Dream of the Red Chamber China is one of the most ancient countries of world civilization with 4000 year-history. Every history reflects the life, customs and traditions of people that create it. The novel Dream of the Red Chamber written by Tsao Hsueh-Chin (Cao Xueqin) is arguably one of the best known Chinese novels. It was written in the 18th century. Hong Lou (the title of the novel the Red Chamber) presents readers a story of rich Chinese family clan and describes happenings inside the ducal mansion of the Jia clan with its endless number of kinsfolk and servants, organised into a rigid hierarchy controlled by a dictatorial but benign matriarch (Chin n.p.).
While the historical events are quite briefly describes, greater emphases are laid on the illusions of wealth, which disappear as the protagonists meet various life difficulties. All aspects of social life in Chinese society: religion, marriage, politics, social life, culture and education, entertainment, holidays, poetry, gender roles and the role of women in Chinese society, relationships and interpersonal communication, social hierarchy and etiquette all these themes find their full reflection in the book.
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The book surveys a variety of discussions and reflections of different aspects of roles of women in Chinese society, although there are some comments on Chinese social life in general. Tsao Hsueh-Chin aims to combine explanation and description of the fall and rise of prosperous Chinese family clan. The story also can be examined as a challenge to symbolic interpretation and contains foreshadowing elements of narration. The author describes love triangle, which lays in the basis of the whole novel. The novel describes relationships between Lin Dai-yu (Black Jade) and Chia Pao-yu, who is very close to his cousin. The domestic Chinese ideology was based on traditional ideals of domesticity. The woman focused attention on homemaking, motherhood, purity and piety.
Men were expected to work whereas women were expected to sit at home and to create family happiness. Women were to make home a peaceful refuge of harmony and to avoid politics and business affairs. From the traditional archaic Chinese social standpoint, everything should be subordinated to the certain scale of ranks. The ideas of domestic family ideology as well as devoted wife were high on the list. However, Lin Dai-yu and Chia Pao-yu are rebellious and not always correspond to the traditional Chinese standards. Tsao Hsueh-Chin enlightens the theme of struggle between desires and domestic ideology.
The author does not only help the reader comprehend his own understanding of passionate love, but he also provides examples of what love means to him and how the protagonists go about achieving it, making a combination of female independence, self-identification and the necessity to obey the archaic Chinese traditions. As well as in any other novel, the protagonists represent peculiar social circles and characters. Moreover, the characters are the embodiment of definite psychological type. The author is more interested in reflections, expressions and interpretations of conscience and cultural oppositions. The conflict is concentrated in dramatic events accompanied by conscience and nature of relationships between them. Chia Pao-yu is quite non-traditional Chinese man. He doesnt like to study but instead of it he likes to play with his girl servants and cousins. He is more feminine than steadfast.
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He prefers the company of girls and doesnt make difference between social classes. Chia Pao-yu treats the lower and upper classes in the same way (Dream of the Red Chamber n.p.).
Lin Dai-yu (Black Jade) is very sensitive and overly sentimental girl. She feels that she doesnt suit the Chinese family and often feel sorry for herself. She is overly tender and is extremely dependent on other people. Lin Dai-yu loves Chia Pao-yu but is too afraid of her feeling and doesnt think they will be together (Hsueh-chin 42).
Xue Bao-chai (Precious Virtue) is completely opposite to Lin Dai-yu, She is quite independent, self-confident, and considerate. Everybody likes her because of her easy-going character. Social hierarchy is brightly described in the novel. The author reflects traditional Chinese family system and shows high level of social concern. The author is able to reproduce subtle shades and nuances of feelings. Not without reason we can call his book the novel of sentiment or the novel of feeling. Dream of the Red Chamber is interesting for its artistic multipronged narration.
The reflections on relationships, which create element of reliability in combination with unlimited fantasies, philosophical reflections, deep psychoanalysis, social conditionality of heroes, realistic retrospective narration, irony of different kinds, love and tragedy all this creates compound genre and stylistic unity.
Bibliography:
Chin, F. (June 17, 1979).
Sentimental over pretty girls. The Sunday Nation newspaper. Singapore. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
Dream of the Red Chamber. Retrieved December 6, 2005. Hsueh-chin Cao. (1958).
Dream of the Red Chamber. Anchor books. Doubleday..
