session 2 readings

[Anonymous]

After reading the short story by Lu Hsun I struggled to make any historical connections and would have difficulty using this story in my teaching. I wondered about what may have been happening post WWI during the 1920’s, then what was happening in China at that time to make the author write a story like this. After moving away from any historical connections, I really thought there were many things very telling of society and cultural expectations. The main character or the protagonist of the story constantly has negative life experiences involving death of loved ones, and forced to deal with cultural obligations that would not make sense to our standards, especially someone going through the loss that this woman faced.

I found that the story was incredibly depressing. This woman is not even referred to by her name in the story, but as someone’s wife. She is blamed for her child’s death and then never once was asked how she is doing. She is a servant in a wealthy home and that lack of care for her needs is hard to read about. It was sad to see the meaningless cares of society overlooked the needs of this woman. Looking back at the author’s background I’m curious if this story is linked somehow to his own decade of mental depression before breaking into his writing career.

I'm curious if anyone else picked up on the moral of the story and your thoughts?

[Anonymous]

This was a great story. The content and delivery rings very true to many of the stories that my grandparents and parents have shared with me regarding the misfortunes of others back in the old country. Women did not have a lot of choice or voice in these stories, and Hsiang Lin's wife is no exception having been forced into two marriages, "allowing" her second husband to have his way with her, and finally being at fault for the wolves taking her son in late spring. As infuriating, depressing, and frustrating it is to read such a tale, again I am reminded of the tales told to me as a child where members of my family suffered equally tormenting injustices. However, in the end, I think these stories do carry with it two morals.

As stated in Lu Hsun's short bio before the story, many of his stories written around the same time he wrote "The New Year's Sacrifice" were "critiques on Chinese society". With China slowing becoming aware of, even assimilating, Western customs, I'm guessing Lu Hsun saw the contrast of humanity between cultures and began to realize certain social injustices that affected minorities in China, in this particular instance women. Being referred to as "Hsiang Lin's wife" immediately reminds me of Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men, who was beautiful but lonely, forced to stay at home like a caged bird. It didn't matter if a woman was married, single, rich, or poor, she was counted to be very lucky if she died of old age surrounded by family. The husband and his family can essentially enslave her, and any money she earned belonged to her masters; an indentured servant with benefits. With hindsight being 20/20, we can all appreciate that the treatment of Hsiang Lin's wife was less than humane, but for Lu Hsun to address this at the time that he did is astounding to me, because even then my grandmother was going through nearly the exact same ordeal herself. Which brings me to moral/ conclusion #2.

Because I'm American-Born Chinese (ABC), the full appreciation of this story may be lost to me. But there is one thing that my family has taught me in many of the stories that they share, and that is to be longsuffering and grateful. My mother's mother, my wai po, grew up in a labor-intensive environment, and to this day suffers from body pains attributed to years of heavy-lifting. To be short, any money she earned was quickly gambled or drunk away by her father and brother, and growing up in a time where an elementary education was more than enough for a girl, she had to learn how to read, write, and calculate business arithmetics on her own. If her father caught her reading, he'd berate her for being stupid and wasting time. Thus she learned to be long suffering, and endured years of bitter and seemingly fruitless labor. However, she was always grateful to have a roof over her head, and a job to support her family. Because of the nature of her work, and her prescence in the market, she was, and still is, a very bright and beautiful woman. Many men came to ask for her hand, rich and poor. My grandfather was one, but she rejected him initially on account of her being too poor to marry his family whom were slightlyl richer. Nevertheless, in time they married, and again, in an age where many men drank, gambled, smoked, and fooled around with other women, my grandfather stood out in that he abstained from every one of these vices. Whenever they'd argue, he never struck her, but would putt off on his moped around the block a few times and come back to laugh it off over dinner. In that sense, my grandparents have set the tone for our family, and I am very grateful for the kind of characteristics that I have learned from their experiences. Our family, should one win our friendship, are a fiercely loyal people, and I believe much of it stems from the solidity and tranquility of my grandparents' marriage.

[Anonymous]

It is clear that this short story has many insights to the social structure and obligations of family significant to ancient china, similar to what was seen in the story “The New Year’s Sacrifice.” What I found most interesting about the story is the ending. About halfway through reading this story I skipped to the last few paragraphs. The very last paragraph was helpful in finishing the story and looking for the way the protagonist affected her own children.

“The moon of thirty years ago has gone down long since, and the people of thirty years ago are dead, but the story of thirty years ago is not yet ended--can have no ending”

In continuing the story. I noticed things about the main character including much of the hateful comments, bitterness towards others, and paranoia of people taking advantage of her and her family for money. The way that she was treated by others in her family and was looked down upon by them, she re-directed all of that onto others, especially her own children. She herself a concubine and then encouraging her son to get one. Her issue with opium addiction and the affects on her daughter as well. The paranoia with the brother in law trying to con her and take her money and the fear that someone would marry her daughter to do the same. It would seem that the problems of 30 years ago would continue to haunt her children because of the way that she treated them.
edited by skroop on 10/16/2015

[Anonymous]

Thank you for adding some of your insight and stories from your family. I think that was really helpful in better understanding some of the stories from this week. I think for many of us who do not have any family or close friends from China it is really difficult to relate to the women in these short stories. My students sometimes hint at the types of cultural issues that their grandmothers faced--even with the foot binding, but never go into any detail.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed reading the short story, a little dark but I think it opened a good discussion on what it means to do/ have a sacrifice in society. The notion of a sacrifice is giving up something that is valuable to gain something else in return, usually good fortune or prosperity. However, I think Lu Hsun is trying to critique China's societal values on how they treat poor people. The death of Hsiang Lin's wife points this out. I think Lu Hsun wants to present her death as a type of sacrifice the town where she lives has to do in order gain prosperity and furtune becuase now after her death the town's people do not have to deal with this woman who all think is just a headache becuase she can not "get over" the death of her child but now that she is dead no one has to deal with that anymore. That really sadden me because there should be a support system in a society for this type of traumatic events not just leave them alone because it is not happening to you.

[Anonymous]

It seems that the story's had a sad and depressing tone to it that reflects the author's views. The question of on immortality is one that most people have at one point wonder about. The sacrifice, is to give up something, without expecting something in return.

[Anonymous]

The reading discussion questions are dated for August 5th. Should we be ready for those questions for the session of Sept 28th?

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed reading the The New Year's Sacrifice, in that the description and storyline was very descriptive, which made it easy to follow as if you were present with the characters. For example, the detailed description of Hsiang Lin's wife and how she changed over time is very revealing of her character, and how much her son's death impacted her, as well as the interactions she had with her husband's family. Something I am wondering is what people thought of widows back then, in that the story mentioned how the uncle made a face when he realized she was a widow, but that the aunt chose to ignore his facial expression. Was or is there some sort of stigma about this?

[Anonymous]

I have not read anything that was not non-fiction in a long time! It took me a while to re-adjust the way I approached the reading! What I got from it is that it gave me an insight into gender roles in Chinese culture. Given that I do not know much about Chinese culture first hand, it was difficult for me to pick out how real this story was. The way the woman was treated in the story, however, reminded me of the invisible-ness of women in traditional Mexican culture. The woman servant did not even get a name! She was someone's wife. Often times when my family refers to someone in conversation, they refer to them not in their name, but their relation to a man, whether it be a husband or father. It made me feel odd having this practice presented to me in a different way.

[Anonymous]

I thought the language was beautiful..very descriptive. The story was very sad and reminded me of how women in so many cultures of the world are still used by families as property. This is a cultural idea of the value of person is their ability to perform work for families of the elite. Widows are looked down upon and the power of the mother-in-law of the daughter in law. I am reminded in India there is a wing in the prisons for mother-in-laws who have abused or killed their daughter-in-laws. It also reminds me that marriage is simply a contract that a women enters into usually to her detriment. President Carter's initiative and emphasis on global education for girls and women's rights is sorely needed. I know this is an old story, but still significant and compelling.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree, the story seems to relate to the author's background or personal experiences. Makes sense!

[Anonymous]

Wow - what a heartbreaking and infuriating story. I can see this story really resonating with my middle schoolers. Only a cold heart could not be melted by the story of Hsiang Lin's wife. This story will encourage many very rich discussions on a variety of topics - gender roles, superstition, empathy.

[Anonymous]

Lu Hsun's story The New Year's Sacrifice is a reflection of the general cultural and societal beliefs of China post 1900s and I dare say in modern China. The short story is threaded with irony, which is a common trait in many Chinese stories and movies I have experienced. Zhang Zi Mou's "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Fairwell My Concubine" explore the ironies of life and how the Chinese respond to it. They accept irony as part of life, and move on, almost as if the tragedies of life never happened. For instance, Hsiang Lin's wife is raped and loses her son and both husbands. There is very little time or moment to grieve, for grieving can lead one to lunacy, as expressed by Hsiang Lin's wife when her young infant is eaten by wolves. When she does grieve, the characters initially listen to her story, but turn against her after.

[Anonymous]

When I first read Lu Hsun's fictional work, The New Year's Sacrifice, I felt like I read it with a lens of what I thought it was, just a fictional piece. But, after learning about the historical background of China that give birth to works of literature by writers like Lu Hsun, I started to wonder the Hsun's literary activism in The New Year's Sacrifice. I thought of the Arturo Molina's comments in class about the observation of gender roles in China as portrayed in the fictional piece. To some extent, I felt that Hsun was almost being sarcastic in tone in describing traditional roles of women as prescribed in Confucian Chinese society. The perfect is example is account of Hsiang Lin's wife in the novel. Hsiang Lin's wife is never recognized in the novel by her own name, but is instead treated like property: first her existence is in relation to her partnership (although more like ownership) by her husband and later by her husband's mother who tries to sell her off in another arranged marriage and keeps her in her own home to serve as a servant. Furthermore, I felt that Hsun's descriptions of the town Luchen, and it's descriptions of the festivities almost had an air of disdain or criticism as a form of primitive Chinese society. I cannot be sure of Hsun's intent and the social implications that his novel would have or if it was even intended with the purpose of criticizing traditional Chinese society, but I felt that voice that is present in the piece mirrors the "rebellion against feudalism" and tradition that existed in China and perhaps the novel by Hsun captures societal feelings of the time.

[Anonymous]

What struck me most this week was the importance of historical context when analyzing literature. I'll be honest, when I first attempted to complete the week's readings (before the Monday night lecture), I was slightly confused. At first, I understood The New Year's Sacrifice to be a tale of a desperate woman, perhaps assigned to show gender roles in early 20th Century China. After the lesson last night I realized I completely missed the larger cultural trends happening in China at that time and that the plight of woman was meant to be a critique of superstitions and the "old ways" in China. Similarly, I could barely make sense of The Golden Cangue the first time around, in part because I was so repulsed by the mother-in-law character. Now I see the intention of creating such an odd character, and the importance of her family's displacement, given the historical background of the period.

The week's readings and lessons highlighted how important it is to give our students historical context for their texts. Without it, they are unable to fully analyze the significant role context plays in the point of view of the author, and the intentional literary choices made my authors within a given text.

[Author]

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