The Old Man Was Still There

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The Old Man Was Still There
The essay titled “The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore” by Kellie Schmitt is an emotionally charged narrative piece that discusses isolation, grief and acceptance. The author writes about her experience living in a place where no one acknowledged her. The turning point comes halfway into the essay when she discovers the neighbor’s grief stricken. She makes a gesture to show the family emotional support and is immediately accepted by the family. In this essay Kellie Schmitt sent the reader on an emotional journey from isolation, grief and ultimately acceptance that brought her out of a cultural divide.
In this essay the author mentioned the expectations that she had when her family relocated to Shanghai, China, and the …show more content…
This was the beginning of the change. We learned that when she tells us about coming home from her trip back to America, “…when I returned home from Christmas vacation with two heavy suitcases, the burly second floor mom helped me lug them up the steep wooden floors” (Schmitt 108). She had made them brownies to show her gratitude to them and the grandfather had smiled at her. One day she and her husband were in the hallway and they had seen the neighbor family crying. They took it upon themselves to call the lady who came to clean the building, during this phone call the author was informed that the “old man isn’t there anymore.” (Schmitt 107). She had taken it upon herself to buy several red roses to give to the family on the second floor to show them her condolences. The family had invited her into the house for the first and graciously accepted the roses from her. They invited her to the funeral and kept trying to persuade her by telling her, “…everyone who attends will also live a long life.” (Schmitt 110). At the end of this section of the essay she discloses that she had passed the old man whom she thought had passed away and realized she had no idea who the man was that had passed
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