Chapter 4, Other Cultures, Other Continents Summary and Analysis

In chapter four the author begins by looking at Ivan Turgenev, a Russian writer and his essay "The Execution of Tropmann." Turgenev watches the execution of a man, Tropmann, who is put to death January 19, 1870, for killing his wife and their six children. In this story Turgeneve talks about the crowds and the death of the man. Turgeneve discusses the importance of the subject of capital punishment and voices that there should be an end to Public executions. Turgeneve is raised watching his mother's harsh treatment of all of those around her. It is said that this may have been a source of the views that Turgenev had on how servants were to be treated.

Lu Hsun, 1881-1936, is called the greatest modern Chinese writer. Hsun's father is sick when Hsun is a...