Great+Felicity

GREAT FELICITY

__//**Characters**//__

//**Simei + Erqiao**//

We decided to group these two characters together because they seem to be presented as duplicates of the same person. They bounce their comments off of each other and share the same sentiments, and self-centredness. [1]  The two are portrayed as arrogant //nouveax riche//  young women who have a superiority complex. They tend to make nasty derogatory comments about sensitive issues even towards their close relatives. The things they say are very shallow, and are made up of derogatory and mean jokes. The reader is made aware of all their internal feelings making them even less likeable. Chang appears to have used them as a way of indicating how all the cynicism and malice within high-class Chinese society is as childish and foolish as they are. Below are some examples that support this point. ‘Although their father had scholarly pretensions, he’d only made his fortune in recent years, the daughters still had this air of fresh and vulgar merriment.’ P39 This quote places the behaviour of the Lou sisters in contrast with that of Yuqing, or other members of her “old money” family. As they have not been rich for long, their behaviour is portrayed as being more vulgar. Yuqing is portrayed as having more class. The two sisters have less of the behavioural restraint that comes with wealth maturity. ‘Each of them felt that hers was the most important role in the wedding.’ P39 This clearly reflects the egocentric and selfish attitudes of the sisters. I think the comment regarding the exploration of class in the short story is valid, as are those suggesting you do a 'final edit' that combines the points of pair/group better (Linda). //**Yuqing**//

The bride-to-be, born of an eminent family in decline. She seems to know the social system very well, and is able to “play the system”. For example, despite being a member of a rich family, that family is in decline. Her mother-in-law, Mrs. Lou, is a miserly person who “loved her son, but she loved her money, too.” So to ensure that they could get everything they might want, they left “the important things till last, so that when they had used up their money they could ask for more.” [2]  Yuqing knew that social rules dictate that for a married couple “a bed, for example, was a must.” By choosing to purchase that at the end, Yuqing and Dalu managed to squeeze more money at of their parents for other items.

“She’s so stiff you could say ‘when thrown to the ground there arises the music of bronze bells and stone drums”!’ Simei to Erqiao P37 This quote does two things. It reveals an aspect of Yuqing’s appearance. It also is an example of one of Simei and Erqiao’s harsh comments. ‘The best thing about Yuqing was that she had breeding. She brought out the best in everyone.’ Dalu’s thoughts P47 This quote reveals how in Chinese society, class, status and knowledge constitute the highest priority factors for an ideal mate.

Yuqing is the centre of attention as one of the newly married couple. As such, much of the cynicism contained in the society is directed towards her, meaning she is regularly placed in embarrassing situations. [3] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For example: “Yuqing felt that she should be touched and was a little uncomfortable.” P42-43.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Mr. Lou**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scholar, has a degree from America.

P44-45 Direct analysis: “a most capable man, especially good at managing people in social situations. He was a tall man, and though he wore Western suits, he made people think of a graceful dancer with flowing sleeves. His social skills were, in truth, a kind of dance that dazzled his audience and made their heads spin while he twirled <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//en pointe// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” Self-conscious about his image. “His face would be strained with impatience, yet he would adopt a conciliatory tone, for he had a reputation for being a good husband.” P49 “Her husband has always been concerned about his reputation even when they were poor.” This reveals a certain irony about high-level Chinese society. People care more about how they appear to others, than actual human-to-human compassion.

Xiaobo behaves towards his son in a cold and business-like attitude <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[4] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Even so, they keep most of their conversations between themselves, ignoring Mrs. Lou. Xiaobo asks Dalu question after question, acting very much the displeased boss. “Why does he have to give you a separate one? Do we have to give him an invitation? Is he one of your drinking buddies?” P49 His tone is demanding, as if he is used to his son acting like his subordinate. There is evidence to suggest that Xiaobo and Dalu got into heated quarrels before. “Mrs. Lou was afraid father and son might get into a row and quickly said…” P48 These situations occur when Xiaobo feels that Dalu is undermining his authority, in this case by explaining himself, which Xiaobo might have taken as being talked back to. This quote also shows how despite being marginalized, Mrs. Lou has an integral role in maintaining peace in the family. Mr. Lou shows affection

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Mrs. Lou**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Author makes you sympathize for this character.

Her name is never mentioned, as if she has died. She feels constantly inferior, constantly put down by the rest of the family. She’s never allowed to do anything that she likes, and does not have a right. She is segregated, alone, always by herself. Her thoughts are towards herself. She represents the aimlessness of marital life. Her life is not under her control. Instead her husband’s behaviour towards her depends on the presence of other members of the family. “she deliberately insulted her husband in front of others, just to show... that things were not as outsiders might think.” Mrs. Lou recognizes the effect of her actions all too well, and she actually does things on purpose to undermine Mr. Lou’s image. But actually she has little self-confidence/self-esteem. Movements clumsy, thoughts not in order, nervous. She does things to feel younger, “lilac stockings”, letting black slip show, duck-tail hairstyle.

P44 “Her face was like a dumpling made by a child playing with dough that had been pinched and kneaded till the dirt from the hands got into the flour, making it a sort of dirty white.” Through the comparison of Mrs Lou and dirty dough, Chang is implying that she had been forced through the abuse of the society, especially people around her, which shaped/moulded her into the fake person she is right now. White is a colour associated with innocence, sincerity and purity; she used to be white until she became stained with the dirt from other people’s hands. This suggests that she had once been innocent and pure, but the experiences that she had been through had corrupted her in a sense.

P50 The bug, inexorably attracted to the light, is a symbol for Mrs. Lou. She at first thought it was a tear-drop, only finding out it was a bug after closer inspection. This draws a comparison between her tragedy, and how it may be because she feels as insignificant as an insect. The fact that the bug is “attracted by the light” brings up the point that, like the insect, she was attracted into the Lou family by the prestige.

“The truth was, Mrs. Lou did feel nervous about the whole visit. She opened her umbrella even before she got out of the door, then discovered that she couldn’t pass through and had to close the umbrella, once again splattering the floor with rain-water.” In addition to showing how Mrs. Lou is not too confident about her social interactions, it also demonstrates the farcically insulting behaviour that those of higher status can pull off without backlash.

P51 “with thirty years of countless <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//faux pas// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> behind her, she sat on, impervious.” The society treats her remarks with condescension, so she has become used to not saying anything at all (to shut herself out).

P56 “Mrs. Lou felt a sudden surge of disgust, but she didn’t know whether it was disgust for her husband or for those watching them act like a couple.” Here we see Mrs. Lou contemplating the status of her marriage. It is clear in her mind that her marriage is not firm, and not successful, and resents those who view their marriage in such a way. She feels that it is a blatant lie.

Mrs. Lou’s role in her family has diminished over the years and she takes up menial jobs such as making shoes to reminisce her past. “Tracing and cutting patterns for shoes had been her daily tasks before she got married and she was thrilled to have an excuse to retreat into her girlhood memories.” This reinforces the theme of marriage being a form of death, since to an aging Mrs. Lou, only her girlhood memories seem important. Laughter is an important way of expressing sarcasm, and when “Mrs. Lou knew that her husband had made a joke, but she didn’t really catch what he said, so she laughed the loudest”, Chang may be emphasizing the ironic nature of Mr. Lou’s question <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[5] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. There he is asking how good marriage feels when his own wife so obviously suffers it.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Liqian**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chang uses irony to describe Liqian’s behaviour. She prepares a nice dress, yet forgets about the low temperature, therefore cannot show the dress due to having to wear an overcoat. It shows how Liqian does not consider the practical issues first, instead prioritizes the superficial.

P52 “Liqian was born unlucky.” This seems to be Liqian’s own feelings. It is as if she is resigned to her fate, as if she has no drive, no will.

P53 “Her pale exhausted face was a challenge; it seemed to say, ‘I am tired of this world. That’s why I am also tired of you-are you tired of me?’ The challenge lay in the unexpected twist at the end.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Tangqian**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">P53 “In spite of all her years of spiritedness, she was still unmarried, and she was beginning to lose her self-confidence.” Again, a character is worried about how people view her. If she is not getting married soon, she feels it must be because of a fault of hers that she has not recognized yet.

P53 “Her little round soul had shattered, and had been repaired with white china... hard, white as snow and every bit as cold and cruel.” Chang likens Tangqian to the fragility of china. She also uses this metaphor to describe Tangqian’s character as unfeeling, blank and devoid of emotion. This says something about her ego, that during the course of waiting to be married, her self-esteem has gradually diminished, until she is little more than a fragile shell.

P53 “Tangqian’s laughing voice seemed to have teeth. At first, the teeth nibbled and teased, but eventually, their bite became painful.” This quote first draws attention to the falseness of Tangqian’s laugh as a genuine laugh would give off pleasant vibes. It also reflects her desperation, as she still has not found a willing mate yet.

P55 “She kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.” The smile becomes threatening, and scary. It seems as if it represents constrained anger rather than actual happiness.

It is ironic that despite Tangqian’s desperation to get married, she still choose to neglect potential partners due to their social class alone. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[6] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For example, “She asked if the usher standing at the door was the groom's brother. When she heard he was only a clerk from Xiaobo's bank, she lost interest" (P.53). Thus, Chang presents the narrow-mindedness and self-damaging nature of the behaviour of high-class Chinese.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Tangqian + Liqian (together)**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">P55, Tangqian and Liqian planned a social maneuver to leave early and make an impression on the assembled guests by drawing attention to themselves. This failed, because they were disrupted by a woman come to complain to their mother. Again, Chang is laughing at the stunts undertaken by the high-society Shanghainese. Tangqian and Liqian plan their actions around a very frail assumption. They refuse to confront their issue in a more direct way, for example to start a conversation themselves with a man. Chang shows how years of conditioning under social norms have removed their common sense.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**The Woman Who Interrupts Tangqian/Liqian’s Mother**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her purpose is clear. She has come to gain all the benefits of being a guest. The actual social features of the wedding are unimportant to her. After complaining and being repatriated, “She sat down and proceeded to shove food into her mouth, neither eagerly nor coldly, just totally impassively.” This suggests she had no actual anger at all, merely faked it in order to get what she wants.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Interpersonal Relationships**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The female characters in Great Felicity all represent different stages in terms of marital status. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//Additional: See Themes//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one really has positive feelings for another character. No one genuinely likes another of the characters. This is ironic since they should be happy as a newly joined family. As the readers, we are given an insight into the internal thoughts of the characters, which show a clear contrast between what they presented on the surface, and what goes on in their minds.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Setting**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Set in modern Shanghai in the 1900s; urban city life**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">· The development and description of characters accurately reflects the social climate and the cultural characteristics of the society at that time · Does not put much emphasis on the description of the physical setting of the story – more on characters and their actions/appearance · The weather is always bad – it is always raining in the story.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raining when Yuqing goes shopping
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raining when Mrs Lou goes to Dr. Li’s house
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raining on the day of the wedding

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pathetic fallacy used: adds to the miserable atmosphere of the story.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">i.e. “Her permed hair felt the heaviness of the rainy day. Please don’t let it rain the day after tomorrow.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Xiangyun Clothing Emporium: (direct description)**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">o P40 “The décor of the Xiangyun Emporium was in something called palace style, ” its red walls complete with gold dragon reliefs. The walls of the fitting room were hung with full-length mirrors and there were bridal pictures everywhere – different heads with different smiles sticking out of the same hired bridal gown. There was a kind of egalitarian and inhuman cheer about the little vermilion room.” o “Different heads with different smiles sticking out of the same hired bridal gown” – “egalitarian” – writer is suggesting that no matter who is getting married, the result of marriage will be the same – this links to the theme of marriage and death in the story

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Venue For Marriage**//


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A large hall
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In the grand hall, there were great red pillars entwined with green dragons. The walls were of black glass and a black glass altar held a little gold Buddha…the huge room with its colourful decorations was like a big glass globe, with shifting patterns of colour at its centre.”
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Typical Chinese traditional ornaments such as the dragons and gold Buddha may symbolise wealth, health and happiness. Venue seems to be of a bright and vivid. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[7]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Mood & Atmosphere**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although it seems that the scenes are very lively and the atmosphere is very positive, but in each and every part of the story, the feelings of one or more of the characters is depicted. The characters are almost never satisfied, and this is what gives us the impression of misery.

Thus the reader is presented with the general irony of this story, that happy events are happy only on the surface. This is especially emphasized by Chang’s cynical narrative tone.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fact that only the negative side of things are described
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 3rd person description switches its attention between characters regularly. The unhappiness and discontentment in each character is brought to the attention of the reader.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fact that all marriages in the story are unhappy and flawed
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fact that characters in the story do not have good relationships to each other – they either correspond to rivalry, or are insincere/fake.- Unhappy atmosphere, shown by the direct descriptions of characters’ negative emotions (usually phrased in short sentences as well, to add to its straightforwardness):o “Mrs Lou felt isolated.” P49
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…Xiaobo was annoyed.” P45
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There was a kind of valediction and desolation in her (Yuqing’s) heart.” P41
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Mrs Lou felt a surge of disgust.” P56- Words/adjectives with negative meanings are often used to describe characters and their actions and feelings, like vengeance, isolated, inadequate, desolation, frustration, embarrassment, vindictive, etc.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Tone**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Sardonic, cynical, sarcastic tone – Chang tends to describe the negative side of things, especially in terms of appearances: “Dalu was a head shorter than his father, with a placid, small face and ears that stuck out.” P47 “Lou Xiaobo also wore glasses and had a plump, round face.”- Dark humour, mainly shown in:o Analogies – Chang tends to vividly describe characters’ faces and at the same time associates them with different non-living objects. i.e. “Yuqing’s face was…like a freshly-made bed;…looked as if someone had plonked themselves down on the bed.” P40 i.e. “Erqiao..like a mosquito sucking the yolk out of an egg.” P41 i.e. “Her (Mrs Lou) face as like a dumpling made by a child playing with dough that had been pinched and kneaded…dirty white.” P44 Constant association with people and insects. Insects are commonly viewed as pests. Many insects are parasites, living off other living organisms. Other insects feed on other dying animals. Like the small, pitiable parasites and scavengers the text compares them to, the characters in Great Felicity are attendees at the death of an individual, Yuqing’s marriage. “Erqiao…like a mosquito” P41 “The guests were all flies climbing gingerly over the surface of the globe, trying to get inside” P52 “…like a maggot squirming out of a jar.” P57 Rhetorical questions from different characters’ points of views. They are the complaints that the characters have, coming to the fore. i.e. “it seemed to say, ‘I am tired of this world. That’s why I am also tired of you – are you tired of me?’” P53 i.e. “Do you <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//have// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to tie your hair in a duck tail? If it’s convenience you’re after, just shave your hair. Do you <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//have// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to wear lilac stockings? Do you <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//have// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to let your black slip show through the slit of your cheongsam?” P44- Switches points of views and therefore expresses different situations in different perspectives, in a blunt and direct way that is often sarcastic.o i.e. “She (Mrs Lou) had always resented the people around her.” P45- Chang writes with a sort of bluntness, especially when talking about the negative side of things. This adds to the sarcasm in her language.o “She loved her son, but she loved her money, too.” P47 o “At first, the teeth nibbled and teased, but eventually, their bite became painful.” P53

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Plot/Situation**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chang decided to express her thoughts and criticisms about Chinese society through a wedding story. Great Felicity is a story that follows the lives of members of the bride’s and groom’s families during build-up to the wedding and during the wedding banquet itself. First scene: The bride and her two sister-in-laws-to-be purchasing new and expensive clothing at the large “Xiangyun Clothing Emporium”. Second scene: Looks closely at the dynamics within the Lou family household. Considers the role of the wife in the household, or Mrs. Lou’s deterioration as a long-term wife. Examines the fact that no real compassion exists between the blood-related members of the Lou family. Third scene: Reveals how a person of the upper-class can completely dominate, do anything they want. It presents a case study where a carefully assembled reputation is actually very useful. Fourth Scene: The banquet itself. Men-women dynamics. Considers issues of social class in relation to desirability. Expresses the meaninglessness of the ritualistic proceedings within the marriage ceremony. Expresses how everyone views these proceedings in the same critical way, yet these proceedings must not be allowed to change. Explores the concept of marriage being a death of a sort, being locked

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Style**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Description of Feelings**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Author gives us a close-up experience of the characters’ feelings, showing how they are influenced and adjusted depending on external forces.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Figurative Language**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most often used to ridicule. Chang compares the aesthetics of characters to those of ridiculous inanimate objects, creating a laughable image of the character in ridiculous circumstances. ‘She kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.’ P55

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Rhetorical Questions**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chang makes the feelings of the characters towards social behaviour very clear by getting to ask questions as if the answer is a given.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Insect Similes**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“mosquito sucking the yolk out of an egg” “like a maggot squirming out of a jar” “all flies climbing gingerly over the surface of the globe” These images demonstrate Chang’s feelings towards the characters in high-class Chinese society. Like insects, they are disgusting to her and as insignificant as small pests

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Point of View**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3rd person perspective dives into the internal thoughts of different characters in turn. This feature allows the readers to judge the characters individually <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[8] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Only the reader knows the feelings they hide under the surface.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Time Scale**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The time scale of the short story is not clear. The time period between Yuqing’s buying spree to Mrs. Lou’s trip to the Li household is two whole days. The next scene (the wedding) does not have a specified time interval. But we expect that it occurred within several days. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[9]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**Themes**__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Marriage Is A Form of Death**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Death imagery used to describe Yuqing physiology. Below are many examples of how Chang links Yuqing's movements and body to death, making use of specific words (i.e. "bones") and strong, vivid imagery. P38 “‘The slightest touch and you can hear her bones knocking together.’” ‘“White Bone Demon’” P56 “her white gown stiffly starched and ironed, her body tilted forward at a precarious angle...” “Her features were indistinct, as if the shadow of a vengeful ghost had accidentally been captured on film.” P53-54 (During the procession) “The white bride with her half-closed eyes was like a corpse who had not quite awakened at the dawn of its resurrection.” Chang describes the corpse as an “it” instead of a “her”. This shows how, like a corpse, Yuqing has lost her identity through marriage. P57 A palanquin and the way it is carried holds similarities to a coffin. As the palanquin bearer’s neck is described to be “like a maggot squirming out of a jar”, death is associated with the proceedings. P58 “Yuqing hesitated a little, then, with all the aplomb she could command, she replied, ‘It’s fine.’ After she had said that, she blushed.” She says only two words, which sound like a conviction. It is as if she is agreeing to a new life that will change her.

Yuqing feels “a kind of valediction and desolation in her heart” as she shops for her wedding <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Use of the words valediction and desolation imply both the action farewell, as Chang intends to represent marriage as a form of departure, and death, as desolation connotes a scene where everything is dead or destroyed. Chang presents the ironic situation of an event of celebration that is perceived in an unhappy way.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Irrelevance of Married Women In Society**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the married women are not named. “Mrs. Lou” “Mrs. Li” and the “bride’s mother”. This implies that after marriage, women lose their individual identity and from then on become an addition to their husband. P49 “They were, after all, father and son. Mrs. Lou felt isolated... they, time after time, banded together to think of different ways to prove her inadequate.” Mrs. Lou is sidelined as if she has no right to contribute to the rest of the family. P56 “Her features were indistinct, as if the shadow of a vengeful ghost had accidentally been captured on film.” This theme leads directly into the idea of marriage as a form of death. Mrs. Lou has been married for a long time and as such has seemed to lose her rights as an individual. She does not have equal status within her family and is ignored. Neither is she encouraged to express herself individually or do things that she likes. Use of the word “ghost” ties in with the theme of marriage being a form of death. The way her appearance is becoming “indistinct” suggests she, too, like Mrs. Lou, is becoming insignificant, and more invisible.

Of the female characters in Great Felicity, from youngest to eldest we have Simei & Erqiao, then Tangqian & Liqian, Yuqing, and finally Mrs. Lou <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[11] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. There is a tendency to become less and less vibrant, less and less confident with extended experience of marriage. For example, with Simei & Erqiao, “Each of them felt that hers was the most important role in the wedding… they were the exciting previews for the ‘Next Change’”. Compare that to Mrs. Lou’s lack of confidence in approaching the Li’s, “Mrs. Lou felt that she had made a mess of things once again… The truth was, Mrs. Lou did feel nervous about the whole visit.”

However, the two characters most related by plot are Mrs. Lou and Yuqing. Mrs. Lou represents the long married woman, and Yuqing is constructed to be becoming more like her. As the reader follows Yuqing’s path to becoming like Mrs. Lou, the feeling that such an event is inevitable is conveyed to them. Yuqing and Mrs. Lou are mirrored in several ways. They both are marrying into a more affluent family, both have been blamed for their imperfect appearance. However knowledgeable, capable and strong-willed Yuqing may be now, she is slowly fading, and who can deny that she might, in a few decades, be a replica of the present Mrs. Lou? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Nothing Is What It Is On The Surface**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">P57 "Since she was married and even her eldest son was now married, she should have known that marriage was nothing like that. The weddings she has witnessed as a child gave her a feelin of woleness. Somehow, her son's celebration hadn't come together. She dod no know why that was." Hence, taking Mrs. Lou’s childhood memories of weddings, and comparing them to her experiences as a mature, married woman it is evident tht she was not exposed to any of the hidden social activity underneath the veil of festivity during the celebrations.

P42 “Of course, they kept smiling.” This draws immediate attention to the contrast between Erqiao and Simei outward image and their internal feelings. Emphasizes one of the points of the story that these members of China’s high society never act in a straightforward way.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**Happiness**//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take the quote “Yuqing was very careful not to let her excitement show - to be beside yourself with delight at getting married was a sure sign of an eager spinster.” It reveals one part of the complexities of high-level Chinese social behaviour <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[10] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Society would rather view fundamental feelings of excitement as a bad thing, a sign of over-enthusiasm, something that could only lead to negative things occurring. “Great Felicity”, the title of the short story, is a hyperbole. It over-exaggerates the expectation that a marriage should be full of happiness. Instead, it proves to be ironic as none of the characters in the story are revealed to be genuinely happy. The title contributes a lot to the author's sarcasm and cynic, plus social climate and the purpose of the story <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[12] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.

Most of the actions related to happiness (e.g. smiling, laughing) that the characters carry out throughout the course of the story are either mocking or insincere and feigned. This suggests that happiness amongst the characters is not real and is associated with disingenuousness. This is shown in:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“She (Tangqian) kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.” P55
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Of course, they (Simei and Erqiao) kept smiling.” P42 (fake)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Happiness or actions related to happiness are often associated with hysteria and intoxication, or are described using negative adjectives: “Suddenly, she (Tangqian) let out a wild hoot of joy and threw a whole bag of confetti at him.” P54
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There was a kind of egalitarian and inhuman cheer about the little vermilion room.” P40
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“They (Simei and Erqiao) laughed hysterically.” P38
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…the undertone of vindictive pleasure in her daughter’s remarks.” P46- Mrs Lou is especially associated with the lack of happiness, misery, etc.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">P43 “They knew that the shoes brought her some kind of enjoyment and they all begrudged her it.” It is as if Mrs Lou is not allowed to be happy or to even do the things that she enjoys. - The rose-coloured embroidered shoe symbolizes happiness. It is always described as being under the glass topped table, glittering in the light; this suggests that although it could be seen by the characters, it is unreachable and unattainable. P44 “...the rose-coloured embroidered upper of a slipper being pressed under the glass top of the table. The flat gold flowers glittered in the light.” It’s glory is clear from beyond the glass tabletop, but its image is almost taunting, so near yet so far. As such, Chang may be referring to o P46 “Mrs Lou still couldn’t bear to put down the embroidered shoe upper. It was dangling from a piece of cotton threaded through a needle on her bosom.” Mrs Lou is so close to being able to get a hold of the shoe upper, and yet she cannot – this once again emphasizes how unattainable happiness is for her. o P56 “The midday sun shone on the glass-topped table. The rose-coloured embroidered shoe upper under the glass glittered. Mrs Lou’s hand and heart rested a while over that brilliance.” At the end of the story, all Mrs Lou can do is admire its brilliance, but she can never obtain the shoe <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">[13] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The shoe is right in front of her, yet she has no incentive to take it out and continue working on it. This creates the feeling of untapped potential.

- The association of happiness with intoxication during the description of Mrs Lou’s memory of a wedding procession seen during her childhood: P57 Intoxication is a transient feeling that fades away quickly – this suggests that happiness is the same.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Making your head spin…”
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…like the strong yellow wine one drinks at Dragon Boat Festival.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alcohol is associated with intoxication.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…the spectators were also immersed in the procession.”
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…an immense sense of joy outside themselves that left them reeling.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here “reeling” suggests a kind of light-headedness, and is also associated with intoxication. So Chang is implying that the happiness marriage creates is only momentary and that it fades away quickly.

1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 Lo, Fay. “Class Comments”, 2010, http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Great+Felicity.

4, 5, 11, 13 Cheung, Agnes. “Class Comments”, 2010 http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Great+Felicity.

8, 10, 12 Au, Benedict. “Class Comments”, 2010 http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Great+Felicity.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20pt;">GREAT FELICITY

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">(comments from Agnes in blue)

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">(Benedict’s comments)

Anna

(Fay's comments in pink)

Linda's comments.

General better organization and structure needed. Quotes should be used to explain and link points, not just for the sake of being there.


 * //__<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Characters __//**

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Are two arrogant //nouveax riche// young women who have a superiority complex and tend to make nasty derogatory comments about sensitive issues even towards their close relatives. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Towards each other their relationship seems to be strong since they bounce their comments off of each other and share the same ideas. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">‘the daughters still had this air of fresh and vulgar merriment’ P39 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">‘Each of them felt that hers was the most important role in the wedding.’ P39 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Why not get a couple more while you can?” Simei to Erqiao P36
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Simei + Erqiao //**

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Young //nouveax riche// (newly rich people). With long experience of wealth comes certain moral responsibility in how you deal with it (has not happened for these two).

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Extravagant, and arrogant. Superiority complex. Talk behind people’s backs. Very judgmental. The things they say are very shallow. Not honest. Derogatory and mean jokes (mostly about sensitive topics). Pretentious, put on a fake air, hide all the insults behind smiles. (The fact the reader knows this makes them even less likeable.)

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The points are quite accurate and complete but rather repetitive, perhaps more attentive and careful organisation is needed when compiling work by different group members.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In addition to being young and rich, the sisters were very mean and looked down upon others. For instance, they were unhappy that Yuqing spent all the 50000 dollars of dowry on herself, but not on her new family as a whole. The sisters were also cunning in a sense that, on one side, told Yuqing not to buy shoes for her gown, saying that her mother-in-law was making a pair for her, but on the other side, they asked their mother to forget about those shoes, as if Yuqing had already bought a pair.

Most of the points about the sisters are listed above. They are like two peas in a pod, always there for one another, and they have each other to back up. They are self-centred and two faced.

The quotes should be used to directly link to each aspect of their personalities, and needs better organization. As well as what is already mentioned in your points, they are also quite condescending and immature, and seem very class orientated.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Yuqing

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">The bride-to-be, born of an eminent family in decline. She seems to know the social system very well, and is able to “play the system”.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">“She’s so stiff you could say ‘when thrown to the ground there arises the music of bronze bells and stone drums”!’ Simei to Erqiao P37 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">‘The best thing about Yuqing was that she had breeding. She brought out the best in everyone.’ Dalu’s thoughts P47

again, explain and link the quotes, make them relevant. Yuqing is one of the few characters who we are given a physical description of from a number of points of views. She is perceived by the two sisters that she is unattractive, " 'Yuqing's figure... brother hasn't seen what she looks like when she takes off her clothes'... 'The slightest touch and you can hear her bones knocking together'", " 'Big frame' ", " ' Her skin is white enough... a pity she reminds you of the other way of the White Bone Demon!' " (page 38), While she is described by Chang as "she was not as ungainly as her sisters-in-law made her out to be." (page 39). Could do with elaboration of her personality - at the start, how do we learn about other than from the descriptions of her? We see that she's extremely excited about the wedding, because she "was very careful not to let her excitement show" (page 40), but she is also worried and anxious, because she's being very careful about how she behaves, and the preparation for the wedding.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">It would be a good idea to elaborate on each quote given and how it presents the character to be, rather than to just type it up. There is actually a lot written about Yuqing's appearance and figure in the story (P.39 as well), although probably biased and exaggerated, so that more can be said about her here.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Additionally, you can consider analysing Yuqing's personality shown from P.40-41, which is about how she shopped for her wedding, for example "She believed that a woman only had one chance in her life to indulge herself, and she should make the most of it. Whatever she saw, she bought, as if there was no tomorrow. There was a kind of valediction and desolation in her heart. Her sadness as she shopped for her trousseau was not entirely put on." It interests me how in an event of celebration there is "sadness" and "desolation" for her, so perhaps it is something that can be elaborated on?

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Additional description: <span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Yuqing was actually content about the marriage. From a declined family, she was already in her late twenties and was unattractive. However, she was still able to marry a rich husband, and so she was, quote, //very careful not to let her excitement show.//

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chang’s description of Yuqing is quite interesting. Every time Xiaobo talked about international issues and politics, he would meander on and on for hours at a time. Yuqing seldom spoke during the process but she still earned the praise from Xiaobo, saying that she was // an unusually knowledgeable woman //<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">in the surrounding crowd who could understand what he had been talking about. Yuqing is excited about her marriage, and seems to want everything to run smoothly and perfectly.eg "Yuqing was still worrying that it (dress) might be a little too long." p39 She comes from a poor family background compared to the Lou family, so she found it tough purchasing things for the wedding at a reasonable price for her. She is careful about managing money for purchases for herself. But when she does the shopping for their own home, she purchases the little things first, leaving the more expensive things till last so they can ask for more money when they run out of it. She is embarassed when the 2 sisters find out that she had bought a cheaper version of the same pattern which was in fact very bad quality. there are other occasions where she gets embarassed, and is in an awkward situation. ie, when the sisters tell her that Mrs Lou will make her a pair of shoes, she feels that she should feel touched, yet she feels uncomfortable and awkward that she leaves the store quickly by herself. Also, at the end, when asked how it feels to be married, she hesitates and blushes.

You may wish to address a number of the points made above. I would like to know why you feel she 'knows how to play the system' (which I think is true, but you need to provide evidence of it). I am not convinced (in response to the pink) that she is the one who has purchased poor quality fabric. Actually, it's quite the opposite. Also, perhaps you want to discuss Mr. Lou's feelings about her. Doesn't it seem a bit odd? (Linda)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Mr. Lou

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Scholar, has a degree from America.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P44-45 Direct analysis: “a most capable man, especially good at managing people in social situations. He was a tall man, and though he wore Western suits, he made people think of a graceful dancer with flowing sleeves. His social skills were, in truth, a kind of dance that dazzled his audience and made their heads spin while he twirled //en pointe//.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">When people are not around, he is actually quite rude to his wife. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Self-conscious about his image. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">“His face would be strained with impatience, yet he would adopt a conciliatory tone, for he had a reputation for being a good husband.”

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P49 “Her husband has always been concerned about his reputation even when they were poor.”

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">The point about Mr. Lou being quite rude to his wife when people are not around is quite unconvincing. I definitely agree that Mr. Lou may not be the perfect husband as his reputation suggests him to be, but I would strongly suggest more evidence and quotes from the book to support this, for example and especially in P.48, where he suddenly complains "Do I have to take care of everything in this household? What have you been doing? ... These two things weren't really related, but Mrs. Lou knew that Xiaobo had more than once made the same kind of complaint in front of the relatives.". Do you (blue) mean it's unconvincing because they haven't evidenced the claim, or because you don't agree with it? Something to talk about in class. There is a lot of emphasis in this short story on 'performance' of roles rather than 'genuine interactions', so this is an important point.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">More can be said about him other than being a husband, but as a father, from his interactions with his son (P.48) or a new father-in-law (P.57).

Yes, it's worth exploring what 'thread' runs through his relationships with different characters, and how they differ.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Mrs. Lou

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Author makes you sympathize for this character.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Her name is never mentioned, as if she has died. ^ or perhaps because of the social role and importance of women in society and marriage? Mrs Lou - because she 'belongs' to someone? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">She feels constantly inferior, constantly put down by the rest of the family. She’s never allowed to do anything that she likes, and does not have a right. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">She is segregated, alone, always by herself. Her thoughts are towards herself. She represents the aimlessness of marital life. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Her life is not under her control. Instead her husband’s behaviour towards her depends on the presence of other members of the family. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">“she deliberately insulted her husband in front of others, just to show... that things were not as outsiders might think.” ^She didn't want to lose face when people were around.. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">But actually she has little self-confidence/self-esteem. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Movements clumsy, thoughts not in order, nervous. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">She does things to feel younger, “lilac stockings”, letting black slip show, duck-tail hairstyle. Does this show her as being 'younger' or is it a marker of her lower class in relation to her husband? Her inability to 'carry off' her role?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P44 “Her face was like a dumpling made by a child playing with dough that had been pinched and kneaded till the dirt from the hands got into the flour, making it a sort of dirty white.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Through the comparison of Mrs Lou and dirty dough, Chang is implying that she had been forced through the abuse of the society, especially people around her, which shaped/moulded her into the fake person she is right now. White is a colour associated with innocence, sincerity and purity; she used to be white until she became stained with the dirt from other people’s hands. This suggests that she had once been innocent and pure, but the experiences that she had been through had corrupted her in a sense. <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Good insight shown. I am not convinced that the portrayal is this positive, but yes, we do feel some sympathy for her.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P50 The bug, inexorably attracted to the light, is a symbol for Mrs. Lou. She at first thought it was a tear-drop, only finding out it was a bug after closer inspection. This draws a comparison between her tragedy, and how it may be because she feels as insignificant as an insect. The fact that the bug is “attracted by the light” brings up the point that, like the insect, she was attracted into the Lou family by

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">(Incomplete sentence) By what? It was an arranged marriage, wasn't it?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">“The truth was, Mrs. Lou did feel nervous about the whole visit. She opened her umbrella even before she got out of the door, then discovered that she couldn’t pass through and had to close the umbrella, once again splattering the floor with rain-water.” Context? You have lots of good quotations, but what's the point?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P51 “with thirty years of countless //faux pas// behind her, she sat on, impervious.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">The society treats her remarks with condescension, so she has become used to not saying anything at all (to shut herself out). Shut herself out of what?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P56 “Mrs. Lou felt a sudden surge of disgust, but she didn’t know whether it was disgust for her husband or for those watching them act like a couple.” Context?

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Additionally about Mrs. Lou:

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">(P. 42) Through the conversation between the Simei, Erqiao and Yuqing regarding the shoes and Erqiao's thoughts, we can actually see how her daughters see her and hence learn more about Mrs. Lou herself. <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">(P.43) The second and third paragraphs are all about Mrs. Lou and can be put to good use. <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">(P.58) The last paragraph of the page where "Mrs. Lou knew that her husband had made a joke, but she didn't really catch what he said, so she laughed the loudest." ends the story and holds quite a significance and should not be ignored, as it also says something about Mrs. Lou and perhaps how she does what is expected of her. <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Again, it is very insufficient to leave a quote and just leave it at that. Each quote given must be elaborated to present a point.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Additional description: <span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">When Mrs. Lou visited the Li’s place to ask Dr. Li to serve as a chief witness for the wedding, she put her dripping-wet raincoat on the leather sofa, left her leather coat unbuttoned, and wet the carpet with her umbrella. It shows that she was uncivilized. She was cheap as well, since she presented the Li family with two canisters of tealeaves. Tea leaves were merely anything to a wealthy high-class family. Maybe... I don't know the cultural practice. I've seen some pretty expensive tea! Referring to Benedict's point about Mrs Lou being cheap, on p47 "She loved her son, but she loved her money too." This shows how she is stingy. The important point is that it is her son's wedding, and we would assume that every parent would be willing to contribute more for their child's marriage. She'd rather give them her bed and use the single bed than give them money to buy a new one. She doesnt think about her actions and how they may affect Mr Lou's reputation.

Interesting that the story revolves around a new marriage, but the focus is on the marriage and specifically on Mrs Lou. Is she perhaps a foreshadowing character of what Yuqin will be like in the future? She and Mr. Lou were a mismatched couple - similarity to how the sisters thought Yuqin was not a suitable match for their brother? Yuqin and Mrs. Lou are extremely different characters! Marriage is critiqued as a 'tomb' or 'death', but the two are contrasted in most other ways. The last paragraph on how Mrs Lou, not understanding her husband's joke, laughs the hardest - she alike Yuqin knew what is expected of themselves as a role of a wife, so has to act as so.

**//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Liqian //** <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Chang uses irony to describe Liqian’s behaviour. She prepares a nice dress, yet forgets about the low temperature, therefore cannot show the dress due to having to wear an overcoat. It shows how Liqian does not consider the practical issues first, instead prioritizes the superficial.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P52 “Liqian was born unlucky.” This seems to be Liqian’s own feelings. It is as if she is resigned to her fate, as if she has no drive, no will.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P53 “Her pale exhausted face was a challenge; it seemed to say, ‘I am tired of this world. That’s why I am also tired of you-are you tired of me?’ The challenge lay in the unexpected twist at the end.” What is her relation to the other characters?

Liqian's relationship with oth

**//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tangqian //** <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P53 “In spite of all her years of spiritedness, she was still unmarried, and she was beginning to lose her self-confidence.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Again, a character is worried about how people view her. If she is not getting married soon, she feels it must be because of a fault of hers that she has not recognized yet.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P53 “Her little round soul had shattered, and had been repaired with white china... hard, white as snow and every bit as cold and cruel.”

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P53 “Tangqian’s laughing voice seemed to have teeth. At first, the teeth nibbled and teased, but eventually, their bite became painful.”

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P55 “She kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.” The smile becomes threatening, and scary. It seems as if it represents constrained anger rather than actual happiness.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">The above quotes are undeniably significant and says a lot of the character. However, as before, without elaboration, they do not mean anything here. I would insist that these quotes must be elaborated. <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Furthermore, Tangqian is actually quite desperate and tries to be acquainted with the best man, Sanduo, Dalu's brother. This can be seen from places like "More quietly she asked if the usher standing at the door was the groom's brother. When she heard he was only a clerk from Xiaobo's bank, she lost interest" (P.53).

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">P55, Tangqian and Liqian planned a social maneuver to leave early and make an impression on the assembled guests by drawing attention to themselves. This failed, because they were disrupted by a woman come to complain to their mother.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Good point, but perhaps you can focus more on relating this to Tangqian.

Why have this array of unhappy, unfulfilled women playing a game?

**<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I trust that Chang __specifically__ used the two pairs of sisters, Simei & Erqiao, and Liqian & Tangqian as contrast. **

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">The first pair was young and happy. Given the fact that they were upstarts, they were not so well-bred and did not have much courtesy. The latter pair was abased and felt inferior as they are poor and turning mid-twenties, with no hope of getting married in the near future.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Chang also contrasted Liqian with Tangqian. They had the same background and were in the same marital situation. Tangqian was very aggressive in hunting Sanduo during the wedding, but on the contrary, Liqian was very impassive. Chang might want to show the different attitudes of people in difficult times. ^ agreed with above

title needed! **//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Woman Who Interrupts Tangqian/Liqian’s Mother //** <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">Her purpose is clear. She has come to gain all the benefits of being a guest. The actual social features of the wedding are unimportant to her. After complaining and being repatriated, “She sat down and proceeded to shove food into her mouth, neither eagerly nor coldly, just totally impassively.” This suggests she had no actual anger at all, merely faked it in order to get what she wants.

Faked what?

**//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Interpersonal Relationships //** <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">No one really has positive feelings for another character. No one genuinely likes another of the characters. This is ironic since they should be happy as a newly joined family. As the readers, we are given an insight into the internal thoughts of the characters, which show a clear contrast between what they presented on the surface, and what goes on in their minds. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;"> <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">I believe it is not very fair to say no one really has positive feelings for or genuinely likes another character (more like they tolerate each other most of the time?) but there is indeed a clear contrast between what they present and what they truly think. [Blue] where do you see genuinely positive feelings? I would tend to agree with the writers.

**//__<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Setting __//**

**//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Set in modern Shanghai in the 1900s; urban city life //** · <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The development and description of characters accurately reflects the social climate and the cultural characteristics of the society at that time · <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Does not put much emphasis on the description of the physical setting of the story – more on characters and their actions/appearance · <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The weather is always bad – it is always raining in the story. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">o Raining when Yuqing goes shopping <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">o Raining when Mrs Lou goes to Dr. Li’s house <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 15.9pt;">o Raining on the day of the wedding · <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Pathetic fallacy used: adds to the miserable atmosphere of the story. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">o i.e. “Her permed hair felt the heaviness of the rainy day. Please don’t let it rain the day after tomorrow.” <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Good observation. What PART of the 1900s, do you think? Why? a century is a long time. 1930s Shanghai is quite different from 1990s! Interesting point.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Xiangyun Clothing Emporium: (direct description) // <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">o P40 “The décor of the Xiangyun Emporium was in something called palace style”, its red walls complete with gold dragon reliefs. The walls of the fitting room were hung with full-length mirrors and there were bridal pictures everywhere – different heads with different smiles sticking out of the same hired bridal gown. There was a kind of egalitarian and inhuman cheer about the little vermilion room.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">o “Different heads with different smiles sticking out of the same hired bridal gown” – “egalitarian” – writer is suggesting that no matter who is getting married, the result of marriage will be the same – this links to the theme of marriage and death in the story Interesting. There also seem to be quite a few places where people are 'performing' China/being Chinese?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Venue for marriage: <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">o A large hall <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">o “In the grand hall, there were great red pillars entwined with green dragons. The walls were of black glass and a black glass altar held a little gold Buddha…the huge room with its colourful decorations was like a big glass globe, with shifting patterns of colour at its centre.” Typical Chinese traditional ornaments such as the dragons and gold Buddha may symbolise wealth, health and happiness. Venue seems to be of a bright and vivid. But Chang makes fun of it. She describes it as a place that Western people might imagine. There are flies on the ball, aren't there? Explore...

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Mood & Atmosphere

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Although the story is about a marriage, which is supposed to be a jovial and happy event, the overall impression of it is misery – thus bringing out the theme of unhappiness and marriage.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Basically, most scenes are very lively indeed, full of people and the atmosphere was nowhere near miserable. The “misery”, however, is related to the internal feelings of certain characters, e.g. Mrs. Lou, Liqian and Tangqian. I disagree, I don't think the overall impression of the story is miserable at all, in fact, the wedding itself had a very positive atmosphere; "Guests were cheering and throwing confetti." I agree with the above,that the misery relates to the characters and their background but not necessarily to the story.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">One of the major ironies of the story. This is especially emphasized by:o Chang’s cynical narrative tone <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o The fact that only the negative side of things are described Like? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o The constant switching of POVs, which mainly describes each character’s unhappiness and discontentment to the things around them Does POV really switch? Omniscient dpoes not equal a change... Be careful... <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o The fact that all marriages in the story are unhappy and flawed <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o The fact that characters in the story do not have good relationships to each other – they either correspond to rivalry, or are insincere/fake.- Unhappy atmosphere, shown by the direct descriptions of characters’ negative emotions (usually phrased in short sentences as well, to add to its straightforwardness):o “Mrs Lou felt isolated.” P49 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “…Xiaobo was annoyed.” P45 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “There was a kind of valediction and desolation in her (Yuqing’s) heart.” P41 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “Mrs Lou felt a surge of disgust.” P56- Words/adjectives with negative meanings are often used to describe characters and their actions and feelings, like vengeance, isolated, inadequate, desolation, frustration, embarrassment, vindictive, etc. good observation above Generally good points...

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Tone

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Sardonic, cynical, sarcastic tone – Chang tends to describe the negative side of things, especially in terms of appearances:o “Dalu was a head shorter than his father, with a placid, small face and ears that stuck out Like what? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">.” P47 Do you find it interesting that she alludes to Western cartoons at all? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “Lou Xiaobo also wore glasses and had a plump, round face.”- Dark humour, mainly shown in:o Analogies – Chang tends to vividly describe characters’ faces and at the same time associates them with different non-living objects. Suggesting what? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">i.e. “Yuqing’s face was…like a freshly-made bed;…looked as if someone had plonked themselves down on the bed.” P40 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">i.e. “Erqiao..like a mosquito sucking the yolk out of an egg.” P41 Quotation doesn't make sense. You've left a bit out that it can't do without. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">i.e. “Her (Mrs Lou) face as like a dumpling made by a child playing with dough that had been pinched and kneaded…dirty white.” P44 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o Constant association with people and insects: <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Erqiao…like a mosquito” P41 What about her was? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“The guests were all flies climbing gingerly over the surface of the globe, trying to get inside” P52 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“…like a maggot squirming out of a jar.” P57 WHAT is? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o Rhetorical questions from different characters’ points of views <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">i.e. “it seemed to say, ‘I am tired of this world. That’s why I am also tired of you – are you tired of me?’” P53 What is it? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">i.e. “Do you //have// to tie your hair in a duck tail? If it’s convenience you’re after, just shave your hair. Do you //have// to wear lilac stockings? Do you //have// to let your black slip show through the slit of your cheongsam?” P44- Switches points of views NO SHE DOESN"T. You are confusing an omniscient narrator with multiple narrators. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">and therefore expresses different situations in different perspectives, in a blunt and direct way that is often sarcastic.o i.e. “She (Mrs Lou) had always resented the people around her.” P45- Chang writes with a sort of bluntness, especially when talking about the negative side of things. This adds to the sarcasm in her language.o “She loved her son, but she loved her money, too.” P47 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “At first, the teeth nibbled and teased, but eventually, their bite became painful.” P53 Lots of quotes are given, but maybe they can be discussed further. Explain how they are related to the tone and how it is affected. please link and explain the quotes and the points made!

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Plot/Situation

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chang decided to express her thoughts and criticisms about Chinese society through a wedding story. Great Felicity is a story that follows the lives of members of the bride’s and groom’s families during build-up to the wedding and during the wedding banquet itself. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">First scene: The bride and her two sister-in-laws-to-be purchasing new and expensive clothing at the large “Xiangyun Clothing Emporium”. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Second scene: Looks closely at the dynamics within the Lou family household. Considers the role of the wife in the household, or Mrs. Lou’s deterioration as a long-term wife. Examines the fact that no real compassion exists between the blood-related members of the Lou family. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Third scene: Reveals how a person of the upper-class can completely dominate, do anything they want. It presents a case study where a carefully assembled reputation is actually very useful. In what sense? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Fourth Scene: The banquet itself. Men-women dynamics. Considers issues of social class in relation to desirability. Expresses the meaninglessness of the ritualistic proceedings within the marriage ceremony. Expresses how everyone views these proceedings in the same critical way, yet these proceedings must not be allowed to change. Explores the concept of marriage being a death of a sort, being locked <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">You have not only give the plot/situation but some themes as well. Perhaps this part would be clearer if only the plot/situation is given and the themes presented separately.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Style

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Description of Feelings

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Author gives us a close-up experience of the characters’ feelings, showing how they are influenced and adjusted depending on external forces. How? This is 'that'.

perhaps elaborate on significance of only exploring the emotions of certain characters? why not Yuqin's groom who, based on the plot, one would assume to be a very important character?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Figurative Language

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Most often used to ridicule. Chang compares the aesthetics of characters to those of ridiculous inanimate objects, creating a laughable image of the character in ridiculous circumstances. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">‘She kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.’ P55

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Rhetorical Questions

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chang makes the feelings of the characters towards social behaviour very clear by getting to ask questions as if the answer is a given. Getting who to ask questions? Specific examples?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Insect Similes

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“mosquito sucking the yolk out of an egg” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“like a maggot squirming out of a jar” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“all flies climbing gingerly over the surface of the globe” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">These images demonstrate Chang’s feelings towards the characters in high-class Chinese society. Like insects, they are disgusting to her and as insignificant as small pests Context is all!

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Point of View

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">3rd person perspective dives into the internal thoughts of different characters in turn. In other words,it's omniscient. The points of view are seen through the author and her way of describing the characters actions, thoughts and feelings. It allows the reader to judge the characters, eg, Simei and Erqiao sisters.Only the reader knows they are fake and two faced.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Themes <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">__

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marriage is a form of death

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Death imagery used to describe Yuqing physiology. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P38 “‘The slightest touch and you can hear her bones knocking together.’” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">‘“White Bone Demon’” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P56 “her white gown stiffly starched and ironed, her body tilted forward at a precarious angle...” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Her features were indistinct, as if the shadow of a vengeful ghost had accidentally been captured on film.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P53-54 (During the procession) “The white bride with her half-closed eyes was like a corpse who had not quite awakened at the dawn of its resurrection.” Chang describes the corpse as an “it” instead of a “her”. This shows how <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">(Incomplete) <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P57 A palanquin and the way it is carried holds similarities to a coffin. As the palanquin bearer’s neck is described to be “like a maggot squirming out of a jar”, death is associated with the proceedings. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P58 “Yuqing hesitated a little, then, with all the aplomb she could command, she replied, ‘It’s fine.’ After she had said that, she blushed.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">She says only two words, which sound like a conviction. It is as if she is agreeing to a new life that will change her. Great series of quotes that could be used for the IOP.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Irrelevance of married women in society

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">All the married women are not named. “Mrs. Lou” “Mrs. Li” and the “bride’s mother”. This implies that after marriage, women lose their individual identity and from then on become an addition to their husband. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P49 “They were, after all, father and son. Mrs. Lou felt isolated... they, time after time, banded together to think of different ways to prove her inadequate.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Mrs. Lou is sidelined as if she has no right to contribute to the rest of the family.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This theme leads directly into the idea of marriage as a form of death. Mrs. Lou has been married for a long time and as such has seemed to lose her rights as an individual. She does not have equal status within her family and is ignored. Neither is she encouraged to express herself individually or do things that she likes. Good points.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nothing is what it is on the surface

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Take Mrs. Lou’s childhood memories of weddings, and compare them to her experiences as a mature, married woman. She was not exposed to any of the hidden social activity underneath the <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">(Incomplete) Explain... <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Of course, they kept smiling.” CONTEXT?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Happiness

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Most of the actions related to happiness (e.g. smiling, laughing) that the characters carry out throughout the course of the story are either mocking or insincere and feigned. This suggests that happiness amongst the characters is not real and is associated with disingenuousness. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This is shown in:o “She (Tangqian) kept smiling, as if she had a slab of white china in her mouth, and couldn’t close it up.” P55 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “Of course, they (Simei and Erqiao) kept smiling.” P42 (fake) Use false (fake is too informal). <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- Happiness or actions related to happiness are often associated with hysteria and intoxication, or are described using negative adjectives:o “Suddenly, she (Tangqian) let out a wild hoot of joy and threw a whole bag of confetti at him.” P54 <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">She actually did so to try to catch the attention of Sanduo, so perhaps this is more like a pretence of joy with a hidden agenda. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “There was a kind of egalitarian and inhuman cheer about the little vermilion room.” P40 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “They (Simei and Erqiao) laughed hysterically.” P38 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “…the undertone of vindictive pleasure in her daughter’s remarks.” P46- Mrs Lou is especially associated with the lack of happiness, misery, etc. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P43 “They knew that the shoes brought her some kind of enjoyment and they all begrudged her it.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is as if Mrs Lou is not allowed to be happy or to even do the things that she enjoys. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- The rose-coloured embroidered shoe symbolizes happiness. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is always described as being under the glass topped table, glittering in the light; this suggests that although it could be seen by the characters, it is unreachable and unattainable.o Or perhaps it detracts from the attempts at appearing sufficiently suav? I don't think the shoes are a matter of social attainment. They are a reminder of her poor past. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P44 “…his eye fell on the rose-coloured embroidered upper of a slipper being pressed under the glass top of the table. The flat gold flowers glittered in the light.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">She can only see but cannot touch the shoe – happiness is unattainable for her. Unconvincing. She's put it there to flatten it. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o P46 “Mrs Lou still couldn’t bear to put down the embroidered shoe upper. It was dangling from a piece of cotton threaded through a needle on her bosom.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Mrs Lou is so close to being able to get a hold of the shoe upper, and yet she cannot – this once again emphasizes on the fact that her happiness cannot be achieved. Unconvncing. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o P56 “The midday sun shone on the glass-topped table. The rose-coloured embroidered shoe upper under the glass glittered. Mrs Lou’s hand and heart rested a while over that brilliance.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">At the end of the story, all Mrs Lou can do is admire its brilliance, but she can never obtain the shoe. Why not? What does the shoe represent? Her happier past where she had a purpose? A bit muddled here.

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">One suggestion is to consider the possibility that the embroidered shoe upper has been put under the glass-topped table by Mrs. Lou herself to keep the shoe upper pressed and flat and intact. I am doubtful of it signifying so much, as the rose-coloured embroidered shoe uppers are being made by Mrs. Lou herself for Yuqing. I suppose if talking about how unattainable happiness is to her, I would suggest it is represented rather by how she is unable to finish making the shoes after all. (She felt happy making the shoes.)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- The association of happiness with intoxication during the description of Mrs Lou’s memory of a wedding procession seen during her childhood: P57 <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Intoxication is a transient feeling that fades away quickly – this suggests that happiness is the same.o “Making your head spin…” Context? <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “…like the strong yellow wine one drinks at Dragon Boat Festival.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Alcohol is associated with intoxication. <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “…the spectators were also immersed in the procession.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">o “…an immense sense of joy outside themselves that left them reeling.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Here “reeling” suggests a kind of light-headedness, and is also associated with intoxication. CONTEXT?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">P57 The association of a marriage procession and “happiness” with alcohol and intoxication - “like the strong yellow wine one drinks”, “the spectators were also immersed in the procession”, “...an immense sense of joy outside themselves that left them reeling.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Intoxication is generally a transient feeling that does not last long, and is associated with addiction. Here Chang is implying that the happiness marriage creates is only momentary and that it fades away quickly.

What about classes in society and the preconceived judgements of one when you're in a certain class? I felt that Erqiao and Simei undermined Yuqin's appearance because of her looks, and because of her poorer family background they assumed that her family would start becoming friendly towards them for future marriage bonds between the two families.

Also mention structure of the story - I found it very strange that a story with a plot based around a marriage, the main characters were not the bride and groom of the wedding, and that our female protagonist is actually Mrs. Lou. Why do we hear so little from the bride and groom? Significance of Mrs. Lou? also the irony in the title compared to the book!

<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Additional notes: <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It would be a good idea to work on the significance of the title 'Great Felicity' as it does contributes a lot to the author's sarcasm and cynic, plus social climate and the purpose of the story.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Additional notes: <span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When I first read the story, I did think that the female protagonist is Yuqing. However, when I re-read the story, I rather thought that the main character is Mrs. Lou.

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The story was about Mrs. Lou’s status in the family and her relationship with her husband and children. She was pure and innocent when she got married, and had worked hard for the family as a housewife, and to raise her kids as a mother. She tried to please her husband and her children but she was respected by none of them. She felt inferior as she was neither knowledgeable nor gregarious. This was the normal destiny of women in those days. How does this show a society in transition?

<span style="color: #e36c0a; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">For Yuqing, she was like the young Mrs. Lou, poor, unattractive, and possessed inferiority. However knowledgeable she was, who can deny that she might, in a few decades, be a replica of the present Mrs. Lou? She has 'class'. She is offering the Lou family an 'in' to the 'old rich' elite. This is not a sustainable argument. Mrs. Lou is ignorant and incompetent. Yuqing is suave.

Additional notes: You can also describe the structure of the story. Chang seems to describe each character in pairs in different areas of the story. Simei and Erqiao at the beginning, Yuqing along with the 2 sisters in the beginning, Mr and Mrs Lou in the middle, and Tangqian and Liqian in the end. Is there any purpose for this? Also, refer to the time scale in the story. Interesting question.

Mostly good points, some unconvincing ones (see my comments). Main thing is that quotations don't mean anything when they are not attached to an interpretive claim and/or explained.