short Story My Old Home

Lu Xun’s Class 12 English Short Story My Old Home tells the poignant story of one’s memories, tracing the journey from youth to old age, and the harsh confrontation of the delusions created when cherished memories challenge stark realities. With the protagonist, acting as Lu Xun’s persona, having been away from home for so many years, images of glamour, beauty, and respectability framed his childhood, drastically diluting his memories. Upon arriving at his long-past home, his memories are brutally forced to come to terms with the truth, thereby shattering his prior conceptions and understandings of the world.

“Ah! Surely this was not the old home I had remembered for the past twenty years?” the narrator declared as he stood in front of an old, broken-down home. Having been worn down by harsh weather and impoverished inhabitants alike, the house’s old, perceived splendor was entirely invisible to the eye, only to be seen in that of the mind. Rationalizing the painful discrepancy between memory and the decaying structure standing before him, he tried to convince himself that his “home had always been like this, and although it had not improved, it was not so depressing as imagined; it was only his mood that had changed, because he was coming back to the country without illusions”. Despite his rationalization, it was abundantly clear that his memories had deceived him; having transformed his past home into a grand building it had never truly been, only to be torn down for re-evaluation along with his other assumed childhood memories that had been built into magnificent illusions.

After recovering from the initial shock of seeing his old home, he was informed that his old childhood friend, Jun-Tu (Runtu), would be returning to town to visit him. Over thirty years had passed since the narrator had last seen his friend, and at first, memories were scarce. After pausing for a moment, “a strange picture suddenly flashed into his mind”. Stories, ripe from the passing of time, filled the narrator’s mind. He was full from the fleshy, nostalgic details he recalled, from the glory of his friend’s sea-side childhood. Oh, how he wished he could be Jun-Tu. His memories were like candy, appealing to a child and idealized in every way, shape, and form. The narrator could no longer wait to reacquaint himself with Jun-Tu; he wanted to hear more of the sea-side glamour. Upon his long-awaited arrival, the narrator was flustered from anticipation. “Jun-Tu stood there, mixed joy and sadness showing on his face. His lips moved, but not a sound did he utter. Finally, assuming a respectful attitude, he said clearly: ‘Master! . . .'” The narrator’s memories had deceived him once again. Had Jun-Tu not been his best friend? Had they not played together as equals and shared stories with one another? As a child, the narrator was entirely unable to understand class differentiation. He remembered, due to his childhood naivety, that his time with Jun-Tu was that of a mutual, equal friendship. This memory grew until it reached utopian standards. Their friendship had been perfect, he had believed.

The narrator’s childhood illusion was permanently shattered. His house was not as grand as it had seemed. Jun-Tu had never even been his true equal, living a glorified, sea-side life. Memories had deceived the narrator, blurring the truth, ignoring rigid class boundaries, and forgetting the absolute power money possessed in Chinese society. How such a massive divide could form between himself and Jun-Tu, between memories and truth, was unfathomable to the narrator. The true fickleness of one’s mind and one’s memories, of one’s past, became starkly apparent. One cannot blindly trust one’s recollections of the past. The mind actively changes the past, glorifying it, in order to glorify the individual. By seeing himself as Jun-Tu’s equal, the narrator was subconsciously able to separate himself from the social wrongs associated with class differences. His having to face the stark truth, having to face the broken Jun-Tu, meant having to face the devastating poverty within China. His memories had provided a psychological means of protection, a way to detach himself from the vast inequalities Chinese society produced. Only by directly confronting his memories, by discovering the tragic truth behind the illusions, was he finally able to see the harsh realities of China.

The vast economic gap in the friendship between Xun and Runtu heavily reminds Hindu readers of the famous mythological friendship between Lord Krishna and Sudama. The friendship between Krishna and Sudama is beautifully described in the Mahabharata epic. The story illustrates that true friendship doesn’t cost anything but a good heart. Similarly, Class 12 English Short Story My Old Home resembles the moral foundation of true, innocent friendship. There are many stark similarities between the friendship of Xun and Runtu compared to Krishna and Sudama.

The mythological examples and similarities include:

By both stories, we get to learn the hard reality of class, but also that pure childhood friendship is not originally about wealth, status, or fame. True friendship is conducted with a good heart, though in Xun’s case, societal rules tragically forced a permanent psychological wedge between them.

The poignant story of ‘My Old Home’ strongly supports the proposition that the relationships of early childhood are highly innocent, completely impartial, and beautifully disinterested in wealth by showing the unburdened flashback friendship between young Xun and young Runtu. We all know that young children are incredibly natural and innocent. They don’t know the complex adult meanings of life or death, deep social hatred, or strict societal boundaries. They don’t know what is legally rich and what is poor, or which is upper-class and which is lower-class. Children make friends purely for companionship, not for the sake of future profit. The friendship in childhood is pure, and they are mutually helpful. However, as they grow, different social boundaries, economics, and greed tear them apart.

In the story, the flashback friendship between Xun and Runtu is beautifully shown. Even though young Xun is from a wealthy landlord family and young Runtu is a part-time servant’s son, their friendship is incredibly strong. They used to play, hunt, and enjoy the wonders of nature together as absolute equals. However, adult reality crushes this. Yet, the story still shows a gesture of that past purity: when Runtu is suffering from poverty and needs help, Xun does not turn him away but helps him by providing physical household goods to make his life a little easier. Therefore, their uncorrupted past memories serve as the ultimate example that childhood relations are purely innocent and impartial before society ruins them.

The story ‘My Old Home’ is deeply embedded in the contemporary society of early 20th-century China, providing a stark, critical vision of the collapsing ancient Chinese social and economic systems. The narrator narrates the harsh geographical features, the rigid types of classes, and the tragedy of poverty in this story. The two main characters, Xun and Runtu, are portrayed as an educated elite and a broken peasant to clearly indicate the massive economic divergence in that society.

After reading the story, several grim assumptions can be made about the contemporary Chinese economy and social systems:

The story shows the main occupation of the vast majority of people in ancient Chinese society was subsistence agriculture. Thus, the economy and income of people associated with agricultural activities were extremely low and fragile. They were making their basic life impossibly hard, completely unable to even fill their family’s stomachs due to bad harvests and taxes. Thus, the poor, failing economic condition of rural Chinese society is shown as a main thematic agenda of the story.

Alongside the economy, the story highlights the deeply prejudiced social classes. Society was ruthlessly divided into two main classes: the rich gentry/upper class and the poor peasant/lower class. The widespread tradition of servitude was normalized as poor people had no other way to survive. Servants were classified into strict hierarchies like year-longs, short-timers, and busy-mothers. Crucially, people of one class weren’t socially allowed to make equal, respectful relations with those of lower classes (as shown when Runtu calls his old friend “Master”). This brilliantly exposes a redundant, narrow-minded, and highly oppressive society crippled by inhuman social boundaries and severe discrimination.

The setup of the Class 12 English Short Story My Old Home takes place in the bleak winter season of around 1921 in rural China. The narrator nostalgically and then realistically narrates the geographical and environmental features of his hometown, contrasting memory with reality.

In his idealized childhood memories, his hometown was incredibly lovely, vibrant, and surrounded by lush greenery where a beautiful “green sky” laid above. The story especially focuses on the romanticized seaside geography of his hometown that was underneath a deep blue-black sky and land covered with rich green grasses and thriving vegetables. The birds used to fly freely around his garden and house, and the geography felt magical and expansive.

But now, the reality of the geography is incredibly depressing. When Xun went back to his old hometown after twenty years, the environment was physically and economically degraded. The vibrant green sky he used to see and wonder at was replaced by a vast, greying, and oppressive winter sky where no joyful imagination was possible. The lands and houses looked like they had already lost the resemblance of any life; they were drab, broken-down, and desolate. There is absolutely no sign of geographical or infrastructural progress over the years, mirroring the hopeless economic stagnation of the people living there.