Daniel Silverio
English 1B
Susan Zeisler
April 5, 2015
Love in the Air In Ha Jin’s story, “Love in the Air”, Kang is an isolated telegraph operator in a military base. Overwhelmed by his job, Kang easily falls in love with a female telegraph operator. The mystery women’s voice drives Kang crazy, making his nights sleepless and his days full of anxiety. He becomes infatuated with the mystery of what she might look like, and he even imagines a life with her. During the day, Kang can’t focus, he’s afraid this may lead to someone finding out about his love for this mysterious woman. The presence of her in his life drives him to the edge and as bad as he wants to free his mind of her; he can’t, due to his isolation. Kang finally decides to tell…show more content… When Kang hears Lilli’s voice for the first time he’s astonished, as if he had never heard a women’s voice before. He could not believe that a woman had called him; he was at a loss for words. Ha Jing writes, “Kang paused with surprise, his heart kicking and his throat tightening. Who could imagine a woman would call you on the border at night?” (Jin 836). This shows us how socially isolated Kang was, I’m sure when working on a military base it was rare to see any women around. Not being exposed to any women for a long time made Kang vulnerable to fall in love, especially with a woman who sounded so pleasant, even if he had never met her before in his life. His heart was wide open for cupid to take a shot, and he didn’t miss. According to research at the University of Chicago, The brains of lonely people react differently to those with strong social networks (Edmonds). Kang’s loneliness and isolation made it harder for him to resist the thought of this woman. He was stuck on her and there was no way out. Jin writes, “The voice spoke to Kang again and again. He shut his eyes tight; he shook his head many times in order to get rid of her and got to sleep, but it was no use. She was so close to him, as if sitting right beside his bed in the dark, whispering and