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AnonymousWhat is most striking about “The New Year’s Sacrifice” is not the tragic death of Hsiang Lin’s wife, but the parochial and almost callous nature of the narrator whose recollection of the life of a woman is severely hindered by his narscacism, not as he might attribute, his neurotic nature (19). Thus when considering the moments he engages with Hsiang Lin’s wife, as when she questions the exsetential existence of heaven and hell: “After a person dies, is there really a soul that lives on?” our narrator posits definitively that there is when he was simply not sure (18). Rather than dispel any notion that Hsiang Lin’s wife would be able to see family members thus assuming responsibility, he assures himself of carrying any responsibility for both his responses and her possible future actions. This selfish reflection seems to be reflective of this narrator throughout the short story and ultimately the general public as Hsiang Lin’s wife – representative of the female population, as author Xu Lin suggests, in an “iron house” – trapped. As such, when reading through ‘The Golden Cangue” most of the characters seemed to be in a similar state of confinement where one’s title gave name to their own “iron house”.
Anonymous1.) I would describe the narrative voice as an immature, insecure, personal reflection of a younger son of the Lu family in Luchen. He is a scholar, a traveler, and most likely a revolutionary, because he indicated that he knew his 'fourth uncle's' attack on revolutionaries was not personal, however he is considered to have a bad character, compared to the older generation from the Imperial school of neo-confucianism.
Until the end, I believed that the author's attitude toward the narrator was one of pity for his inexperience and naivete. ("...made me feel even more lonely.") The wife, to me, felt symbolic of ignorant, trusting people who put their faith in intellectuals, believing that because they, and the narrator, as scholars who have studied, traveled, and seen a lot, MUST have the answers to life's most profound questions. The author, perhaps, does not provide the narrator with the answers to the wife's questions, because he does not have the answers. The narrator is, in truth, inexperienced, but feels he must live up to his scholarly projection. It almost seems as if the narrator is a projection of the author, until the end, and then it seems as though the author uses the narrator to make a point, alluded to at the beginning when he describes the clan's desire to solicit good fortune by outcasting the wife, while posting on the wall of their home a quote,"By understanding reason we achieve tranquility." The irony of the teaching not matching the behavior. The narrator proves himself to be truly a member of his clan when, despite noticing and mentioning these ideas of reason and tranquility, he still, in the end, was as heartless as the rest. I felt that was an afterthought of the author, added to the character to inject a judgement on that type of culture as a whole, or conversely,that it was the original point, but arrived at in a disjointed way. Someone who truly wrestles with guilt over their empathetic feelings toward another, does not then turn around and heartlessly feel nothing over their death. It was too wide a dichotomy to resonate with me. It felt disingenuous. But maybe it was meant to.
Somewhat simply, I saw the narrator's frame as a very similar frame in our own culture. "I'm too worried about myself to take a few minutes to genuinely care about and listen to someone in need." We tell ourselves that we don't really matter or make a difference in a stranger's life, which lets us off the hook. She was abandoned by everyone, and he was her last hope, and then he abandoned her as well by not bothering to sit and have a genuine conversation with her. It isn't the answers to the questions that people need in order to not feel abandoned, it is the genuine care of one person who lets them know that their life is not hopeless, and that they have a reason to live.
The tone and attitude of the narrator toward the wife and the hometown is generally that they are all stuck in old ways of superstition; not grounded in reason. He feels uncomfortable, guilty, and has a sense of foreboding about the wife, which then dissipates into resignation at the end, just like the uncle, "however." Which means, "I don't care enough to bother righting the wrong."
I interpret the narrator's nervous feelings as emanating from the fact that he has no strong belief or assurance that there really is a soul that lives on -"...he had never given the least thought to spirits,". He can see that this subject is important to the wife, and he has a desire to encourage her, so he relies on the tradition of the region that there are spirits as an answer to her. I believe he realizes that he is trying to use reason to answer her questions, and that her need for answers runs deeper than reason; it runs deep into her soul, which he does not believe exists. He is nervous because he is out of his depth.
Anonymous2.) Hsiang Lin's wife is a member of the Wei clan. I can only assume that the reason everyone refers to the woman as 'Hsiang Lin's Wife', is because she must retain the identity of her first husband. I have been divorced for nine years, but I'm still referred to as 'Mrs. Rosales.' I would have to have my name legally changed again for that to not be the case. However, I choose not to, because my three children are Rosales' as well, and we are a family.
The wife could have gone mad for one of two reasons, or both combined. PTSD - post traumatic stress disorder from being raped and from losing her only child, and/or brain damage from hitting her head. I more strongly suspect brain damage from head trauma. Her madness evidences itself in that she is psychologically 'stuck', and repeating the same story verbatim, endlessly. She is not fully aware that she is doing this, or that people are taunting her because of it.
Everyone is cruel to her, to varying degrees, but Liu Ma is just plain evil. Clearly she still has a modicum of self-awareness, and their treatment of her causes hopelessness. It is necessary for healthy people to gently treat others who are not so. It is our responsibility to help people in need. We may be the one in need, next. We have so much power in our strength, to simply smile, hug, love, talk to, and pass on our strength to the weak. They did not, although it is supposedly fictional. Their type of behavior still occurs today. Women who are raped are still asked why they didn't fight to prevent it. It takes a very strong woman to ignore ignorant stupidity like that, and find hope for a happy future.
3.) The title of the story refers to the meat and incense sacrifices made to the god of fortune. In this story, the wife is the sacrifice. She and her bad fortune die, in order to allow good fortune to come to the town, more or less.
Hsiang Lin's wife had been strong when she was young, and so was adept at preparing the sacrifice. After she hit her head and lost her mind, she could not function adequately, nor did anyone want her bad fortune to taint their sacrifice soliciting good fortune.
I mentioned in an earlier answer that this added ending seemed disjointed and out of character for the narrator.
AnonymousDuring Seminar, Arturo mentioned the topic of gender roles in the reading as a movement towards reform. I thought that was really interesting because it lead me to think about the novellas that are constantly played in my own family’s home. I had never really thought about the “reforms” that can be made through novelas. I think it is interesting that Lu Xun believes writing is the way to the soul and in translating that into media, I wonder how many people see novelas as a social critique or gateway into understanding our current society. As I watch Spanish novelas, they model similar situations as the ones in the reading, where tragedy strikes a person in many ways, but I wonder what the current mission of novelas are today and if the script writers consider themselves social critics, especially as media becomes more and more relevant to young audiences.
AnonymousIn response to kluna's post:
My wife worked on a "photonovella" project where she created something that looked like a comic book that was centered around diabetes. It was a culturally relevant (to Latino culture in LA) piece that detailed the causes and effects of diabetes, centered around diet. I couldn't help but think about that project in class. I also don't think that a novella can cause a huge shift in thinking, but I do think that in can plant a seed that could lead to something big.
AnonymousA lot of things stood out to me as I read these novellas. The piece that stood out to me the most was Eileen Chang’s piece, the Golden Cangue. When I first read about her life, and I saw that she had roots in Shanghai, I was able to infer that she was exposed to a lot of western culture since Shanghai was very open to western countries that wanted a stake of China. The theme of westernization was prevalent in the piece. For instance, on page 547, the topic of foot binding came up and it was regarded as an archaic practice. In this scene, one of the characters mentions, “Small feet are not fashionable anymore. To have her feet bound will perhaps mean trouble when the time comes for Little Miss to get engaged.” When I read this quote, it was clear to me that Chang was trying to convey the prevalence of people stepping away from practices that are authentically Chinese. Having visited Shanghai and having seen how westernization was a prominent part of Shanghai’s history and development, I wondered how much the author’s background impacted her social commentary on Chinese social practices.
edited by nramon on 10/16/2015
AnonymousThe historical contribution to literature is always connected through language, culture, and geographic location. As a person that's new to studying East Asia in depth I found it necessary to have historical context when reading the literature. Everything from European imperialism to the New Culture movement influenced the novels written. I especially found the information on the rise of new fiction revealing about Chinese culture in the written form. It seems as if China has gone back and forth from revolting against own traditions to vernacularization and creating an environment for mass literacy. It seems as though nationalist movements were fueled by literary movements and visa versa.
AnonymousI really enjoyed reading the two stories in preparation for this session. Both painted the nuance and subtlety of small gestures having profound impacts on families and society. Both "New Year's Sacrifice" and "The Golden Cangue" allowed me to revisit worlds outside my comfort zone in some ways. Yet, in others the stories were so familiar to me as they echoed some of the long ingrained beliefs and ways of behaving in startling manners toward one another in my extended family, particularly those who still reside in India or who have more recently emigrated from there.
AnonymousThe New Year's Sacrifice novels was a very sad story. The woman in the story was not even referred by her name. She was only referred by someone's wife. She was blamed for her son's death. No one ever once cared to ask her how she was doing. She was a servant in a wealthy home and the lack of care for her needs and empathy for the help was saddening. It was sad to learn about the meaningless cares of the wealthy that overlooked the needs of the woman. Her existence was so sad she did not mean anything to anyone. Thinking about the author, I am curious to know if the story is somehow linked to his own personal experiences.
cgaoPlease download and read the attached PDFs.
The New Year's Sacrifice and The Golden Cangue (broken into two parts) are both short stories. The others include a list of discussion questions, a family tree for The Golden Cangue to help you navigate the story, and a resource list.
edited by cgao on 9/22/2015