The Conversion of Sum Loo is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in '' Library'' in August 1900.

Plot summary

After his first wife dies without giving him the progeny his recently deceased father strongly wished him to have, Sum Chin, who grew up in China and now lives in San Francisco, decides to marry the daughter of a friend he had in China. They have a child together, Sum Wing, and baptise him. The child dies, and Sum Chin becomes very mournful; this was his last chance of living up to his patronym. His wife also keeps away from other people. Once, Sister Hannah follows her into a joss house and sees her tear away pages from the Bible.

Characters

*Sum Chin, a trader of '

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

bronzes and bric-a-brac in San Francisco'. He grew up in Nanjing, where he liked to read Chinese literature. *Sum Loo, Sum Chin's wife. *Sister Hannah *Norman Girrard, a theological student at the Mission of the Heavenly Rest. He liked to do

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

drawings in his youth. Later, he took to drinking

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historical ...

and doing profane paintings. *Te Wing, a 'purchasing agent' from

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

. He is Sum Loo's father. *Sum Wing, Sum Chin and Loo's child, who dies soon after being baptised.

Literary significance and criticism

''The Conversion of Sum Loo'' is a rewriting of Cather's earlier story, '' A Son of the Celestial''.Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, 'Introduction' by Mildred R. Bennett, page xxxv

References

External links

''Full Text''
at th
''Willa Cather Archive''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conversion of Sum Loo 1900 short stories Short stories by Willa Cather Works originally published in Library (journal)