Caoxueqin’s “the story of stone” is one of the greatest long novel in China. It shows us exactly the best and worst of traditional China. I am interested in this novel because it begins with the mythology that shows me the magical stone was left by goodness Nv Wa when she repaired the damage of sky. The stone transported into mortal world as Jiabaoyu, in Jia household and began his flexural life.
This novel consist different kinds of characters and represents their tragic love. For example, the relationship between the stone and Crimson Pearl Flower imply the love between main characters, Baoyu and his cousin Lindaiyu. Although Jiabayou and Lindaiyu loved each other very much, they were not accepted to get marriage in the cruel feudal society. Jiabaoyu was forced to marry Baochai because older members in the family thought baoyu’s jade matched baochai’s gold locket. Baoyu and Daiyu are tragic characters in the end of the story. This novel talk about other people‘s love such tangchun, yingchun and third sister you, who contributed her life for her love. I feel the different taste of love in the large family and feel their courage to love. They did not care about the level, money and power when they fell in love. For example Shiqi, Yinchun’s maid, and Panyou loved each other and tried their best to get together.
People in Jia household always tried their best to love each other without caring the level and power. I feel that people right now care too much on power and money in their marriage. Some girls mention that they will not marry to their mate if they do not have own house and car. Although substances are very important in the marriage, they are not the key for two people to marry. I cannot imagine that couple only care about money and do not love each other. We should learn from these characters in “the story of stone” that we should know contribute to our love, not always get things from it.
I feel so sad that Baoyu and Daiyu did not get together at the end even they loved each other. Yes, in ancient China, the younger generation should not and could not disobey or against the elder generation. They had to follow and did everything the elders asked them to do even their marriage. There was no truth love among most of the couples in the ancient China. All the marriages were made by parents or elders. That was the ancient and traditional rules set for people from long time ago in China. Still, there were people fighting for the freedom of their marriage. However, most of them gave up or led to tragedy in the end because of the pressure from the society, the family and the traditional rules.
This novel has shown the problems facing China during that time period. Like Pope, Voltare and Swift, Cao Xueqin was ahead of the time. I believe the story is a tragedy because what was current was seen as a tragedy. The author was aware of the issues which people dealt with in their short lives and gave them something which they can relate to. These kinds of social issues and traditions explain some of Chinas traditions and social policies. Furthermore, i agree that this reading highlights the faults for some marriages and reminds people that marriage is not about property or money. It is about the love of two individuals.
I agree with the comment about marriage nowadays, too many people are worried about having all the money in the world and are willing to marry a man/woman who has that, that they may not truly love. I do feel that it is important to be able to live comfortably and not have to worry about not being able to pay rent or mortgage and such, but this shouldn’t be the reason why you marry a person, marriage should come from who you love and not possessions.
Today, so many people cared about material life. In modern China, when a gentleman talk about marriage with the parents of his girl, the most common questions the parents ask would be “do you own a house?” “do you own a car?” “how is your income?” Sometime, a couple love each other so much and wanted to get marry, the main obstacle comes from the parents of the girl. Not all true love can get together at the end, just like the ending of “the Story of the Stone.” There exits many obstacles against every couples. Although they face many different obstacles, they only have two endings, whether they get together or apart.
Baoyu and Daiyu’s tragedy shows the issues in the society. Usually, the older generations decided their children’s marriages based on the political and commercial interests. During that time, parents and the older generations decided all the things about their children, not only marriage. The very common issue of the younger generation was they couldn’t control their own destiny. Cao Xueqin wrote this story based on his own experiences. He was also suffering the same issues as Baoyu. Although he realized the social issues, he couldn’t write them down directly because of the serious censorship, so he hid his opinions in the novel.