What are the themes highlighted in the story - The Chinese Statue by Jeffrey Archer?
Answers
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The Chinese Statue is the first among twelve short stories published by Jeffrey Archer in his book A Quiver Full of Arrows.
The story is about a statuette that has its origin in the Ming Dynasty in China. In the story, the statuette is in London and is brought there by Sir Alexander. It is a part of the family property for generations and is taken care of safely and with full glory by his heirs, army officers, and civil servants.
However, the latest descendant Sir Alexander Heathcote falls on bad time due to his extravagant lifestyle and gambling.
With no other option to pay off his debts, he decides to sell the Chinese statue. It is at this point of time that he discovers the statue is fake.
Totally dejected, he contemplates committing suicide when he realizes that the base is genuine. He makes use of this fact and sells the statue to earn nearly twenty thousand guineas.
Answer:
The main themes of the story are appearance versus reality, the love of art, respect towards the customs & traditions and desire to own the exotics. Appearance versus reality is shown in how the Chinese statue which was thought to be an original piece of art and regarded with such high esteem turned out to be fake. On the other hand, the base of the statue which the craftsman set so casually proved to be an original piece of art worth twenty-two thousand guineas. Love for art is seen in every prominent character – Alexander Heathcote, Yung Lee and the narrator.
Explanation:
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