Dream of the Red Chamber General Introduction The Dream of the Red Chamber, or Honglou Meng is also known

n as the Story of the Stone Shitou ji ). It is seen as the penultimate example of classical Chinese fiction. It could be compared to the Tale of Genji in its scope and subsequent stature in China as a serious work of fiction. The DRC is massive in scale. It is made up of !" chapters, and over #"",""" words. $oreover, there are over %" main characters and &"" minor ones in this lar'e and meanderin' stor(. The title of the work) Red Chamber* refers to the sheltered quarters where the dau'hters of wealth( families lived, so one meanin' of the title is a dream of (oun' ladies.* The word red* also su''ests the +uddhist idea that the world is red dust* i.e. lackin' an( true value and thus needin' to be shunned. This +uddhist reli'ious meanin' is reinforced b( the word dream,* which is often used in reli'ious scripture as a term for the world we live in. The DRC was written sometime in the middle of the ,th centur( durin' the Qing Dynasty ( -&&. / !). The author is a man named Cao Xueqin who appears to have been an overwei'ht alcoholic who obsessivel( worked and reworked his stor( over man( (ears. Compared to the relativel( impersonal tradition of Chinese fiction before him, Cao 0ueqin1s novel is ver( autobio'raphical in its compulsion to tell a private truth and intimate realit(. The novel1s hero is often seen as an amal'am of the author and his stor(teller friend 2hi(an 3ai who must have witnessed similar scenes in the Cao famil(. In fact, the author of DRC often revised the novel at the su''estion of his friend, who was worried that it mi'ht be read as too obviousl( referrin' to an actual famil(. In the first chapter, the author sa(s that this novel was intended to be a memorial to the women friends, relatives, and servants he knew in his (outh. In fact, the lar'e number of female characters is a remarkable feature of this novel. The DRC is also valued for its precise and detailed observations of ,th centur( Chinese societ( and dail( life. 4verall, the

DRC offers an incredibl( detailed episodic record of the lives of a lar'e aristocratic clan 5the 3ia6 who are livin' in the capital of +ei7in'. 8astl(, the DRC is also si'nificant for its contribution to the development of vernacular fiction. It is written in a mixture of classical and spoken Chinese. Conversations are represented in +ei7in' dialect, which is the basis for modern spoken Chinese. Traditional interpretations of the novel treat it as a love stor(, as political satire, as autobio'raph(, as a work that praises women, as well as a quest for identit( and an understandin' of one1s purpose in life. In modern times, the novel has been valued for its ps(cholo'ical realism and philosophical depth. Chinese communist interpretation has treated it as a critique of feudal societ( and how it squashes the individual under the wei'ht of tradition and famil( obli'ation. Communist critics often praised the first !9% of the stor( as fulfillin' this function. +( contrast, the( have often viewed the final 9% as escapist in its reli'ious concerns. :estern scholarship has tended to appreciate the novel as a sort of total vision* of Chinese culture. In literar( terms, it includes examples of ever( ma7or 'enre of writin', includin' poetr(. $oreover, the DRC sheds li'ht on ever( aspect of elite and popular culture) famil( life, social roles, reli'ion, amusements, food, medicine, clothin' and architecture. It is also valued for the wa( in which it hi'hli'hts the 'ap between social ideals and realities. 8astl(, the overall structure of the novel can be seen as a reflection of traditional views of the world at lar'e. Plot Overview The manner in which the DRC is told is vastl( more complex than that of the Tale of ;en7i. Rather than rel(in' on a sin'le narrator, the author of the DRC carefull( arran'es multiple narrators at var(in' de'rees of distance from himself. To be'in with, the stor( is told b( a <tone and not the actual writer Cao 0ueqin. The novel opens in the voice of a stor(teller 'ivin' the stone1s back'round stor(. The stor(teller then shows the exchan'e between the stone and two immortals and reveals its transformation into a 7ade pendant in this world. This 7ade pendant is born in the mouth of the main male character and worn as

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a pendant around his neck throu'hout the stor(. The stone then reappears with the stor( of its experience in the mortal world en'raved on it. This en'raved stor( is then copied down b( a priest and sent to the actual author, who merel( edits and revises what is ostensibl( the stone1s autobio'raph(. This character* thus serves to link to'ether dream and wakin' world, and mortal and immortal realms. It also views events throu'h the e(es of +ao(u, while at the same time also offerin' a separate viewpoint on different occasions. The stor( focuses on the wealth( Jia fami y who, like the Cao famil(, have en7o(ed imperial favor for 'enerations. The famil( is divided into two compounds in the capital) the !ingguofu , which is headed b( selfish sex.obsessed males= and the Rongguofu , which is headed b( capable matriarchs. >t the start of the novel, the( are one of the most wealth( and influential families in the capital. The chief s(mbol of this status is the fact that a female member of the clan has been made an imperial concubine. ?owever, as the stor( pro'resses, the clan falls out of favor at the imperial court, which even raids and confiscates their mansions. The novel1s hero, "aoyu is the heir of the Ron''uofu line of the household. @erhaps because he 'rows up in a matriarch(, he devotes his time and ener'( attendin' to the needs of the women in his extended famil(. instead of developin' his masculine talents at learnin'. ?e has a tendenc( to dislike other men and is unhapp( about the expectations that he stud( the Confucian classics in order to embark on a proper career. Instead of movin' into a masculine world of work 5i.e. becomin' a 'entleman*, he prefers the compan( of women and the pleasures of literature. ?e is sensitive and compassionate, and famousl( remarks at one point that #omen are by nature $ure as #ater% men dirty as mud. >nother important and compellin' character in DRC is &hoeni' ((ang Xifeng 6, who appears in the section we read. <he is portra(ed as one of the most powerful women in the 3ia clan. @hoenix wields enormous economic and political power in the famil( as a result of the fact that she is the favorite of the older matriarchs who she entertains with 7okes etc. ?er name refers to a m(thical bird of authorit(= and she is in man( wa(s the

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opposite of chief female prota'onists who are frail and sensitive. <he is vi'orous, loud and can be cruel, plottin' the deaths of several male and female characters. <he is seen as capable and stron' but also corrupt and devious, and it is her activities which eventuall( brin' disaster to the entire 3ia clan. Characters are often defined throu'h their complementar( opposites. :omen in particular are or'aniAed around +ao(u in c(cles of similarit(, competition, friendship and death. The chief characters in this re'ard are " a)* Jade (+in Daiyu ) and &re)ious C as$ (Xue "ao)hai ) who are cousins of +ao(u and ob7ects of his affection. +lack 3ade is beautiful but emotionall( fra'ile and prone to fits of 7ealous(. >t the same time, her sensitivit( makes her artisticall( talented, especiall( in thin's like poetr( and music. In contrast to +lack 3ade, @recious Clasp is sensible and tactful. <he is the favorite (oun' woman in the 3ia clan and a model example of a sociall( respectable 'irl. +oth women compete over +ao(u. >lthou'h +lack 3ade is the closer one in spirit and sentiment to +ao(u, the seriousness of @recious Clasp1s challen'e to this is s(mboliAed b( a 'olden lock she possesses which is inscribed with characters matchin' those of +ao(u1s stone. @recious Clasp ultimatel( triumphs at the expense of +lack 3ade, whose delusive and overl( emotional nature leads to her sickness and eventual death. ?owever the victor( is a @(rrhic one, because a karmic link from the previous lives of +lack 3ade and +ao(u mean that their fates are linked. +lack 3ade, it turns out, is a fair( plant reborn to repa( love with tears* in 'ratitude for the <tone who watered her when the( were in the court of the ;oddess of Disillusionment. +ecause of this tie, +ao(u is ps(cholo'icall( devastated b( +lack 3ade1s death and becomes a monk after @recious Clasp bears him a son to carr( on the line and restore the 3ia famil( fortunes. The novel thus ends with the triumphant re. emer'ence of the famil( line, but also the spiritual liberation of its main hero. Teenage Romance Bnlike conventional lovers in other romances bein' written at the time, those in Dream of the Red Chamber do not end in con7u'al bliss. Rather, the( reflect the reli'ious teachin' that ever(one who lives in this world is doomed to sufferin', death, and separation. The

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main characters of the novel, all of whom are either teena'ers or (oun' adults, are placed in the romantic tradition of unconventional individualism, in which devotion to one1s feelin's leads to death. In traditional Chinese thou'ht and medicine, the emotions are associated with yin qualities that drain awa( the bod(1s ener'ies. :hen (in ener'( exceeds the proper bodil( balance, it can lead to poor health. The deaths of (oun' people in the novel are seen as the re'retful consequence of youthfu $assions (qing ) whose s(mptoms include frail health and emotional delicac(. >t the same time, however, sufferin' from love is elevated and contrasted throu'hout the novel with the ust (yin ) of several immoral male characters who use mistresses solel( for sexual pleasure. Thus, the hero +ao(u is not overtl( sexualiAed in the novel, he is concerned rather with seekin' friendship and empath( with women. This has the effect of portra(in' him as 'ender.neutral, or at least adolescent with re'ard to his sexualit(. ?e and his female companions escape adulthood in an id(llic space known as the Daguan yuan (,reat -ie# ,arden). The Da'uan (uan was built in honor of +ao(u1s elder sister, who wanted her brother and his female cousins to en7o( the kind of friendship and warmth denied her as a consort in the imperial harem. In this space, the (oun' members of the 3ia clan en'a'e in riddles, 7okes, wine, 'ames, and chatter. It is also a space in which the( achieve a hi'h de'ree of culture in the form of a poetic salon. Bltimatel(, however, this 'arden is a fra'ile retreat from adulthood. <ex is still a part of their lives in the form of dreams, even nuns are susceptible to them. The final fall from 'race occurs when a purse with porno'raphic pictures on it is discovered b( a maid. Crom this point on the 3ia famil(1s fortunes turn and subsequent chapters are often praised for bein' realistic and unsentimental. The concept of romantic feelin' 5qing6 that is central to traditional Chinese novels here has a broader sense of emotion as part of some lar'er cosmolo'icall(.'rounded principle (xing or li ). Thus, the conclusion to the stor( is cast as a debate over human nature between $encius, who ar'ues for social obli'ations as the essential course of emotion, and 8aoAi who sees human nature as ideall( lackin' desires.

In 'eneral, commentators value the doomed +lack 3ade over the more calculatin' @recious Clasp who 'ets the man* in the end and doesn1t die the same sort of principled death. In communist criticism, +lack 3ade is often seen as a revolutionar( mart(r* who pa(s with her life for floutin' tradition. ?er place in the romance can, in fact, be seen as a comment on the social realities of her time. <he is one of five beauties who are all cousins and orphans 5note how orphans feature prominentl( here as in the Tale of Genji because their love is outside the usual considerations of famil( members seekin' alliances.6 <he is a tra'ic character in the sense that she is cut off from her female elders who mi'ht help her in marria'e. +( contrast, +ao(u benefits from havin' a father who is a respected 'overnment official. 8ikewise, the elderl( matriarch who presides over the famil( in the novel is alwa(s surrounded b( her relatives. >ll the scenes in which characters are in public social settin's with their kin are treated as happ( events in the novel. It is onl( in private spaces that thin's 'o awr(. Allegory The plot is framed b( Daoist and +uddhist reli'ious ideas. >s alread( mentioned, it opens with the tale of a sentient stone who enters the mortal realm after be''in' a Daoist priest and +uddhist monk to let him experience the world of humans. The quasi.m(thical frame of the novel at its start is also a si'nal that we should not read it simpl( as a realistic portra(al of human realit(. Cor this reason, man( readers have seen it as an a egory in which the narrative uses extended structural patterns to refer to correspondin'l( complex patterns on another, hi'her level. It is noteworth( in this re'ard the word dream* is prominent in the title. Dreams were an established mode of alle'or( as well as a comment on the illusor( nature of existence in a Daoist9+uddhist sense. The novel1s settin' in an enclosed 'arden of earthl( deli'hts can be seen as an attempt to alle'oriAe the place of human experience within the lar'er universe b( representin' it in concrete finite terms. The name of the 'arden is literall( ;reat Diew* and like the universe itself, Chinese fiction tends to work throu'h c(clical patterns of chan'e. The DRC is characteriAed b( formal relations of complementar( opposites 5yinyang6 which ceaselessl( alternate and overlap. The stor( itself often focuses on points of transition from

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one of these modes to another, in which both co.exist. These liminal moments tend to hi'hli'ht the one that is bein' superceded b( its complementar( opposite. The text is structured as a never.endin' a ternation of scenes dealin' with traditional polarities of joy and sorro# ( )% union and se$aration ( )% or $ros$erity and

de) ine (!" ) that were often used in traditional East >sian narratives. 4ne ma7or narrative device is alternation between sti ness and mo.ement (#$ ) in the form of alternatin' patterns of e')itement (%& ) and ennui ('( ) in the lives of +ao(u and his cousins. The chief form this takes is the alternation between moments of hi'h drama that are punctuated with seemin'l( inconsequential accounts, characters, and famil( rituals. $arria'e, official visits, official services, and +uddhist withdrawal also establish a rh(thm of entry and e'it )* between the inner* world of the Da'uan (uan and the vast universe outside it that resemble theatrical sta'in'. >nother polarit( is the complicated inter$ ay bet#een rea ity and i usion (+, ) as mediated throu'h the dream of the true* author 2hen +ao(u back in his Fan7in' 'ardens and the false* 3ia +ao(u livin' out the author1s dream.fantas( in the capital. Curthermore, the name of the 3ia famil( has the same pronunciation as the word 7ia* as illusor( or fake. Thus the novel1s famil( is marked as a fictional or dream* version of his own famil( mixed in with real details.* 8astl(, the interpla( between realit( and illusion takes on reli'ious si'nificance in the stor( and informs its overall structure. > +uddhist monk and Daoist priest reappear throu'hout the narrative to mock or enli'hten mundane people in moments of spiritual crisis. This has the effect of puncturin' the dail( realism of plot with 'estures to a 'reater metaph(sical truth.

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