Summary

This well-known short story is set in a rural school in Communist China, where the children live for the term. Our attention is focused on the class of five and six-year-olds beginning the second week of school. Shaona, the young protagonist of the story, is homesick. Her mother gave birth to a baby boy shortly before Shaona was sent to school and she is confused by the sequence of events.

The story opens as the children nap on cots. It has been difficult for Shaona to adjust to sleeping alone, having shared a bed with her entire family for her whole life. Shaona overhears Teacher Shen talking on the telephone. Teacher Shen is trying to get a doctor to wait one more month for payment. The reader learns quickly that Teacher Shen has an elderly mother at home, little money and...