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?
“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 a man child. He spent his childhood studying but didn’t get it done in the local school because he was probably messing around. When he goes to the Northern capital, he spends his time at the music school with his friend from home. He keeps putting off the inevitable bad news, and looks for a way out.
Li Jia came from a wealthy background but had a bad habit of spending money which later led him to having nothing. He is a guy who lets people easily get inside his head and doesn’t go with his own instincts but of others. He was also a coward who avoided situations in order to not let his prestige family down even if it would lead him to being lonely and depressed.
He was so in love with the young and beautiful Di Tenth but his fear of being rejected by his father and friends led him to make bad decisions. His behavior at the end of the story did not surprise me because it was evident from the beginning that he wasn’t man enough to stand by his feelings of love and let others easily persuade him into doing what they wanted. He let an acquaintance he rarely even knew influence him to sell his woman who was deeply in love with him just for a chunk of change. Now he pays with severe sadness with Du Tenth’s death and is now looked by the public with even worse shame.
-What kind of person is Li Jia? Does his behavior at the end of the story come as a surprise? Why or why not?
Jia Li was an unconfident, vulgar and indecisive person who came from a wealthy family and took scholarly position in the imperial academy by providing money. In spite of having all these advantages, he couldn’t become successful. His behavior in the end of the story was not surprising as we can see from the beginning of the story, he is incapable of doing anything on his own and was aimless. When he fell in love with Du Tenth and decided to marry her, he couldn’t raise the funding and couldn’t come up with a plan to manage the potential issues that could have arisen with his family. In addition, he had no control over his spending and was not ashamed of spending his partner’s money. Because of having lack of assertiveness in his own decisions, he was easily provoked by Sun Fu and acted stupidly.
-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?
From the beginning of the story you can see how much money plays an important role. For Tenth, the money meant nothing because there was love and trust. Tenth kept the relationship going with moral support and staying optimistic because she loved Li. He was the love of her life and like anyone you love, you stand by their side through thick and thin, for richer or poor. When the story comes close to its ending it becomes evident that Li wasn’t wise enough to put love first, but instead chose money. Being blind to the trap set upon him by Sun Fu. The story holds a message of how money can ruin everything. Some people put money at a very high importance, in which it is but to an extent. in this situation Tenth kept telling Li that they would be okay and he didn’t have faith. It makes me think of how in the city you see homeless couples together on the cold concrete floor, but they’re still together, the love is still there. Money didn’t define, nor should it ever define ones’ relationship. I think that is the lesson Li failed to realized and made a fool of himself.
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 incompetent and unreliable person. He doesn’t work hard and just spend all his father’s money until there is nothing left. He was only able to get into the academy through his father’s help and not his own skills. Even when he had to collect 300 taels in 10 days to free Tenth, Li already thought of giving up by the third day. If it weren’t for scholar Liu and Tenth who had both contributed half of the payment, he probably wouldn’t have fulfil the deal. Knowing his personality and characteristics, his behavior at the end didn’t come as a surprise. He wasn’t capable of solving his own problems and are easily swayed by other people. His decision at the end ultimately led to Tenth’s death.
-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?
In “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” money does play a crucial role. Attaining a life with the one’s beloved is not fathomable unless you have adequate funds. This is a reoccurring problem that presents itself numerous times throughout the story. In order for love to prosper one needs to have the adequate funds to support the relationship and the ability to continuously obtain these funds. Li jiang lacks the character to be able to support a relationship. First, he cares not for his studies which shows that he is not thinking about a future for he and his loved one, then when asked to come up with money to buy Du Tenth he fails at his objective. Later when he has money at hand he squanders it on new travel clothes for himself and lacks money for the actual trip. If he really cared about her he would have found the means to acquire the money and manage correctly whatever little money they had. Ultimately, one cannot live off of love alone. It in it of itself can take a relationship only so far. Money or having enough to support oneself and their loved one is a crucial component of love and without it, love cannot prosper.
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 was an immature man who comes from a rich family. As a child, he attended a neighborhood school and later his father sent him to Northern capital where he studied music. He always hangs out with his old friends and spends his father’s money. His behavior at the end of the story was not shocking because we saw at the beginning of the story, he was inadequate of doing anything on his own. Also, he does not have enough money and he could not make the right decisions. As a result, he lost his love.
-Feng Menglong was interested in using literature to teach morality. What lesson is being imparted by this text?
In “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”, Feng Menglong used literature to teach morality by showing two different people that felled in loved. One who was prostituting herself, Du Tenth, and another who were buying her services, Li. Li acted as a man who just wanted love, and Du Tenth, a woman who was being paid for sexual favors by Li. The story had a great turn around in the end, when Li favored money over love, and Du Tenth, who wanted love over money. While Li was becoming more poor, he became greedy. As for Du Tenth, as she was getting wealth, all she wanted was love. The lesson Menglong wanted to show in the novel, “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”, was money shouldn’t have to play a role in any relationship. A relationship shouldn’t be paying for someone’s way in or out for that sense. The true love comes from the heart. The heart will speak to you and send messages through your body and will in most definite be so obvious, you’ll know if you fell in love. This story was getting me anxious as I read the novel. I really did not see Li to make a switch in what Du seemed to be.
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’s short stories attempt to chip away at the seemingly perfect and righteous life the wealthy class lives by depicting the human condition of want and greed–one which is pervasive amongst people regardless of class. At the beginning of the story, money provides Li the means to “acquire” what he claims to be love. However, to retain that love and create a meaningful life with Du Tenth, circumstances require him to gather money. Money is important to create even a simple life with someone. It can control others’ actions. Money is a bond from which you can never be free. However, greed corrupts and blinds individuals from what they have just as it did Li. He failed to heed Du Tenths words and lost treasures against which his impulsive greed amounted to nothing. Money is important to create a life with another, but greed will only serve to destroy that possibility. It is not money in itself that is evil. Rather it is the individual that can be corrupted and blinded if he lusts after it.
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 addresses the complication between money and love in “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”. From what it seems, Love is the easier part of the two. When Du Tenth feels as if she has finally fallen in love it is to be blinded by an individuals greed, in this case being Li Jia. Du Tenth becomes blinded by her love for Li, and does not realize that he is only making her out to be a fool. For him to be unable to come up with the 300 is embarrassing because if he in fact loved her the way the way she believed he did, then money would have not been an issue regardless of his financial status. Li chooses himself of Du Tenth in various occasion and proved to the audience that he is in fact just another person who rather have money over love.
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 a young individual with a lot of promise, in the story the perception of Li is that he is a young stylish master who is well educated, successful, and full of passion. Moreover we see that he becomes the ideal husband for Dui Mei, the fact that he has courage to pursue Due Mei given her background shows how much he truly cares about her. However the reality soon becomes that Li Jia is someone who is very selfish, self centered, and a weak individual who can’t make his own decisions. In addition his want of financial gain and status within his family show proves to be why he is a very weak man. Lastly Li Jia persona is not a complete surprise to me as we can see who Li Jia is in small doses for example his inability to make decisions, never having any money and then without a moments thought selling out Dui Mei we see the nature of his character is truly revealed.
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?
In “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” money plays a bigger role than one might expect. Li Jia is someone who comes from a wealthy family, but is essentially cut off and has no more. However, being accustomed to the lifestyle he once lived, money was subconsciously always in the back of his mind. Rather than doing something extreme in order to get Du Tenth out of her situation, Li Jia accepted the offer to buy her love essentially in order to get her away from the brothel. Upon winning his prize, Du Tenth, Li Jia then goes on to sell Du Tenth in order to get money he doesn’t have as well to spite his father. This just goes to show that Li Jia was brought up on the ideal that money can get you want you want in life — even though he gave up what he thought he wanted. Money clouded his judgement in the end.
What kind of person is Li Jia? Does his behavior at the end of the story come as a surprise? Why or why not?
In the beginning of the story, Li Jia seemed to be a good man. When Li Jia was told to bring three hundred taels to madam within 10 days for Du Tenth to be out from the quarters and be Li Jia’s wife, Li Jia literally tried to get that money. However, he is not a very competent guy to be strong enough to support his wife whatever he suffers from. Although he got her out of the quarters and married her, he sold her to a guy whom he met on the journey with Du Tenth. His love on her seemed really sincere. But, he ended up giving up on her easily because of money.
The end of story is not surprising. In the middle of the story, he used all of the traveling expense for his clothes that Du Tenth raised.
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?
-Ming Dynasty was founded by the Hongwu emperor, which defeated Mongol Yuan and established his reign at Jinling (became Ming Dynasty). At that period, Hongwu emperor swept away the barbarians in order to build a community that he can take control of them. It led a disparity between people who are well-educated,rich, and have a status and another people who are in lower status. This historical background connects to du tenth and Li Gia’s relationship as showing the differences of circumstances among their each status. As Li Gia stands on higher class, he or his surrounding people basically manipulates women (Du tenth) or lower-class people as possible as he wants.
What kind of person is Li Jia? Does his behavior at the end of the story come as a surprise? Why or why not?
At first, Li Jia seems like a decent person who is in love with a courtesan. Du Tenth and him both made a plan to get her out of the brothel by paying off the madam. Although he didn’t have the money to buy Du Tenth, he went out of his way to make up the money. Although he didn’t make enough and Du Tenth had to give what she had on the side, he didn’t run off and spend it on another courtesan. So he seems trustworthy and loyal to Du Tenth. However, towards the end, the betray Du Tenth by selling her to another man who likes her because he doesn’t think Du Tenth is presentable to his family since her pass is a courtesan. He became a scum and dishonest to her so Du Tenth suicide since since she doesn’t want to be prostitute anymore. So Li Jia is the reason why Du Tenth killed herself because of the decision he made instead and not loving her enough to put her feelings over his.
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?
The reason for the author mentioning a brief history lesson in the beginning of the text is to input the stance of the country they’re in. During the time when the Ming dynasty existed they had a golden age where people focused on literature, arts and experimentation. In the text it mentions soldiers visiting brothels and constantly drinking, why would the soldiers be drinking if war could breakout? incontestable which left the people exploring the nations offerings. This relates to the two characters relationships because it sets up an explanation of why a young man would be vising a brothel to for his pleasure. It leaves the reader with information that would eventually plug in the holes they might have later.