Respond to one of the following questions by commenting on this post. You may also feel free to respond to comments posted by your classmates!
-What’s the connection between the broad historical material about the Ming Dynasty that begins the story and the narrative about Du Tenth and Li Jia’s relationship that follows?
-What kind of person is Li Jia? Does his behavior at the end of the story come as a surprise? Why or why not?
-How are courtesans represented in the story? Why do you think Feng Menglong chooses to depict them this way?
-Money plays a central role in the story. What does “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” seem to be saying about the relationship between money and love?
-Feng Menglong was interested in using literature to teach morality. What lesson is being imparted by this text?
The best way to describe Li Jia is that he is a very irresponsible young man. To start, Li’s father had to buy his way into the imperial school, rather than Li earning his way in through long hours of studying. Moreover, because Li came from such a wealthy family, he does not understand the value of money, and is very irresponsible when it comes to saving it.
In addition to Li’s irresponsibility, Li has a bad quality in which he lets his emotions dictate his behavior. For example, Li easily falls in love with Du Tenth, a prostitute from the district of pleasures. Since it was his first time experiencing sexual pleasure from a woman, he allows his strong emotions to dictate his behavior towards this woman after having sexual intercourse.
These two poor qualities of Li are shown especially at the end of Menglong’s story. Unsurprisingly, Li, unable to understand what money can and cannot buy, trades his lover for one thousand pieces of currency. Clearly this backfires negatively after his lover discovers what Li has done. In addition to this, Li at the end of the story, also allows his emotions to dictate his behavior in a negative way. Leading up the the agreement of the trade between one thousand pieces of currency and his lover, he was emotionally moved when he was reminded of how disappointed his father must be due to his recent decisions and actions. Rather than making rational decisions, he decides that the trade will be the best action to follow. As stated before, his actions obviously backfire on him, leaving him with nothing at the end of the story.
Throughout history, money has had the power to create relationships, even among sworn enemies, but also to destroy relationships among the closest of friends and even families.
We can see that money is a strong motive in “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”. Li Jia’s relationship with his father was founded on money. His father bought him access to the imperial academy, gave him money for livelihood and Li Jia was afraid of his father because he misused the funds he was given, he spent all of his money on a cause that his father will never approve. And so at the end when Li Jia is given the opportunity to restore his relationship with his father, he chooses the easiest option towards the sum that will make his father proud. He puts on a show for Du Tenth where he expresses deep sadness in losing her, but in reality, the love he swore to feel towards her vanished as fast as the money he spent in the capital. He didn’t want to face the real problems of his relationship with his father, but to sweep them under the rug with 1000 silver coins. He wanted to buy his way back.
In my opinion, the reason Du Tenth hid the fortune she had in her possession is because of she was afraid that Li Jia will spend it all irresponsibly, and so, she had a plan on how to restore his relationship with his father and buy her way into the family.
It seems like both Du tenth and Li Jia had true feelings for one another but when their personal desires didn’t work out the meaning of love faded in their eyes and anger, sadness and shame took their place. Du Tenth was angry for Li Jia’s betrayal, but in fact, underneath the lovers mask she was using him to achieve her goal of stability and dignity at last.
The relationship in “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” between money and love is a very big and obvious one. Money plays a huge role in a lot of the decisions made throughout the story. A lot of the characters are dependent on money for many things. Du Tenth thinks that money is the only way that she can start a new life and not be defined by prostitution. Li Jia supposedly loves Du Tenth and uses money to buy her, get her out of this lifestyle and make her happy. This shows a link between using money to help achieve happiness for someone you love.
Furthermore, as the story goes on Li Jia is faced with a decision to give up Du Tenth in exchange for money. He takes the money and gives her up because he thinks that it will make his father happy to see that he has this money now. He made two decisions based on his love for another person, and used money to try to make the other person happy. Money and love are two themes that reoccur within the story and play a major part in everything that happens.
I think the lesson that Feng Meng Long is trying to teach is a lesson about prostitution. The piece has many elements that seem overly sexist and judgmental. “A rare hero among women like Tenth”, this implies that women in general have few good qualities. Women are represented in this piece as either a prostitute, or a madame, and that is the extent of how they are described. While men have the roles of merchant, nobleman, soldier, scholar, and patron. The lack of roles for women are probably historical, given the time period this was written in, but it also shows how little the author thinks of women and the different things that they can be in a society. A womans worth is determined by how beautiful she is, or how she can please or entertain a man. Feng Menglong doesn’t seem to like prostitution or even women very much, and seems to me like he is trying to warn against becoming involved with either.
-What kind of person is Li Jia? Does his behavior at the end of the story come as a surprise? Why or why not?
Li Jia is an immature and irresponsible person. He is unreliable and cannot be depended upon. He has yet to grow out of his childish barricade as he remains dependent upon his father for almost everything. Li Jia is guided by money yet is a fool when it comes to the topic. Throughout the story, Li Jia is faced with the idea of love, a feeling that to many holds more value than money. Li Jia plays along with the course of this artificial love story until his true colors are again exposed as he is faced with a self-defining decision. When Li Jia chooses money over Du Tenth it is solidified to the readers that money will always be what strings Li Jia along. His character has yet to develop emotionally. This behavior does not come to a surprise as we look back at the initial introduction of Li Jia’s character. He is a dependent coward, a foolish spender, and not the brightest in the bunch.