Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Torn Curtain
It ain't all hills and elephants, folks: the bamboo curtain also acts as a pretty heady symbol.
This beaded advertisement sets us up to think about partitions and separations—in fact, it mirrors the partition/separation between the two characters in the story. The American man and Jig are divided on the issue of abortion, their future, and the nature of happiness—in other words, something is hanging between the two of them.
Because Jig wants the baby and the American doesn’t, the pregnancy itself acts as a "curtain" between them, through which only simple things (like what they want to drink) can be communicated clearly. In fact, by the end of the story the "curtain" between the man and Jig seems to have turned into a veritable wall.
But let’s backtrack a little and look at where the first curtain appears. It's first mentioned in the opening paragraph of the story:
Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. (1)
At this moment we anticipate going through the curtain to the inside of the bar, but the narrator pulls us back to the table outside the bar. Right away we have this feeling of being kept out; stuck outside with the flies.
And not only are we being kept on outside the bar curtain, but we're also being kept outside of figurative curtain that blocks communication between Jig and the American. We're not privy to the interior thoughts of these two characters—instead the narrative keeps us solidly on the outside. We're privy to only what is being said between the two of them, and not what they're feeling or how they're reacting. (Outside with the flies once again, it seems.)
Of course, we're not the only ones having trouble deciphering the communication of the not-so-loving couple:
The girl looked at the bead curtain. "They've painted something on it," she said. "What does it say?" (13)
Much as she can't read the writing on the physical bead curtain—both because the curtain is in motion and because the sign is written in a foreign language—the couple can't communicate. Their words, although spoken in a shared language, are lost in translation.