Struggles in Society

Struggles in Society In the short story, The Golden Kite and Silver Wind by Ray Bradbury, we are exposed to the issues concerning competition between mankind. When locked in deadly competition, we feel the need to always be one step ahead. As people, we want to win and out show our enemies, which can create more issues. In reality, it is usually much more efficient to combine forces and work together to eliminate the problem. This concept is demonstrated perfectly in The Golden Kite and Silver Wind. The two rulers of each village are constantly trying to build a better city wall than each other. By doing so, the citizens and builders are faced with poverty, hunger, and overall weakness. The production is slower, people more hungry, supplies more limited, and the conflict of having a better wall is still alive. When one analyzes this situation, one realizes neither force is stronger nor winning and both are actually creating more of a difficulty. By uniting forces, it improves both civilization’s quality of life and ceases the need to always fight. The mandarin’s daughter realizes this and decides to teach the rulers of both villages to apply this to their ongoing quarrel of city-walls. Instead of competing, she has one village be a “silver wind” and another village be “golden kite”. Both symbols complement each other and help solve the problems. By coming together, the walls no longer need to be habitually remodeled in order to stay ahead. This tale is Bradbury’s way of hinting at the faults of the human need of being selfish and always needing to win. We feel the need to overlook reasonability and do anything to go ahead. More often than not, this results in a dilemma and more troubles arise. The daughter stops and thinks, which is what society needs to do more often. The rulers symbolize societies in history fighting for power. Bradbury’s tale signifies to us that winning isn’t always beating competition, but sometimes, winning is working