Stale+Mates

Key: Black – Original ** BOLD - Revised ** Green – Sean Yellow Highlight – Arthur Orange – Zareen Pink - Ray Linda ** Luo and Ms Fan have both been married and divorced, becoming victims of the culture of hasty marriage made without due consideration, thus resulting in their love life growing “stale”. ** _  ** Towards the end of the story, Luo is forced to take back his previously divorced wives and live with them. Originally, he thought that by divorcing them, he could be rid of them and live his life as a single man. ** ** However he had tried to deceive himself previously, his fate and destiny is forever deadlocked by the 3 women and gradually his good luck turns sour and stale. The title could also refer to the situation his life, where he is trapped by his past and is unable to move or retreat – like a stale mate in a war. The pressure his wives and their family imposes on him is overwhelming and as Chang states, “divorce is a cardinal sin and automatically takes off ten years of a man’s life”. The troubles he has brought upon himself has led himself into this stale situation. ** ** Another interesting thing to note is Chang's use of the word "mate". The word "mate" could mean a spouse, or it could mean a good friend, perhaps the ambiguity of this term is Chang's idea to highlight the fluctuating and obstacle-filled relationship between Luo and Ms. Fan, and that it was hard to distinguish which kind of "mate" they will be in the future. ** || ** The concept of love is still new at that period of time in China – as contrasted to the era of arranged marriages. The idea of being able to choose a spouse of diverse backgrounds is also a new idea in China. Being able to file for divorce is also a new idea at that time. These events perhaps are Chang’s signs that China is developing a modernized and more cultured generation of youth. Without this detail, Luo would not have ended up in a stale mate – thus Chang’s theme of love and marriage could not be demonstrated. The year is 1924, the fall of the Qing dynasty more than a decade ago and the increasing Western influence has injected a new strain of thought into the mind of the youth. ** ** The fact that the characters in the story are able to choose their spouses according to their own will and having the choice to file for divorce for reflects the revolution amongst the youth and symbolizes a milestone of advancement in Chinese traditional culture and thinking. However, we still see that the marriages are benefit oriented, an example being Miss Fan’s marriage to a pawnbroker who presents her with a “big diamond engagement ring” and Luo’s choice of approaching “the Wangs of the dye works.” ** ** We see that the characters are taking advantage of the freedom of choice and does not perceive marriage as a commitment, but as a formality or a symbol of status. The marriages are not long lasting and often result in a divorce which leads the story to revolve around the events of Luo’s pursuit of Ms. Fan. ** ** The casual mentioning of the romantic poet Shelley alludes to their situation – a new idea in the Civil War. This perhaps foreshadows a time where the romantic ideas of the west are spreading into the minds of the youth in China and gives rise to a generation in which the combination of love and marriage is an area deserving to be explored. **
 * Title || ** “Stale Mates” - A situation in which further action is blocked; a deadlock. (1) **
 * Plot || ** Chang documents the lives of four young individuals in year 1924, the story involves their each search for elegance and most importantly, the new idea love, within the social ladder. **

** The motive behind the story is not to document the life of Luo, but rather to contrast the thinking before and after the civil war that has recently occured. Although it only focuses on Luo, Luo represents a new generation of youth in China. It is ironic how only a decade ago, China was still ruled by an Emperor in the year 1911, and now, the some few thousand years of tradition - the under rated value of choice - is now being broken by a new generation of youthful ideas. Chang however, does not directly express her opinion regarding which tradition is better. In my opinion, Chang is trying to convey the message that taking advantage of these newly introduced ideas will lead to disaster - especially the opposing ideas of marriages of choice or arrangement - but yet, change is still necessary for the progression of a civilization. **

** Chang also brings forth the idea of a generation gap between the older generation and the youth as seen from the reactions of the divorce - “His mother flew into a rage on being told.” The families of the divorcees plead Luo in a degrading manner so that we see a conflict between the older generation’s perception of a divorced woman, versus a man seeking “genuine love”, as the readers are led to believe. ** || ** Luo is a man influenced by western culture through and through. His idea of love supports and reflects the impact of western influence in China. Perhaps Chang uses Luo’s unfaithfulness to point out the effects of leaning too much towards Western Culture. ** ** Chang cleverly uses the character’s marital misfortunes to portray the clash of generations. It is evident that there is must protesting from the older generation of Luo’s proposal of a divorce between him and the Zhangs, in which old lady “swore she would see the younger woman out of the house vertically before she made her own exit horizontally.” and that the head of Luo clan “threatened to invite the Family Law out of its niche and beat the young rascal in the ancestral temple” indicating the older generation’s power over the youth and their expectation of the youth to abide by traditional customs and rules. The familial pressure is the force acting on the influence regarding personal choice in marriage partners as opposed to an arranged marriage. **
 * Characters || ** Culture also plays a significant role in the story to portray the new generation changing in china. Vivid descriptions show how the changes are in detail and promotes Western culture in china – a relatively new culture in China at that time. **

** Chang’s descriptions on characters give readers of a view of the change in tradition. For example, when describing Miss Fan, Chang writes "She wore little make up and no ornaments except a gold fountain pen tucked in her light mauve tunic" and when describing Miss Zhou, "The year was 1924, when eyeglasses were fashionable." The desire to become a “society girl” and “girl students” perhaps foreshadows the change in the upcoming thinking on the topic of love in China. The year 1924 follows civil war and the western influence introduced into china is strengthened after the first world war. The change symbolizes the dawn of a new age not bound by tradition and perhaps gives the image of rebellion, foreshadowing the clash between generations and cultural thinking. ** ||

** The restaurant is surrounded by water on it’s three sides, symbolizing that he is surrounded by his three wives, and there is no possible way to proceed. The towers are the place where Luo’s fate changes every time, and perhaps, represents a change in the procession of the story. ** ** The first time they appear at the “Tower beyond Towers”, Luo asks whether Ms Fan would wait for him, because he is willing to file for divorce with his current wife to be with Ms Fan. From this point, the lives of the characters begin to unfold into their own situations. ** ** The Second time “tower beyond towers” is the setting, Luo hears about Ms Fan’s engagement to the pawnbroker and is angry, he then proceeds to break his promise and marry another woman. ** ** The two occurences and pivotal events to their relationship both occur at the tower beyond towers and symbolizes development. ** ** The final time Luo and Ms Fan decide to attempt a relationship, it occurs on the water on a boat, a similar setting as the tower beyond tower’s view. These events are the converging points of the characters after their lives have proceeded in their own way. **
 * Settings || ** “Towers beyond Towers” the restaurant where they frequently gather symbolizes a change in the stage of their relationships – whenever they meet there, there are changes and advancements in their relationships. **

** Boat going downstream perhaps symbolizes time – their time is steadily flowing away, and yet they attempt to search for riches and fortune – traditional Chinese thinking. ** ** Chang’s deliberate location of Hangzhou could indicate how widespread western culture is in China. If she had set the story in Shanghai, one would not be as surprised to see individuals influenced by western culture. ** ** Marital status was a symbol of status back then, if one had not yet been married at a rather late age, or if one is a widow, they are usually frowned upon. As seen from the line “he knew he was consigning her to dishonorable widowhood for the rest of her life.” Divorce is also considered detrimental to one’s life, as Chang writes “To break up a marriage is a cardinal sin that automatically takes ten years off a man’s given life span.” **

** With this story, we see the individuals divorcing, getting married again and many incidents that were not socially acceptable in earlier times. A interesting viewpoint Chang presents through mentioning of traditional Chinese art – the concept of culture is strongly influenced by what people perceive of art and this arouses the a question of whether the culture of arrange marriage and forced love is part of China’s art. Chang does not directly address this issue and leaves room for readers to decide for themselves. **

** The story is set in a time where there is an awful lot of “trying” as there is no fixed or defined tradition or culture one must abide by. The time is during a cross-over or transition of western influence and Chinese culture, where many of the youth are struggling to grasp and attempt find out through experiencing and trying. The result of Luo’s trial and error perspective on love has landed him back where he started – with multiple wives – just like in olden china. This pathetic and somewhat hilarious situation Luo finds himself may be Chang’s warning of a change that will result in disaster. ** ||
 * Tone/Feeling || ** A satirical tone that reports the events in a objective manner, allowing readers to read the story as an individual event, yet feel Chang’s underlying sarcasm that pokes fun at Luo-(see character). Chang’s tone also lies a hint of degradation towards women, as she writes about women pleading or begging for their marriages, as seen from the lines “He spoke to her that night about divorce. She cried all night… “which seven out rules have I violated? She kept asking through angry sobs”. The message created is that the society, although changing, is bound by the long lasting thinking of favoring the male over the female. **
 * Tone/Feeling || ** A satirical tone that reports the events in a objective manner, allowing readers to read the story as an individual event, yet feel Chang’s underlying sarcasm that pokes fun at Luo-(see character). Chang’s tone also lies a hint of degradation towards women, as she writes about women pleading or begging for their marriages, as seen from the lines “He spoke to her that night about divorce. She cried all night… “which seven out rules have I violated? She kept asking through angry sobs”. The message created is that the society, although changing, is bound by the long lasting thinking of favoring the male over the female. **

** Chang’s exceptionally plain and monotonic tone acts oppositely, inevitably leading to readers thinking there are more ridiculous events lurking beneath this blandness. This is made evident through Chang’s un-opinionated narration of the events, which in my opinion is mocking the pathetic situations. ** ** By the tone of Chang’s description of the women during their divorce is quite degrading. Chang describes the wives of Luo almost begging him not leave, and begging him to take them back. Through this, Chang was trying to reflect the low social status of women, even during a time of change. ** ||
 * Writer’s Purpose || ** Chang uses the younger generation to symbolize a new cultural era, rid of arranged culture and constricting traditions. These conditions are shown to be common among the youngsters, but brings about the issue of cultural heritage. For example, without western influence, there wouldn’t be divorces, as in the story. However, the irony is that Luo does not end up much different than before, with him ending with three wives. Perhaps Chang uses this example to indicate the downside to the extreme case of having too much of the element of choice. **

** Constantly mentions agreements and lawsuits and rules - the total opposite of love – and mocks the traditional culture of arranged and forced marriages in China. For example, the basis of divorce is the “seven out rules”, indicating marriage is a “game” governed by these rules. The divorces also had to undergo lawsuits and payments as compensation, which gives the image that the marriages were material based and not genuine love. **

** Chang's portrayal of Western culture's dominating influence undoubtedly leads readers to think whether such influence actually poses a negative or positive effect on the cultural perceptions of the youth nowadays. We clearly see that Chang is trying to indicate the failure and need for change of cultural traditions, however, she ingeniously raises the question of "to what extent should we abide by tradition or submit to change?" ** ||
 * Themes || ** Many of the themes in this short story, particularly clashes between family members, conflict between duty and self-fulfillment, and compromised love—appear throughout Chang's work. **

** “Practically everybody was married and had children before ever hearing of love.” ** ** Emphasizes the faults of traditional Chinese culture of arranged young marriages for benefits of one side of the relationship. Usually the woman is arranged to be married to a man of broader knowledge or economically sustainable. However in one of Luo’s marriages, his marriage to the Wang daughter, he had chosen her as his romantic target due to the fact that her family owns the dye works. Here we see a reversal of roles and the male of the relationship is benefitting from the female, again a change and a deviation from the norm. **

** Love overpowers Culture, Money and Social Hierarchy. ** ** Through the unsuccessful marriages of ms Fan and Luo, we see that the reason behind is that the marriages they have subjected themselves to are not actual love, but false images of love generated by the false façade of money and social position. ** ** The rows between the old lady and Luo also represent a clash in generations – a clash in old and new thinking. ** || ** The god-like view of the characters gives allows readers to realize the pathetic situation even more. Lines such as “He never wanted her to look any different from the way she did when she had first known her” allow readers to read about their senses and other character’s actions simultaneously, while these actions are oblivious to characters in that parallel point of time. ** || ** With more dialogue, the events seem constructed and well planned, - not the idea of Chang to represent normal, common scenes. With more of a reported style, it seems the author is directly speaking to her readers, conveying her message. The dialogue used is limited and not scarce, they are deliberately preserved to reflect an idea or foreshadow an event through the character’s tone of voice. An example would be “It’s all her family’s doing.” When Wen told Luo about Ms Fan and the pawnbroker’s dinner date, although this line is reporting the facts and explaining to Luo the situation, the deeper level is pointing to the direction that Ms Fan is subject to an arranged marriage and **
 * Points of View || ** 3rd person omniscient narration conveys the message that the author is judging the current situation occurring to these young individuals. However, the author is not accounting their experience only, but uses them to represent the whole of China’s culture in a satirical point of view. **
 * Style || ** Mostly reported speech, with minimal dialogue, this effect gives readers the impression that it is reported and actually occurred in the past, instead of having the characters have a lot of dialogue, which decreases its credibility. **

** The pace of the story is also hastened through reported speech, this may be Chang’s motive to represent the preciousness of time, and how the character’s lives zip by as they get in and out of their marriage proceedings. ** ** The last line of the story, Chang cleverly includes a sarcastic saying 'Anyhow,' the friend would say, 'there are four of you -just right for a nice game of mahjong.' ** **to emphasize the pathetic situation Luo has landed himself in. The game of Mahzhong is a game that involves risk, a gamble. The mention of Luo’s situation being a gamble is ironic as his marriages also are uncertain and a gamble. The moral Chang may have wanted to convey is that change is necessary, but there will always be an element of risk involved and marriage, as well as new ideas are always a gamble.** ||

(1) "Stale Mates | Define Stale Mates at Dictionary.com." //Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com//. Web. 20 Oct, 2010. . Zareen Chiba, Class Comments, “Stale Mates”, EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010, [] 20 Oct, 2010 Ray Jang, Class Comments, “Stale Mates”, EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010, [] 20 Oct, 2010 Arthur Lo, Class Comments, “Stale Mates”, EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010, [] 21 Oct, 2010 Linda Olson, Teacher Comments, “Stale Mates”, EngA1S1012tracesgames, Nov 2010, [] 23 Nov, 2010