Kellie Schmitt's 'The Old Man Isn T There Anymore'

Kellie Schmitt, a traveling journalist, wrote “The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore” after spending some time in China. Schmitt’s story puts into narration an experience she encountered as a foreigner in China, due to the language barrier and cultural differences. Kellie Schmitt’s well-written narrative of her experience in China was captivating and relatable.

“The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore” is a well-written, captivating story that keeps the reader engaged throughout the narrative. The story begins with Schmitt acknowledging she “found [herself] in a Chinese funeral parlor” (Schmitt 107). At the very beginning of the narrative, this phrase captivates the reader’s attention and leaves the reader wanting to know more about how Schmitt got herself

For example, Kellie Schmitt describes one of her Chinese neighbors as a “burly second-floor mom” (Schmitt 108) and another neighbor as “one of the underwear men” (Schmitt 108). Later in the narrative, Schmitt expresses her vivid thoughts and memories of a Chinese funeral experience she observed. Her initial description of the foreign experience was of “trumpets and saxophones... a little off-key, punctuated with a clash of cymbals” (Schmitt 110). Schmitt describes the “mounds of flowers” (Schmitt 111) that surrounded the dead Chinese man, and she mentions how the man “looked much older than [she] remembered” (Schmitt 111). That realization is a foreshadowing of the surprising twist at the end of the narrative.

Schmitt ends the vivid description of the Chinese funeral experience by speaking of the crematorium. In her narrative, she “walked down a hallway past orange plastic chairs and crammed, elbow to elbow, into a small room... This was the last chance to say goodbye before plunging grandpa into the depths” (Schmitt 111). She admits that she felt “uneasy... as [she] watched the staff send grandpa into the fire” (Schmitt 111) although cremation was extremely common with Chinese

Schmitt narrates in a fascinating and descriptive way wherein her readers feel as if they are experiencing her circumstances with her. At the beginning of the narrative, the reader can relate to Schmitt’s challenge in getting to know her new neighbors, especially with the challenging language barrier. Schmitt speaks of how she is “persistence... repeatedly [trying] to engage [her neighbors], saying hello at every encounter” (Schmitt 108). The readers continue to relate to Schmitt’s struggle to understand a new culture with the following scenarios: Schmitt offers her neighbor brownies, only to have it occur to her “that Chinese traditionally don’t like excessively sweet Western desserts” (Schmitt), and when Schmitt arrives at her neighbor’s home with a basket of red roses to offer her sympathy for their mourning, she regretfully realizes