The Conversion of Sum Loo
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The Conversion of Sum Loo is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Library in August 1900[1].
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[edit] Plot summary
Sum Chin, who grew up in China and now lives in San Francisco, decided to get married to the daughter of a friend of his from China after his first wife died without giving him progeny, which his recently late father would have objected to. They have a child together, Sum Wing, and get his baptised. The child dies, and Sum Chin becomes very mournful; this was his last chance of living up to his patronym. His wife also keeps away from other people. Once Sister Hannah follows her into a joss house and sees her tear away pages from the Bible.
[edit] Characters
- Sum Chin, a trader of 'Chinese bronzes and bric-a-brac in San Francisco'. He grew up in Nanjing, where he likes to read Chinese literature.
- Sum Loo, Sum Chin's wife.
- Sister Hannah
- Norman Girrard, a theological student at the Mission of the Heavenly Rest. He likes to do charcoal drawings in his youth. Later, he took to drinking absinthe and doing profane paintings.
- Te Wing, a 'purchasing agent' from Canton. He is Sum Loo's father.
- Sum Wing, Sum Chin and Loo's child, who dies soon after getting baptised.
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
The Conversion of Sum Loo is a rewriting of A Son of the Celestial[2].
