Character Analysis: Iron And Silk

The movie Iron and silk tells the story of an American boy, Mark Salzmin, who takes a trip to China to be an English teacher. As he tries to master the art of teaching, girls, Chinese culture, and Wu Shu finds many opportunities to learn valuable lessons. Each problem he faces at first seems to be hard as iron and each person he meets has a sort of tough, iron-like exterior. However, in the end, Mark learns that deep down the people he meets are more like silk, they care for him and want what is best for him. They all desire to teach Mark a lesson in Chinese culture. Throughout the book Mark meets three people that teach him valuable lessons. All three relationships, combined with the obstacles mark overcame while in china, taught him the importance …show more content…
Mark came to China with past experience in martial arts back in America. Mark loved old Chinese kung fu movies and greatly desired to learn from a martial arts teacher in China. At first, Teacher Pan refused with iron sternness to teach Mark the art of Wu Shu, but Mark learned the lesson of eating bitter and continued to insist on being taught. After Teacher Pan allowed him to become his student, Mark had to practice persistence in each new move he was taught. Mark learned from teacher pan the lesson of no pain, no gain. Due to this lesson, mark slowly began to master each lesson of Wu Shu. The key lesson that teacher Pan showed Mark was the importance of teacher student relationships. Unaware of the lifelong commitment to one individual teacher, Mark also began learning a different form of martial arts from Teacher Hei. When teacher pan discovered this he quickly abandoned teaching Mark because he felt betrayed by Mark, an American student who he risked so much for. In the end Teacher Pan forgave Mark and sent hm back to America to teach his own students. It was this conflict that taught Mark the importance of the lifelong teacher-student relationship in Chinese