The Lengths We Will Go to Please Friends and Loved Ones

     It is a natural tendency of humans that as they approach adulthood and develop the ability to become full-fledged members of society, they hope to satisfy or impress their loved ones and friends that have always been there for them. Perhaps the single greatest fear individuals have is becoming a failure to not only themselves, but also to everyone who sacrificed for them while they were growing up. The unconditional love and gratitude we feel towards those that have taken care of us when we were unable to do so inspires us to go out and make something of ourselves. We can see just how strong the motivation is to please those closest to from Lu Xun’s piece entitled In the Wine Shop and Feng Menglong’s story dubbed Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger. Xun’s work details an individual’s return to a town in which he worked in the past where he encounters an old acquaintance that feels he has amounted to nothing. Menglong writes of a dastardly tale involving a prostitute whose freedom is purchased by a lover, only to be re-sold at a profit in order to please his disapproving parents. Both cases provide evidence that people are deeply concerned about how influential figures in their lives view them in adulthood.

The acquaintance that becomes the center of In the Wine Shop seems to be down on his luck and has questioned his place in the world. As is written in Lu Xun’s work, “Naturally I am much more obtuse than before, but there are still some things I realize. This makes me grateful to you, at the same time rather uneasy. I am afraid I am only letting down the old friends who even now still have some hope for me (Xun).” It is clear from these words that this character worries about being viewed as a disappointment by people in his past. Rather than amount to nothing, he hoped to show them all that he was not a waste of time and effort, but is nervous that this is not the case. The male character who resells the prostitute in Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger states, “With the thousand taels I will have a pretext on which to call on my parents,” a statement that indicates he will abandon something as strong as love just to impress his parents.