Starry River of the Sky

Although the truth of both Rendi and Madam Chang’s pasts is still shrouded in mystery, these early chapters waste no time in introducing the recurring theme of Storytelling as a Self-Portrait, for Madam Chang establishes herself as a master storyteller. Additionally, her first few tales introduce an element of magic into the narrative, for each installment draws upon the richly populated world of Chinese mythology. Even Rendi’s own history takes on new life in story form, for he relates aspects of his own background through stories that he passes off as fiction. Combined with passages that grant brief glimpses into his memories, this pattern of storytelling reveals much that is hidden about the overall plot and injects an element of foreshadowing that will only become evident as the story unfolds. Rendi is the son of a wealthy magistrate, and prior to the book’s opening, he ran away from home when he realized that his father didn’t care about him or the rest of their family. This incident has made Rendi bitter and angry, and throughout his time in the village, he takes out his frustrations on all the people around him. During his tenure at the inn, Rendi eventually comes to terms with his past and learns to embrace the possibilities of his future, and in the long view, this process highlights both The Destructive Power of Anger and The Importance of Forgiveness. As a counterpoint to this internal conflict, Peiyi’s family provides a foil for Rendi’s own family situation. Whereas Rendi tries to solve his problems by leaving home, Peiyi and her father struggle to accept the fact that certain people have left them—specifically, the innkeeper’s son, Jiming, and Peiyi’s mother. Altogether, these journeys represent the found-family aspect of The Importance of Forgiveness by demonstrating that people often fill the holes in their hearts with other people who come to be just as important.

Starry River of the Sky is heavily steeped in Chinese mythology, as seen through Lin’s presentation of the various characters and the stories they tell. In a prime example of using Storytelling as a Self-Portrait Madam Chang uses her stories to reveal hints of her hidden identity as the Moon Lady, the wife of the brave man from her stories. Similarly, Mr. Shan (who is eventually revealed to be the missing mountain spirit) is cast as the wise sage who plays an important guiding role throughout her tales. In Chinese mythology, the moon goddess is named Chang’e (originally Heng’e), and as Lin details in the novel, she is also the wife of the great archer who shoots down the ten suns (six suns in the novel). She is mentioned in conjunction with a rabbit and resides in a grand moon palace, and as the story progresses, Lin makes it a point to borrow and incorporate these details into the novel. Chinese mythology contains several prominent mountain spirits and deities, but rather embodying an exact match for any of them, Mr. Shan represents the concept of Xian—immortal beings who have obtained a connection to the gods and the heavenly realms. Xian may reach this point either through recognition from others or through study, and Mr. Shan achieved both, as evidenced by his great book of wisdom and the reverence of the villagers, who respect him for his boundless knowledge.

The feud between Peiyi’s family and their neighbors represents another example of The Destructive Power of Anger. Long before the events that form the primary plot of the book, the two families threw snails into one another’s gardens, a petty transgression about which they feel resentment to this day. Jiming and the neighbor’s daughter secretly break pattern of the feud when he helps her to search for the lost jade bracelet, and this collaborative act shows that anger loses its meaning over time. Both children know of the events that initially led to the feud between their families, but those events mean nothing when they work together to search for the bracelet. As the two grow older, their friendship blossoms into love, and when their parents discover this, the old anger flares anew, ripping Peiyi’s family asunder. Instead of listening and talking, the innkeeper becomes angry that his son has dared to fall in love with the girl next door, and this leads to Jiming’s departure from the inn, which in turn leads to Peiyi’s sorrow and her ongoing fear that people will leave her. Just as anger is destroying Peiyi’s family, it also has greater consequences for those who are not even involved in the argument; thus, the effects of the long-standing feud demonstrate that angry actions often have unforeseen consequences.

The wailing that Rendi hears at night is closely tied to the supernatural elements of the novel, to the destruction of Peiyi’s family, and to his own character development. It is later revealed that the wailing is Jiming, for the moon he swallowed causes him unbearable pain at night. At this point in the novel, however, Rendi has no knowledge of these things; he knows only that the wailing affects him differently than it does everyone else, and he doesn’t understand why he hears it so starkly when others do not. This difference foreshadows Rendi’s impending discoveries about himself (particularly the realization that he truly wishes to return to his family), as well as the convoluted events surrounding the mountain’s disappearance and the moon’s fall from the sky. The toad that Rendi discovers in Chapters 8 and 9 also foreshadows his later adventures, specifically his discovery of Jiming in toad form, and the fact that the toad’s cries match the nighttime wails shows that Rendi is not yet ready to seek the truth. This is clearly demonstrated when he only grows angry at the reminder, and his resistance makes him unable to find a connection between the sounds.