USING THE WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTIONS IN BUCK’S SELECTED NOVELS THE GOOD EARTH, THE MOTHER AND IMPERIAL WOMAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AFRILLA NITA SARY
Student Number: 034214129
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2007
“SUCCESS IS THE ABILITY TO GO FROM ONE FAILURE
TO ANOTHER WITH NO LOSS OF
ENTHUSIASM”
(WINSTON CHURCHILL)
For
My Beloved Parents, Brothers, and Jo
in the Hope of a Better Future
I thank Allah SWT for his greatest mercy and guidance that I always feel in every step I take, especially in my desperation during the completion of the thesis.
My deepest thanks and gratitude is to my lovely parents Mr. and Mrs. Baroes, who always believe in me and give me the best wishes in gaining my hope through their prayers. My deepest thanks and gratitude is to my lovely brothers Sandy Baroes and Kiky Baroes who always encourage me in achieving my dreams. May they know that I always have them in my heart.
For my dearest, Jo, I dedicate this thesis to you. You have always been there to love and to support me no matter what I am going through. Thank you for the love, strength, and faith. I love you, baby.
My deepest thanks is for Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S.M.A. (Hons), my major sponsor for her patience and understanding of my difficulties, who always gives me guidance, encouragement, and big attention from the beginning until this thesis is completed. Without her assistance this thesis would not have been completed.
I would also like to express my gratitude to other lecturing member of English Study Programme Father Dr. Hary Susanto, S. J, for teaching me how to think critically. I would also thank the rest of the lecturers for their guidance.
Sincere appreciation is extended to all my friends of class D. we have always been together since the first semester. Let’s finish the thesis and achieve our dreams since the thesis is the thing standing between us and the future. Thanks for the friendship, guys, I love you all. And for Abit, thanks for the pdf.
TITLE PAGE ………i
B. Review of Related Theories ………..16
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ………..16
2. Theory on Contributions ………...18
3. Theory on Stereotypes ………. 19
A. Personality and Contribution of the Characters ………...30
1.1. O-lan’s Personality ………...30
1.2. O-lan’s Contribution ………..36
2.1. The Mother’s Personality ………...39
2.2. The Mother’s Contribution ………...43
3.1. Yehonala’s Personality ………...46
3.2. Yehonala’s Contribution ………...52
B. The Stereotypes of Women ………...56
1. The Stereotypes of Women in The Good Earth ………...56
2. The Stereotypes of Women in The Mother ………...57
3. The Stereotypes of Women In Imperial Woman ………...57
C. Determining in What Way and Why ………...58
The Contribution Question the Stereotypes CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………..61
AFRILLA NITA SARY. Chinese Stereotypes of Women in Question Using the Women’s Contributions in Buck’s Selected Novels The Good Earth, The Mother,
and Imperial Woman. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of
English Letter, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
The thesis is meant to question or to argue against the Chinese stereotypesof women using the contribution of the major female character in Buck’s selected novels The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman, such stereotypes are proven to be wrong. O-lan in The Good Earth and the mother in The Mother have given significant contribution to their families, while Yehonala in Imperial woman has given big contribution to her kingdom.
There are three main problems that will be discussed in the thesis. The first problem is about the contribution of each female character based on their personality, the second is to reveal the stereotypes of women in the three novels under discussion, and the last problem is about in what way and why the contribution challenges the stereotypes.
In order to answer the three problems above, the theories of character and characterization, and reviews on 19th Century Chinese Society are employed. The approach used to conduct the study is the socio-cultural approach because this approach believes that a piece of literary work is the product of the civilization that produces it.
The female characters have contributed things showing that the stereotypes of women are wrong. O-lan has saved the family from starvation and poverty. Moreover, she has succeeded in continuing the family line, restoring her husband’s father’s health, helping her husband to achieve his dream and making her husband understand his son. The mother is the tough woman whose love and hard work have saved the family from falling apart. She takes over the responsibility which is supposed to be her husband’s responsibility well. She has succeeded in supporting the family alone and when her children become adults she marries them. Yehonala is the strong queen who has saved the dynasty from the western invasion, rebellion, and civil war. She is the one who knows how to deal with the western people, ends the T’ai P’ing Rebellion, and civil war. The contribution that these women have given is the tool for questioning the Chinese stereotypes portraying women as evil power, burden, stupid creatures, and unqualified leader. The contribution shows that women are human beings who can make difference, bring lots of positive things to others. It is very important to challenge the custom since it has made girls unwanted and even infanticide. Hopefully the contribution will end the female stereotypes of women in China.
AFRILLA NITA SARY
AFRILLA NITA SARY. Chinese Stereotypes in Question Using the Women’s Contibutions in Buck’s Selected Novels The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman. Yogyakarta: Fakultas Sastra, Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2007.
Tujuan dari skripsi ini adalah untuk mempertanyakan stereotip Cina yang memandang wanita sebelah mata. Dengan menggunakan tiga tokoh wanita utama yang diambil dari novel- novel karya Buck The Good Earth, The Mother, dan Imperial Woman, anggapan tersebut dicoba untuk ditepis dengan cara memperlihatkan sumbangan yang diberikan oleh ketiga wanita tesebut. O-lan, tokoh yang diambil dari The Good Earth dan sang ibu yang diambil dari The Mother telah memberikan banyak hal yang berarti bagi keluarga mereka, sedangkan Yehonala dari Imperial Woman telah banyak melakukan hal yang penting untuk kerajaan.
Ada tiga pokok permasalahan yang dibahas dalam skripsi ini yaitu, pertama mengenai apa yang dapat mereka sumbangkan dilihat dari penggambaran karakter setiap tokoh tersebu, kedua menemukan stereotip cina terhadap wanita, dan yang ketiga mengenai dalam hal apa dan mengapa stereotip cina mengenai wanita patut untuk dipertanyakan.
Teori mengenai tokoh dan penokohan dan juga ulasan-ulasan mengenai masyarakat Cina pada abad ke 19 digunakan untuk menjawab ketiga pokok permasalahan diatas. Skripsi ini menggunakan pendekatan socio-cultural historical karena pendekatan tersebut menyakini bahwa suatu karya sastra merupakan produk dari peradaban yang menghasilkannya.
Ketiga tokoh wanita diatas telah melakukan banyak hal positif yang menunjukkan bahwa pemikiran kuno Cina terhadap wanita adalah salah. O-lan telah menyelamatkan keluarganya dari kemiskinan dan kelaparan. Terlebih lagi dia telah berhasil melanjutkan garis keturunan keluarga, mengembalikan kesehatan ayah mertuanya, membantu suaminya dalam meraih impiannya. Sang ibu adalah seorang wanita kuat yang telah menyelamatkan keluarganya dari kehancuran berkat cinta dan kerja kerasnya. Dia berhasil mengambil tanggung jawab suaminya dengan baik. Dia menyokong keluarganya sendirian, berhasil membesarkan anak-anaknya dan ketika anak-anaknya telah dewasa dia menikahkan mereka. Tokoh terakhir Yehonala adalah seorang ratu yang hebat yang telah menyelamatkan kerajaannya dari penjajahan bangsa barat, pemberontakan, dan perang saudara. Dia mengetahui cara untuk menangani penjajahan bangsa barat, mengakhiri pemberontakan T’ai P’ing, dan anak yang dilahirkannya telah menyelamatkan kerajaan dari perang saudara. Sumbangan para wanita ini dalah alat yang digunakan untuk menentang stereotip Cina yang percaya bahwa wanita adalah jahat, beban, tolol, dan tak mampu memimpin. Sumbangan tersebut telah membuktikan bahwa wanita mampu memberikan banyak hal positif. Sangatlah penting untuk menentang stereotip tersebut karena membuat wanita tidak diinginkan bahkan dibunuh ketika masih bayi.
AFRILLA NITA SARY
A. Background of the Study
In 2006, Howard Husock, a New York Times journalist visited China in order to reveal the bitter truth concerning the single child policy in the country. Earlier, it was reported by the Hong Kong press that in 2005, a family-planning squad targeted the city of Linyi and its surrounding rural area in the Shandong Province, because the population had far exceeded the Party’s child quota. The agents kidnapped 17,000 women, forcing abortions on those who were pregnant—in some cases, immersing seven- to eight-month-old fetuses in boiling water—and sterilizing those who were not. The agents also tortured the Linyi men until they revealed the hiding places of their daughters and wives (www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_china.html).
Further, Hussock came up with a conclusion that the policy might have slashed China’s population growth, but the preferences for boys have led to widespread of female infanticide and gender imbalance on an unprecedented scale-120 boys are born for every 100 girls. If this continuously happens, there will be an inevitable source of teenage violence, as the boys compete for a limited number of available girls (www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_china.html).
Female infanticide was the distinctive characteristic of the ancient Chinese and to discover that the practice is still happening in the modern China is tragic. Does
not it occur to our minds that the practice may be the remains of the conservative tradition that should be abandoned? In the ancient time, it was true that males were always glorified.
The birth of a baby boy was a joy, a blessing from heaven given to the family. Therefore it was not a strange thing if they always received a shower of privileges even days after they were born, while baby girls had to endure unfair treatment as if being a girl were a sin.
In ancient times a female infant, on the third day after her birth was placed underneath her parents’ bed and given a spindle to play with. Meanwhile her father would fast and do penance. While a male baby will be placed on top of the parents’ bed with a piece of jade as his toy (Hughes & Hughes, 1995:175).
When girls had grown up, they were married and lived in their husbands’ houses. Besides doing domestic jobs, they also wove to clothe and to support the family. The money was very significant to ease the financial burden if the family is poor. However, still they were considered as trifle.
Women produced silk cloth, a very valuable product. Not only did they clothe their families, but they, as Meng Mu did, used it to obtain food. Before the Chinese used money, they purchased goods with bolts of silk cloth and paid part of a family’s taxes with silk………… Chinese women were expected to feed and clothe both the men and the women of their families, which was a substantial contribution to the household’s economy, not to mention the family income from their surplus weaving (Hughes & Hughes, 1995:179).
Chinese culture itself especially about the women within the culture that she wrote stories about them in her novels. Some of her novels dealing with it are The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman. The reason why I chose the three novels was because the stories focus more on women’s lives in 19th century. I decided to use the three novels instead of one because I want my argument not only to be based on one woman coming from a lower class family like O-lan and the mother, but also on another woman coming from a high class family like Yehonala. Briefly, I want to show that no matter how high a position of a woman, she still suffers from discrimination.
The Good Earth is not only a story of a hard-working peasant named Wanglung who is able to take his family out of poverty with the help of his wife, and what his hard work has done to him, but it is also about his relationships with his lands, wives, father, children, and his uncle’s family, and women issues. When we look at the novel more closely, we will see the novel as a real reflection of the way the Chinese lived their lives in the 19th century.
Finally, the third novel, Imperial Woman, deals with the life of an ordinary woman who becomes the last empress of China named Yehonala or Tzu Hsi. She is the only woman who is interested in the issues faced by the dynasty which her weak husband is ruling. In fact, she knows how to handle the issues much better than her sick husband. However, she cannot directly tell the parliament what to do because she is a woman. Therefore, she asks the emperor to give her permission to join the state meeting, and after that she can give him some advice of what to do next.
O-lan, the mother, and Yehonala have the similar traits of life. Their role is pretty much similar to each other no matter they come from lower or upper class. The novelist depicts the characters as people who never give up, and never avoid responsibilities. The depiction shows how the novelist truly admires the women which she considers as tough women.
It can be said that the women’s contributions in those three novels serve as an early challenge toward the Chinese stereotypes of women. It can also be said that the contributions of the women in the novel is a “wake up call” to all Chinese families so that they will stop killing baby girls.
Seeing the reality it can be referred that China’s single child policy is not the true key to overcome its enormous population growth. It will only lead the people particularly those who are still influenced by the old doctrine to commit more crime to newborn baby girls.
women having the roles in determining the fate of the families like O-lan and the mother, and the fate of the kingdom like Yehonala. O-lan and the mother’s touch to their families have saved them from hunger and poverty, while Yehonala’s touch to the kingdom has helped it hold on against the western invasion and rebellion.
The contributions of the women in the novels serve as an early challenge to the Chinese stereotypes of women. The fact that the novelist takes her character from the ordinary women like the women in The Good Earth and The Mother is a remarkable way to make people see that even in the smallest community which is family women are undoubtedly needed. Her depiction of the woman in Imperial woman leads perhaps not only the Chinese but the world to think that a woman can also be a hero and a great leader, looking at the character’s hard work to save her country from the western invasion.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What are the contributions of O-lan in The Good Earth, the mother in The Mother, and Yehonala in Imperial Woman based on their personalities? 2. What are the Chinese stereotypes of women found in the novels?
3. How do their contributions are a challenge to the Chinese stereotype of women?
C. Objectives of the Study
why their contributions serve as challenge toward the stereotypes believing that women are useless.
D. Definition of Terms 1. Personality
Personality refers to the total individual and includes needs, motives, methods of adjusting, temperament qualities, self-concepts, role-behavior, attitudes, values, and abilities (Kalish, 1973:52).
2. Contribution
Webster defines contribution as role played by somebody or something in causing a particular result (2005:3).
3. Stereotypes
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The first novel to review here is The Good Earth. Below, are the reviews of the novel which mostly talk about the male character.
Susiyani in her thesis, The Influence of Other Characters Toward Wanglung’s Personality Development in Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, writes that the only character who undergoes some changes in his personality is the main male character Wanglung. The changes of his personality can be observed from the change of his habits and ideas.
When he was poor, only married to O-lan and had not met Lotus, he could eat the simple food that his wife cooked for him, but when he became rich he preferred expensive food to the simple food (a stalk of garlic that used to be his favorite menu) just because Lotus hated the smell. He also started to criticize O-lan for her unattractive and dirty appearance, and to pay much attention on the way he dressed himself up (2004:56-57).
Wanglung’s character development is the result of his interaction with the other people in the story and his overwhelming wealth. All of his wives play important roles in forming his personality. His wealth makes him realize that his status is equal to the rich ones, and therefore he wants to show off.
While Imelda in her thesis An Analysis On The Protagonist’s Character and Its Development in Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth argues that Wanglung’s character before and after he becomes rich are purely natural. His shyness, simplicity,
independence, appreciation toward his outside looks, loyalty to his friends, and egotism, are called effeminate disposition, submissive disposition, autonomous disposition, orientation enjoyment, relationship enjoyment, and selfish or individualistic orientation (2000:63-64).
It shows that Wanglung’s characters from the beginning until the end of the story are typically Chinese. His characters are the characters that a Chinese man in the real world possesses. The accuracy of his characters also reveals the novelist’s deep understanding of Chinese people
Another researcher Indriyani talks about situational ironies found in the novel. The situational ironies arise from the different attitudes between Wanglung and his sons in viewing life. For Wanglung, wealth or prosperity means lands which become more and more each time, but for his sons lands mean nothing else except to be sold for money. From the different view of life above, she infers that there is a discrepancy of the Chinese family system viewed from the patriarchal line, concerning individual’s desire and attitudes (2002:50-51).
Among those critics and researchers above, none of them has ever talked deeply about the woman named O-lan and her contributions to the family. Most of them only touch the male characters and the ironies arising from the male characters’ perspective toward lands.
The second novel that I want to study is The Mother, and the only researcher who ever criticized it is Suastika. She talks about the view of Chinese culture toward childbirth and abortion. Here is the review on her work
Suastika in her thesis entitled Childbirth and Abortion in Chinese Culture as seen in Pearl S Buck’s the Mother claims that the main character who is the mother herself favors the society’s perspective toward childbirth. She believes that a duty of a married woman is to deliver babies as many as possible and it is something that every woman should be proud of.
Giving birth is not only a pleasure for her, but has become a need to be done and done again. Giving birth to as many children as possible is one big goal in her life. She sees giving birth as her duty as a woman. She is really shocked with the leaving of her husband, not only because she is being left alone to survive three children and the old mother in-law, but also because his leaving means that she would never give birth to another child (2003:53).
method to kill a baby was through infanticide. Infanticide was usually done to baby girls since they were considered as a burden. There was no legal punishment for the crime at the time (2003:53).
Briefly, Suastika points out that the mother is happy with herself since she is able to fulfill her duty as a wife which is to produce children. Concerning abortion, Suastika infers that the practice is not popular because it is not supported by sufficient medical facilities. Abortion is only done to get rid of very unwanted fetus. My study will focus on the mother’s contribution to the family.
The researchers in the last novel entitled Imperial Woman mostly talk about how the life of its major figure which is Yehonala herself reflects the life of China’s last empress and her personality which in some ways reveals some feminist values. Below, are the reviews that I found on the novel.
Hartono in his thesis entitled Feminism Struggle as Seen Through Yehonala’s Struggle In Buck’s Imperial Woman concludes that the nineteenth-century’s Chinese society is a patriarchal society. Men are placed above women, not limited in their social lives. On the other hand, women are treated as the second sex, given limited space in their life because the customs tie them with gender biased rules. The unequal treatments are often received by Yehonala although she is the imperial concubine who later becomes the Empress of the western palace.
and later after they get married, their husbands’ household family. The ancient Chinese tradition and customs really underestimate women and consider them as subordinate to men in all aspects of life. Yehonala also experiences the same (2003:53).
Further, he writes that Yehonala’s struggle to release herself from the customs that discriminate women is clearly reflected in her personality which also reveals some feminism values. She is brave- she dares to speak her mind and to show everybody that although she is a woman, she is able to contribute something for women in general and for her country such as having the courage to struggle against the Chinese custom that discriminate women, to defend what she believes, to fight for women’s right, and to promote herself (2003:54).
Imperial woman uses the life of the Yehonala or Tzu Hsi, the last empress of China as the subject of the story. Yehonala or Tzu Hsi was a real life figure, the last empress of the last dynasty in China which was the Qing Dynasty. She ruled China for about fifty years or a half a century. She was always thirsty for power. In fact, she was a very intelligent woman with sharp political views and ideas. However, sadly under her reign, the dynasty became more and more corrupt and finally met its end which marked the end of dynasties in China (www.royalty.nu/Asia/TzuHsi.html).
A fictionalized and sympathetic account of the life of the last empress of China as the west dismembered China and revolution swept the country politics easy (www.kcmlin.org/chinese.htm).
After reviewing all studies on The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman, I can conclude that all the researchers mentioned above, have never seen the three novels as a question or a challenge to the Chinese stereotypes of women. The stereotypes have put women under the superiority of men and depicted women as worthless human beings. From the three novels selected it is clearly seen that the women are not empty-headed creatures. The woman named O-lan in the novel entitled The Good Earth is depicted as a strong character who has helped the family to keep on moving forward. She has never been looked at as a very influential figure whose strength has made the family survive from every problem it encounters. Most writers analyzing the novel are mostly talking about the characters in the way they reflect the real characters of Chinese people and the different view of lands in the male characters’ mind.
In the second novel, The Mother, the researcher talks about the view of Chinese people toward abortion and childbirth, how the major character which is the mother herself shares the same view toward childbirth and abortion with the Chinese custom. In the last novel, Imperial Woman, the researchers claim that Yehonala’s life matches the life of the very last empress of China and there are some feminism values in her personality.
indeed women are born for great and meaningful things in life. Their lives are not only important for themselves but also for others’ lives. I believe that these novels speak other thing about women, which is that women are not weak as what the custom defines though the women stick themselves to the custom itself.
These three women, O-lan, The mother, and Yehonala, are women of importance, having such strong roles in raising and keeping the families and also the nation. Without their existence the family would have fallen apart and the nation would have collapsed easily. My analysis will reveal their detailed personalities, their contributions that will automatically question the Chinese stereotypes of women.
After we have seen the reviews on Buck’s selected novels The Good Earth, Imperial Woman and The Mother, now it is time for us to know her background and what critics have said about her. Below, are some studies that have been conducted by some critics toward the novelist, Pearl. S. Buck.
Buck's fiction broke new ground in subject matter, especially
in her representations of Asia, and above all in her portraits of Asian women. In 1992, I attended a conference at which the Chinese-American writer, Maxine Hong Kingston, saluted Buck for making Asian voices heard, for the first time, in Western literature. By representing
Chinese characters with "such empathy and compassion," Kingston said, Buck "was translating my parents to me and she was giving me our ancestry and our habitation (www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck).
Buck’s stories of China were based on her own observation, and experience and interaction with the Chinese for years as a missionary daughter. She has lived in China since she was three months old. She grew up bilingual, speaking and reading both English and Chinese. It is no wonder that she can write about the culture and the people in such an accurate and natural way because she is very familiar with them.
I think Kingston might salute Buck for her ability to describe the culture which is not hers in such an accurate way. Buck is an Anglo-Saxon woman who came and lived in China for years and was so inspired by the culture that she wrote most of her novels based on it, while Kingston is a Chinese-American writer who grew up in America and was not really familiar to her Chinese culture. Therefore, reading Buck’s novel was a way for her to understand her parents’ culture.
Buck does not separate her Chinese characters from the real ones. She lets them come as the way they are. She does not color them too much with her feeling or ideas.
Many Chinese really love her writings. They welcome her writings. They love to read those literary works of hers for her portrayal of their civilization is vivid and honest. She never isolates the characters from their own culture.
The Chinese themselves are in general eager to praise her work, many of them say that no native writer has painted a more accurate picture of their country (Cowley in Medelson and Bryfonski,1977:34).
However, the Chinese protest her for writing about pornography. They do not like her telling about sexuality since in Chinese minds sex is a taboo thing. It should not be mentioned or even discussed publicly.
Why do Chinese resent her writings? The reason I think, is one seldom stated….she violated some basic taboos, ancient and modern: about sex and childbirth. It was this, also, which helped make her a best seller in the west where she was among the first popular novelist to describe in detail childbirth and menstruation (Cowley in Medelson and Bryfonski, 1977:34).
In the book Masterpiece of World Literature Magill says; Buck’s feeling for the fundamental truths of life transcended in
any perceived notions that the reading public may have had about China and portrayed her people as understandable human being who struggled for happiness and success like anyone else (1989:336) .
Buck presents the Chinese people just like any other men in the world who fight for their life to reach happiness. Through the life of the characters, she might have washed away any suspicion that the world has about the Chinese. She depicts the characters as regular or normal people which can be found in any part of the world.
Chinese themselves are pleased to read her novels. She highlights almost every essence of China, the people, the custom and even the sexuality which is a very taboo thing to talk among Chinese.
Buck presents O-lan, the mother, and Yehonala just like the real Chinese women living in China under the same dynasty, but there is something about them that she wants to reveal that will question the discrimination toward women provoked by the conservative custom. She portrays them as strong people having such important roles not only in family but also in the higher level which is nation.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization.
Character is one of the most prominent elements in novels. Without characters there will be no stories to write. Character is the element that will make a story lifelike for readers.
Forster divides characters into two types, namely, round and flat characters. Round characters are usually the major figure in a story. They have many realistic traits and are relatively fully developed by the author. In other words, round characters are dynamic. Their moral qualities might change throughout the story. On the other hand, flat characters are often minor characters. Their moral qualities or personalities will stay the same from the beginning until the end of the story.
There are many ways for authors to shape their characters so that they exist lifelike. Murphy (1972: 161-170) proposes some ways that authors may take to shape the characters like the following.
a. Personal description.
An author describes characters through their appearance. Authors may describe the clothes, the skin, the face, the body, and etc of characters.
b. What other characters say and think about a certain character.
Here, authors describe characters using the opinion of other characters. However, readers should not believe whatever they say since what they say might only be based on things like suspicion or jealousy.
c. Speech.
Authors give clues about the character’s personalities through what they say about themselves, others, and etc.
d. Reactions.
e. Direct comment.
Authors explain the characters directly. They might directly tell readers that a character is sensitive, spoilt, and so on.
f. Past life
By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life author can give readers clues to events that have helped to shape a person’s personalities. Author can do this by giving direct comment, or through the person’s thought, his conversations or through the medium of another person.
g. Mannerism
Authors can give readers clues about a person’s personalities by describing his or her mannerism, habit or idiosyncrasies.
h. Conversation of others
Author gives us clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him or her.
2. Theory on Contribution.
According to Kalish, personality refers to the total individual and includes needs, motives, methods of adjusting, temperament qualities, self-concepts, role-behavior, attitudes, values, and abilities (1973:52). In personalities we can not only merely find the moral qualities of a person but also the power of someone to do or to give something which we usually refer as ability.
role played by something or someone in causing a particular result (2005:3). Therefore, taking for granted, we can conclude that the word “role” refers to personality.
3. Theory on Stereotype
Stereotypes are generalizations, or assumptions, that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like. For example, one study of stereotypes revealed that Americans are generally considered to be friendly, generous, and tolerant, but also arrogant, impatient, and domineering. Asians, on the other hand, were expected to be shrewd and alert, but reserved. Clearly, not all Americans are friendly and
generous; and not all Asians are shrewd (www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty/htm).
Since the topic is to question the Chinese stereotypes of women, it is better to reveal a brief review on Chinese stereotypes of women.
residence with her husband’s parents. A daughter was referred to as an outsider because she would no longer bring any economic benefit to the family (www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1984/4/84.04.03.x.html - 28k).
C. Review on Chinese Society in the 19th Century. 1. The Family life
A small Chinese family may consist of a man, his wife, their unmarried children and sometimes dependent relatives. Descent was always patrilineal in China for centuries. Male offsprings were very desired to carry on the family name, and when the fathers died their male offspring would inherit the fathers’ belongings or wealth automatically. Residence was also patrilocal; daughters had to leave their fathers’ homes and families to live with their husbands’ families.
The most important relationship within a family was the relationship between father and son. The life and death of his offsprings were said to lie in the father’s hand. The son was obliged to obey what his father said and supported his parents when they became old, while the father should find his son a wife. When the parents died, the son’s duties were to mourn and worship them. The father-son relationship was one of authority-submission. A son would never attained equal adult status during the father’s lifetime. The gap between generations was never bridged regardless of the age or maturity of the son (Hu, 1960:159-160).
husband’s lifetime, should submit to him, and after his death to her eldest son. A husband was allowed to beat his wife, but the wife should never put her hands against him. She might return to her family, but most of the time she would not be welcomed (1960:160).
The relationship between mother and son was quite special since the status of the mother depends on her producing a male offspring. The number one duty of a wife was to beget sons to continue the family line and by producing sons she automatically secured her position in her husband’s family.
A wife’s first duty, the reason for her introduction into the family was to produce sons to continue the male line and her position in her husband’s family was unenviable before this duty had been fulfilled. but the birth of her first son, which insured the continuity of her husband’s family, immediately made her position more secure. A woman naturally felt more warmth for this son whose arrival had improved her status (1960:160). The father and daughter relationship was less formally defined. A girl should not have much contact with her father. She was only a temporary member of the family since she will be leaving the family once she got married. Mother and daughter relationship was much closer. The principle of sex segregation insured that they had more contact with each other. Before a girl was married, she always remained with her mother and was trained to do household tasks.
2. The Chinese Women
Girls were considered very poor investment since after years of nurture they would simply get married and became other families’ members. Extremely poor families might sell their daughters into slavery or prostitution, but selling infants was not profitable since they brought low prices, and many believed that it was better to end a life of a child than to doom it into a life of poverty and shame. Hence, such euphemisms for infanticide as “giving the child away to be married” and “transmigrating the soul of the child to the body of someone else” are common. Furthermore, the demands of Confucian filial piety were such that the death of a baby girl might be justified morally if the choice for the future was between providing for one’s parents and providing for one’s children (Smith,1994:248).
Discipline of Chinese children began during the juvenile period, which lasted from three or four to about fifteen or sixteen. In elite households, males and sometimes females received training in the recitation of verse and memorization of Chinese characters. Elite girls also learnt womanly skills of embroidery and weaving.
Sexual segregation was never complete. Women were obliged to stay in the inner apartments as much as possible. There were stories of Budhist-oriented elite women in the Qing who expressed the wish that in their next life they would rather to be reborn as dogs so that they would have much greater freedom (Smith,1994:250).
the same status as the principal wife (qi). As a matter of fact, upon entering her new family, a concubine usually had to participate in ceremonies designed to show her subservience to the wife. Qing law strongly prohibited the degradation of a principal wife to the position of concubine and the elevation of a concubine to the position of a principal wife.
3. Feet Binding
The process of foot-binding began when a girl reached five or six years of age. Occasionally, bound feet were devised to immobilize concubines in the women’s quarter who might want to escape, but sometimes the practice began as an erotic fetish. Tiny three inch “lotus petals” or “golden lilies” were prized by those who found them erotically stimulating than those of women in the cities whose feet were bound typically more tightly than those of women in the countryside (Hughes and Hughes,1995:180).
Foot-binding was also reinforcing the Confucian prescription that women, as “inside” persons, did no outside work. The effect was the immobility of millions of women that took them out of “outside” production (1995:181).
gentry’s aesthetic perception of women, a mother could never expect a daughter to marry up the social scale without them (Hughes and Hughes,1995:181).
Foot-binding was a very painful experience that a girl had to endure as long as she lived. Jackson describes the process as follows,
Foot binding began between the ages of 4-7. A strap of bandage ten feet long and two inches wide was wrapped tightly around the foot. The four small toes were broken and bent under the sole. The arch of the foot was bowed to make the foot shorter (library.thinkquest.org/SO111742/foot binding.htm).
Foot-binding was a rite of passage for nearly all Chinese women at that time. However, those who endured the practice did not always see themselves victimized. They saw it as a part of becoming a woman. Moreover, they considered it as something that would bring them to a better life (Hughes and Hughes,1995:182).
When they become wives or concubines, the pressure is so intense since they are obliged to give birth to baby boys. Their status depends on it. It is okay if they bear baby girls if they have sons before. As mothers they will be responsible to take care of the family and teach their daughters to do household tasks. They also have to bind their daughters’ feet since bound feet are attractive to men. Beside that bound feet serve as hope for a better future for the girls though the pain they cause is killing. C. Theoretical Framework.
Theories of characters from Abrams and Forster help me find the characters in the novel. Theory of characterization of Murphy will be used to recognize the characters’ personalities. Theory on contribution that I elaborated from Kalish’s definition of personality and Webster’s definition of contribution helps me determine the contributions. Characterizing the characters is necessary sins their contributions are based on them. This part is the answer to the first problem.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The objects of the study are novels written by Pearl S. Buck entitled The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman. The Good Earth was published for the very first time in 1931 by Jon Day Publishing Company. However, the novel that is studied here is the novel published by Pocket Book edition in January 1959. It is divided into 34 chapters and consists of 344 pages.
In general, the novel is about family life, marriage, and women’s issues. In the novel, we can see how a Chinese peasant family lives their life, the relationship between husband and wife, father and children, and the position of women within family.
The second object of the study is another novel by Buck The Mother. It was published in 1934 by Methuen and Co. Ltd. It is divided into 19 chapters and consists of 244 pages.
In general, The Mother is about the struggle of a lone woman to raise the family that her husband has deserted for good. She must not only a father but also a mother at the same time. Beside that, the story also highlights how this woman must become a liar in order to save her face from shame and to save her reputation as a good wife in the society.
The last novel is Imperial Woman. It is published by Pocket Books, Inc in Cardinal giant edition in May 1958. The novel is divided into 5 chapters and consists of 432 pages.
Generally, the story is about a woman named Yehonala who is able to raise her self from a concubine into a powerful empress. She has a brain sharper than men. She knows how to overcome intrigues rising in the palace. Because of here brilliant mind she can rule the last dynasty of China until she becomes old. The life of Yehonala reflects the life of the last empress of China.
My study will focus on these three women, O-lan, The mother, and Yehonala. I see that these three women do not match the Chinese stereotypes of women. These three women have contributions that will prove that the stereotypes are not true. B. Approach of the Study
In order to analyze the problems arising in this study, I apply sociocultural-historical approach which is proposed by Rohrberger in her book Reading and Writing about Literature published in 1971. This approach insists that the most suitable way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization producing it. It will be hard to understand a novel without an awareness of the culture in which a story is set. Rohrberger defines civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and points out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter (1971:9).
the thesis is a question to the civilization which indirectly produces the three novels studied here. The characters (O-lan, the mother, and Yehonala) that I analyze have shown contributions that challenge the civilization in which the stories are set.
C. Method of the Study
The method of the study which is used here is a library research. It means that all the data, both primary and secondary data, were obtained from library. The primary data are Pearl S. Buck’s selected novels The Good Earth, The Mother, and Imperial Woman, while the secondary data were all collected from the books, critics, undergraduate thesis on the author and the novel.
In order to answer all of the questions mentioned in the problem formulation above, I used the data collected from the primary and secondary sources. In this step, I employed the sociocultural-historical approach proposed by Rohrberger in her book Reading and Writing about Literature to perform the analysis of the study. The approach was used because I believed that the works are the products of the civilization that has produced them.
The second problem is solved by determining the stereotypes on women in the novels using the brief reviews on stereotypes taken from two websites which are
www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty.htm and www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/.
After determining the contributions of the women and the stereotypes, I tried to answer the last problem. The last problem is to determine in what way and why the stereotypes are challenged through the characters’ contributions. Therefore reviews on Chinese society in 19th century especially on women’s lives is necessary to see whether Chinese women are truly living under the superiority of men and to get the ideas of women in this period. The reviews are taken from Sarah Hughes’ and Brady Hughes’ Women In World History Vol I, Hu’s China;Its People Its Society Its Culture; and Smith’s China’s Cultural Heritage. The answer to this part was gained by contradicting the contributions with the stereotypes of women.
Finally after answering the three problems above, I tried to draw a conclusion from the analysis.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is to determine their contributions based on their personalities, the second is to find the stereotypes of women in the novels and the last is to decide in what way and why the contributions are a challenge or question to the Chinese stereotypes of women.
A. The Personalities of the Characters and Their Contributions
Characterizing the characters is necessary since their contributions will be based on them. Therefore, I characterize each character first, then I decide their contributions based on the personalities.
1. 1. O-lan’s Personalities
O-lan is the bride that Wanglung picks up on the day when the story begins from the Great House of Hwang. She is a slave (name given to female servants and girls coming from poor families) in the house where she has been working as a kitchen maid for ten years since the day her parents sold her to save themselves from famine. Here is how she is physically depicted.
Then Wanglung turned to the woman and looked at her for the very first time. She had a square, honest face, a short, broad nose with large black nostrils, and her mouth was wide, a gash in her face. Her eyes were small and of a dull black in colour, and were filled with some sadness that was not clearly expressed. It was a face that seemed habitually silent and unspeaking, as though it could not speak if it would……he saw that there was no beauty of any kind in her face- a brown, common patient face. But there were no pock marks on her dark skin , nor was her lips split (1959:19).
O-lan is not a pretty woman. There is no beauty that can be found in her face. She is just a regular woman typically fitting to become a poor farmer’s wife because she was a servant. It means that she is able to do things she is obliged to do, like, taking care of the house and working with Wanglung in their fields.
a. Dutiful
After Wanglung has brought O-lan home, she proves to be a truly dutiful wife. She works really hard not only in the house, but also in the field. Indeed the house needs a woman’s touch. She scrutinizes the house and its furniture to free them from dust and dirt and clean them from any filthy things.
has someone who will take care of him well, and for Wanglung, he does not have to bother himself with the household tasks. He can concentrate more on the land.
Now whatever there was, was ready for him, and he could seat himself upon the bench by the table and eat at once. The earthen floor was swept and the fuel pile replenished. The woman, when he had gone in the morning, took the bamboo rake and a length of rope and with these she roamed the country side reaping here a bit of grass and there a twig or a handful of leaves returning at noon with enough to cook the dinner…….in the afternoon she took a hoe and a basket and with these upon her shoulder she went to the main road leading to the city where mules and donkey horses carried burdens to and fro, and there she picked the droppings from the animals and carried it home and piled the manure in the dooryard for fertilizer for the fields….and when the end of the day came she did not rest herself until the ox had been fed in the kitchen and until she had dipped water to hold to its muzzle to let it drink what it would…. And she took their ragged clothes and, and with thread that she herself spun on a bamboo spindle from a wad of cotton, she mended and contrived to cover the rents in their winter clothes. Their bedding she took into the sun and ripped the coverings from the quilts (1959:29).
O-lan rarely takes notice of her exhaustion. She seems fine with all the works, probably because she is used to them. She is ready at any moment to do any work which she can do without being asked to do so. Briefly, she is like a super machine which is able to do everything and never grows tired.
b. Devoted
There is nothing in the house until nightfall,’ she said briefly, and without speech she took the furrow to the left of him and
fell into steady hoeing (1959:30).
However, as a wife, she devotes herself to her husband so much, and in one occasion the devotion has gone too far. If only her husband did not refuse to sell their daughter, she would sell her to save him from the recruitment of soldier and to take him back to north, so he can be a farmer as he used to do. At this point she is showing an excessive devotion as a wife. It is fine for her to separate from her daughter if that can save her husband “I would sell this girl for you-to take you back to the land (1959:112).” It shows that she is willing to sacrifice her daughter for her husband. Perhaps the Chinese custom itself should be blamed for her thought. It is not a secret that girls are less preferred and wanted in Chinese custom.
d. Sensible
She clearly knows that she is married to a farmer. She understands well that the family is living paycheck to paycheck and therefore even a single penny is worth saving. Knowing this very well, she will not throw away things when they are broken and ask some money to replace them with the new one. Instead she will fix it and by doing so she helps the family economic condition.
And what he did for the farm implements, his wife, O-lan, did for the house implements. If an earthen jar leaked she did not like other women cast it aside and talk of a new one. Instead, she mixed earth and clay and welded the crack and heated it slowly and it was good as new (1959:44).
for human. Moreover, at the time when the villagers come to her house to take the food left and the furniture in the house, she with her words make them realize that what they have done is not right. She reminds them that their doing is witnessed by Heaven and later in the future they have to endure the consequences for doing such evil things. She offers them the most sensible solution to overcome the hunger they and their family have been suffering, which is to hunt for grass and cook it.
Not that—not that yet, she called out. ‘It is not yet time to take our table and the benches and the bed from our house. You have all our food. But out of your own houses you have not sold yet your table and your benches. Leave us ours. We are even…Heaven will strike you take more. Now, we will go out together and hunt for grass to eat and bark from the trees, you for your children, and we for our three children, and for this fourth who is to be born in such times’ (1959:71).
Moreover, when Wanglung feels reluctant to eat the ox (the very last food available for them) which has been helping him ploughing the earth, she makes him feel fine at last to eat it by giving him a reason that an ox is just an ox, an animal which is right to eat and he should not feel guilty. She also assures him that they will not be living in famine all the time, good days will come “An ox is but an ox and this one grew old. Eat, for there will be another day and far better than this one (1959:70).”
because she believes that the lands are their only hope to keep the family alive, and she knows that lands are part of her husband’s soul.
The land we will not sell, surely, she said,’ else when we return
from the south we shall have nothing to feed us. But we will sell the tables and the two beds and the bedding and the four benches and even the cauldron from the stove. But the rakes and hoe and the plough we will not sell, nor the land (1959:83)
f. Self-satisfied
She is proud of herself although she is not beautiful. She believes that she has completed her duty as a woman and a wife. She is proud of herself for being able to continue her husband’s family line by giving him three sons and she takes care of the family very well. In Chinese tradition, a woman is appreciated based on her producing male offspring for her husband’s family. In fact in some households a woman giving birth to sons will begin to feel a much warmer treatment from the members of her husband’s family. In O-lan’s case though she is not feeling any warmth from the family, but she is respected by the community.
Well, and if I am ugly, still I have borne a son; although I am but a slave there is a son in my house………How can that one feed him and care for him as I do? Beauty will not bear a man sons!’ (1959:255).
Furthermore, when she met again with another woman coming from the great house who was used to troubling her, she once again shows her proudness of herself. She ends up with a man who marries her, while that woman ends up with nothing except being a servant of a concubine though she was beautiful. She shows that her status now is much higher and much more respected than hers.
Well, and you may have lived in the courts of the Old Lord, and you were accounted beautiful, but I have been a man’s wife and I have borne him sons, and you are still a slave (1959:247).
Although she is proud of her self for being a wife of someone and a mother of three sons, she does not value her life high. She does not think that her life is worth saving. When she was badly ill, she does not want Wanglung to cure her since the medication takes so much money “No, and my life is not worth so much. A good piece of land can be bought for so much (1959:243).”
1. 2. O-lan’s Contribution
O-lan has some personalities that determine her contributions. First, she is a dutiful woman. This personality has made her father in-law’s cough grow better. Second, she is a devoted woman. Her devotion has changed the destiny of her husband forever. Third, she is a sensible woman. This has made her family survive during the famine, and finally, she is an observant. She knows what happens to her sons since she used to pay attention to the behavior of the young lords when she was still a slave in the great house of Hwang. Below are the further discussion on the contributions.
a. Saving the family from long starvation.
When the famine sweeps away the village, many of the villagers starve or even die, but O-lan, being good in cooking can figure out ways to keep Wanglung’s, old man’s, and the children’s stomaches away from hunger. When the ox is slaughtered, she does not throw away any part of it. She makes use every part of the ox from the meat up to the bones and skin, knowing that famine will linger long enough. What she has done truly helps the family survive longer than other families in the village. She can still feed her husband, father in-law, and children, while other women can do nothing.
And she cut a great gash in the beast’s neck, and thus she severed its life. And she took a bowl and caught its blood to cook for them to eat in a pudding, and she skinned and hacked to pieces the great carcass (1959:69). However, it can be denied that the family finally suffer from hunger too before they move out to the south because there is no plant left to cook anymore.
c. Raising Wanglung to a wealthy Landowner.
“If i have a handful of silver it is because i work and my wife works, and we do not as some do, sit idling...letting the fields grow to weeds (1959:60).”
The jewelries that she steals and later she gives to Wanglung is the most significant help that O-lan gives to him. By doing so, she has indirectly lifted Wanglung’s position from just an ordinary farmer to a landowner of great wealth since the jewelries are spent by him to buy more lands. One can say that what she has done is morally bad, but by doing so, she has saved the lives of her children, husband, and father in-law. There are wars and their safety is threatened. O-lan and the children can not beg anymore to fill their stomaches, and Wanglung has to hide lest he will be kidnapped and forced to become a soldier. The only way to save the family is by returning to their home in the north, but they need money to go back and to start again. Her stealing the jewelries is forced by the situation and in the end it is the thing that changes the destiny of Wanglung forever. For the first time in his life, Wanglung finally has the chance to taste how it feels to have money and power, but badly he never thanks O-lan for that. And for O-lan life is still the same-nothing changes. She stays the way she is used to be, though her husband has transformed into a rich man.
Now Wanglung had more land than a man with an ox can plough and havest, and more harvest than one man can garner, and so he built another small room to his house and he bougth an ass and he said to his neigbor Ching, “Sell me the little parcel of land that you have and leave your lonely house and come into my house and help with my land “ (1959:150-151).
one who in some ways makes Wanglung’s father healthy again, who has made the family survive longer in the famine, who inderectly changes Wanglung’s destiny forever by giving him the treasure.
2. 1. The Mother’s Personalities
The mother is the main figure of the novel entitled The Mother. She has no name and is only referred as the mother. Other characters used to call her as goodwife. She is a wife of a farmer, a mother of two sons and one daughter, and also a daughter in-law.
The mother is not a pretty woman, but there is something in her face that shows warmness and passion. Indeed she is a warm woman though a bit emotional, but she is good. Here is how she is described.
A broad, strong face, full lips, and darkly brown and red wind and sun. Her black eyes were shining in the light-very clear eyes, set straight beneath her brows. It was a face not beautiful but passionate and good. One would say, here is a quick tempered woman but warm wife and mother and kind to an old woman in her house (1934:2-3).
a. Loving mother, wife, and daughter in-law
Before she becomes a wife and has children of her own, she has been meek with children. She can not help holding little children no matter where the children come from.
After she has children of her own she becomes a loving mother. She will never neglect her children for any excuses at all. She will come directly no matter what she is doing if she hears her children crying. There is something inside her that moves her to make them feel comfortable every time and she believes it is her duty to comfort the children whenever they feel uneasy.
When her first son had been born, she could not bear to hear him cry at all. Then it had seemed to her that when a child cried a mother ought to still it somehow and give it ease, so when the child wept she stopped whatever she did and gave him her breast (1934:5).
Being a loving mother, she knows how to make her children feel better when they are down. When her blind daughter feels useless since she cannot help her mother and brother work in the field, the mother tells her that she can do something else to help her. She can do them some favors by keeping the house clean, preparing food and watching her youngest brother and grand mother. And she even gives her reason why she should help her mother to watch the youngest one. By saying those things, she raises the daughter’s confidence and makes her see that she is not useless though she is blind.
It is true poor thing, you are very little use, nor even you can sew with those eyes as they are. But go you home and sweep the floor and set the food ready and light the fire. Such things you do well enough. Watch the little one and see he does not fall into the pond, for he is the boldest, wilfullest of you all, and pour a little tea sometimes for the old one. There your duty is and you are help to me there (1934:93).
misery by strengthening the idea that she is nothing but a burden. She convinces her that she is little use in some works but a great help at household tasks.
When her blind daughter is about to leave to her husband’s house which is so far away from her mother’s home, the mother was terrified. She is scared if they will hate or fool her daughter because she is blind. However, the mother encourages her by telling her that even though she is blind, she is good at doing household tasks and they can not hurt her at all.
You are the best and quickest blind maid I ever saw, and they know you are blind and they can not blame you for it nor say we hid it from them (1934:180).
She also relieves her daughter by saying that they know that she is blind and they should never blame her for the blindness. And the mother also tells her daughter that she will come to her place to see her and if her husband and his family hurt her, she will take her back.
When she realizes that she has not paid much attention to her eldest son since the situation that she is facing demands her full attention on the only source of money they have which is land, she apologizes to him. She feels sorry that she could not see that he is not a child anymore, but a man. She gives him her promise that she will find him a wife and leave the responsibility of the house to his hands.
Son I am wrong, I know. I have not done well enough for you of late. I have not seen how you have grown into a man. But man you are,
back into a loving mother, and wife. She does not let anger possess her, because she knows that she feels so much love for them. She will care for her husband again, no matter what fight they have during the day, and for the children no matter how naughty they are. She will even rise from the bed if she hears her mother in-law coughing and she will try to ease her cough by bringing her some water. Moreover, she will calm the animals if they feel insecure.
However impatient she might be in the day, however filled with little sudden angers, at night she was all tenderness-passionate tenderness to the man when he turned to her in need, tender to the children as they lay helpless in sleep, tender to the old woman if she coughed in the night, and rising to fetch a little water for her, tender even to the beasts if they stirred and frightened each other with their own stirring, and she called out to them, ‘Be still-sleep- day is a long way off yet (1934:13).
Moreover, when her husband bought a false gold ring in town, she was so badly mad at him for his carelessness and stupidity for being childishly tricked. However, she gets through it and forgives her husband although he never apologizes to her at all and does not talk to her ever since. She tells herself that she overreacted and should not be yelling and shouting at him like that. She decides to get along with him again by cooking him some fine dinner so that he will talk to her again “I will make him a dainty dish for his meal this noon. It may be I was too angry for but a little money spent, after all (1934:32).”
b. Dutiful
of the animals, boil water for her husband, mother in-law, and for her little girl whose eyes are not well. Indeed she is expected to do so since there is the rule saying that a woman should be the first to wake up in the morning and begins to do her daily tasks and be the last to come to bed. By doing so, the mother is considered to fulfill her obligation and at the same time will earn the predicate as a good wife.
In the morning the mother woke and rose before dawn, and while the others still slept she opened the door and let out the fowls and the pig, and led the water buffalo into the dooryard, and she swept up what filth they had dropped in the night and put it upon the pile at a corner of the door-yard. While the others still lay she went into the kitchen and lit the fire and made water hot for the man and for the old woman to drink when they woke, and some she poured into a wooden basin to cool a little, so that she might wash the girl’s eyes (1934:15).
d. Not Ambitious
She is not an ambitious woman. She is a typical Chinese woman who puts family in the first place and devotes her self to it. She does not have any passion to do or to pursue anything else. For her, being a wife and a mother are all the things she wants in the world. To be able to take care of her husband and satisfy his needs are enough for her. She is happy if she can conceive, deliver babies and raise them. Those are the things that bring happiness and satisfaction into her life.
To her-to know the fullness of the man’s frequent passion, to conceive by him and know life growing within her own body, to feel this new flesh growing within her own body, to feel this new flesh take shape and grow to give birth and feel a child’s lip drink at her breast-these were
enough (1934:18).
2.1. The Mother’s Contributions
made it possible for her to give them a life comfortable enough to live and spouses good enough for them to marry. Below is further explanation about her contributions. a. Saving the family from falling apart
After her husband’s departure, she has to support the family alone. She has to fight not only for herself, but also for the four people leaning on her. The only way to keep the family from falling down is her love, strength, and hard work. From that day on she is determined to work like a man working in the fields.
So day had passed into month, and day after day this woman had risen before dawn and she left the children and the old woman sleeping …… She must work for two, and work she did (1934:61).
What the mother faces now can happen to anyone, but not so many people can stand tall like her. The love that she feels toward her children and her mother in-law is the thing that has given her strength to move on. Her love saves the family from being fallen apart. Without it, she would not have bothered herself to work alone in the fields. She understands well that she is the only one that the family has to lean on, and it would have been torn apart without her holding it together. She must not show her fears, pain, because she knows that if she is weak the family will have no future. She keeps them deep within her heart, though there are times she can not help it.
because she is pretty wise in managing the money. So when her dying mother in-law asks for her shroud, she could afford the best for her to make her die in peace.
For she had determined that the old woman would have the very best and that night when the house was still she dug into the earth and got the silver out that she had hid there, and she took out what was needful to send the old mother to her death content (1934:116).
b. Marrying her children to good people
As the only parents left, she brings up her children well. When her eldest son and her daughter have reached the age when they should marry, she tries to find a good maid and a good husband for them to wed. Usually, in Chinese custom, it is the duty of the father to marry his children. She asks someone whom she knows well to find the right persons for her children to marry.
The woman whom she asks to find the spouses tells her that it will be easy to find his son a wife since his family has lands and it is something certain for any maids.
Well you do own some lands, and it is something nowadays when many have nothing at all, and I had liefer wed a maid of mine to a man who has some land and little silver..(1934:160).
3.1. Yehonala Personalities
Before she enters the palace this woman is only known as Orchid, a beautiful girl coming from a middle class of a Manchu family. After she enters the palace at the emperor’s command to be selected as one of his concubines, she starts using her family’s name Yehonala as her name. She is chosen as one of the emperor’s imperial concubines. The emperor falls in love with her beauty, her manner, and her brilliance. When she gives birth to a baby boy, she is crowned as the Empress of the Western Palace and is given another name, Tzu Hsi. Below, are her personalities.
a. Ambitious
Yehonala is the woman who knows what she wants. She knows that she does not want to be a concubine only. She wants the position that will give her an absolute power and she knows what she should do to have her purpose done. However, power is not something easily available for a woman even if she is an empress mother. She is only given respect and privileges for being the mother of an emperor. She is not allowed to participate in political affairs because it is thought that a mind of a woman is shallow. To be powerful, a woman must sacrifice many things, learn many things to be brighter than men.
