A Deconstructive reading of Dreaming in the Shanghai Restaurant by D. J. Enright

1. A Deconstructive reading of “Dreaming in the Shanghai Restaurant” by D. J. Enright
Mehdi Hassanian esfahani (GS22456)
Literary Theory (BBL 5201)
Dr. Edwin Vethamani
Dreaming in the Shanghai Restaurant narrates the feelings of a persona, who looks upon a
man in a Shanghai restaurant, regrets his/her own life and envies the Chinese man. The
poem starts with “I would like to be the elderly Chinese gentleman” and continues by
depicting the man, his family and his lifestyle from the point of view of the persona. We
have no clue or direct description of the persona, but his/her devouringly look upon the
Chinese man makes us conclude that his/her life lacks what he/she finds and envies in the
Chinese man’s life.
Persona is sensitive to details of Chinese man’s dressing and even to his table-clothe,
to see whether it is dirty, “to signify a lack of manners” or not. But he/she is apparently
more concerned about his family. Persona thinks that he has a happy family, a “handsome”
wife, children and grandchildren who open the door for him, and respect him. He envies the
man who has done his job successfully, and now his family is there, together, happy and
helpful.
The binary oppositions of this poem would consist of two columns. One to depict the
Chinese man and things related to him, such as his lifestyle, and the other to belong to the
persona, and his/her related issues (which can be assumed by his/her envy of Chinese man).
Something like:
Persona Subject (Chinese man)
Alone With a family
Likes and needs to be respected Respected by his family
Looks and envies Lives his life
We don’t know about the social class He is a gentleman
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2. Rich enough to wear a gold watch
Probably not too rich
with a gold bracelet
Has a handsome wife, who satisfies
Feels miserably lonely him, and he is not thinking about the
pretty waitress.
… …
But there is a change in the last lines on the poem. So far, persona envies what the
Chinese man is, but talking about his life, persona says:
[To the Chinese man]
It has been a satisfying evening. Tomorrow
Will be a satisfying morning. In between he will sleep
satisfactory.
I guess that for him it is peace in his time.
It would be agreeable to be this Chinese gentleman.
Persona guesses that he has a peaceful life; therefore he/she doesn’t claim that
he/she wants to be this Chinese man. This paradoxical description of Chinese man seems
puzzling at the surface, but leads to a deeper interpretation as well. The verb “guess”
signifies doubt. It shrinks the absolute image of a prosper man. And the phrase “it would be
agreeable” signifies the indifferent persona who is not eager to be someone else as he/she
was before. Surprisingly, the persona may have recognized that people are always more
beautiful when it is a party, and you look at their lives as a stranger, but every single man
has and should have his own difficulties. Even if the man seems to be rich, with a family and
respected, it never means that he has a peaceful life. The last lines of persona lead us to a
wisdom, which the persona may be unaware of. We do not know of the persona, whether
he/she has gained the knowledge or just said so unconsciously, but we know that this
paradox is the irony of life.
[2]