Cody Santana

12/6/20

Class Number: Eng 2001-0525

Word Count: 1,279

 

                                              “The Tale of Gachin, Born again”

 

                     

 

                               In this essay I will be taking a detailed look into the story called “A Good Fall” by Ha Jin. This story is a part of a collection of stories written by Ha Jin that takes place in New York City and tells the stories of Chinese immigrants trying to find their way in this new life of theirs far away from the home they were once used to. In this particular story we will be taking a deep look at the character known as Gachin and his struggles in America. We will be paying the most attention to the way he lives his life, more specifically his ethics. Everyone in life in one way or another lives by a certain moral compass whether it’s gained through family, or taught through a religious belief, or even just gained from personal experiences you have gone through in your life. No matter what we all stand by some kind of ethic code that for whatever reason we have a hard time breaking. In Gachin’s case his moral code comes through being a monk and living that way for a majority of his life. Right from the beginning of the story Gachin loses his job and he is no longer a legal United States citizen and is forced to somehow find a way to survive while not having any money in hand. Through this what was once his reality is now broken and he has to now pick up the pieces and find a way to salvage what has been taken from him. Because of these recent events he is confronted with choices that go against himself and the way of life he has been living as a monk his entire life. Through breaking down this story we will be asking ourselves a few questions. What ethics does Gachin’s character follow? What does Gachin do to keep his moral code in check? And finally what becomes of Gachin’s character by the end of the story and how does he get there? In order to find the answers to these questions we must first get a better understanding of who Gachin is as a person and how he got to where he is now in the story.

 

                         In the story “A Good Fall” we start off with Gachin teaching his Kung Fu class and ends the class early as he is hit by a student during a sparring session, he gets up very slowly and looks to be in a lot of pain as shown through the concerned looks of the students as they watch him get up. This tells us that Gachin isn’t exactly young however we do not know how old he is exactly, we can only assume he’s not in the best shape. After this event his boss calls him into his room to speak with him, he informs Gachin that he can no longer work there because his visa has expired and is no longer a legal citizen, along with this he informs Gachin that he can not pay the money that is owed to him which put Gachin in a very tough situation. Now not only is he not a legal U.S Citizen he can no longer go back to his home country because all that money he worked for is down the drain, at this point in the story it is all about survival. He has to find a way to get food, a roof over his head, and a way to deal with his citizenship problem. Before we get into his obstacles we must first discuss what kind of ethics Gachin’s character fits in order to understand his mindset throughout his journey within the story. I believe Gachin fits within virtue ethics. What exactly is virtue ethics? This type of ethics is one where a person addresses the kind of person they should be, and this is usually taught to them through religion, family, or usually a mix of both. Virtue ethics is something that is practiced by a person for upwards of several years just like in Gachin’s case who was brought up as a monk, so a lot of his beliefs are based on his upbringing and have a huge impact within this story. 

 

                   So now that we have stated what kind of ethic belief Gachin follows we can now talk about why it is that I believe he follows virtue ethics using evidence shown through the story. Firstly we know the kind of predicament he is currently in and how he got there, but now let’s talk about the actions and choices he has made and how his morality changes by the end of the story. Right after Gachin gets told the bad news he ends up calling up an old student of his named Cindy who is an American Born Chinese, ever since reuniting with this student she would invite him out to have tea with him and was always around, and he now brings up these current events with her and she subtly brings up the idea of marrying him to make him a legal citizen again, he at this point in the story denies this because he as a monk cannot get married, it is just something that is not possible for him. On top of this he also runs into an old friend from his country who also provides for him a roof over his head and food on top of that, and at first he denies a lot of the food presented to him because he is vegan and what the friend was offering was meat and things of that sort, but over time he begins to forsake veganism just to survive. It is at this point in the story that he starts to change just a little bit and he slowly realizes that in order to survive he may have to change. Later in the story everything comes to a head when he feels he can’t handle his life anymore and attempts to end his life by jumping off of a roof. Once he attempts to jump he lands on the floor on his feet still alive, but in a lot of pain, he by some miracle cheated death. He was taken to a hospital and kept for a few days before being released, new spread all over the Chinese-American community and even made it onto local news papers.This helped for him to get in contact with a lawyer who would be able to help him with his case, and at the end of the story he is with the lawyer and with cindy, the lawyer states ti Gachin “Now there’ll be ways to avoid deportation, you can apply for political asylum, or marry a citizen” and Gachin responds with “I guess i am not a monk anymore” and looks over to cindy and smiles.

 

                  Now let’s talk about how the story shows how Gachin changes, in the beginning of the story he is very adamant about changing his ways to survive, he avoids dating a girl, and eating meat in order to survive his current situation, and through this he eventually comes to a decision to end his own life, and through this he comes to a realization that there are people around him who truly want to help him and by the end of the story he is very willing to take this help and not only that, but forsake being a monk to live the way he wants to. By the end of the story he chooses the path to live a life that he wants to live rather than living as a monk.