Friday, February 24, 2012

The Structure of Power in Mrs. Spring Fragrance


Although much of the tension between Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance seems to originate from the contrasts between Chinese and American culture, I have found the roles that the husband and wife embody to transcend regional culture.  Although the American husband-wife relationship is not as conservative as that of the Chinese, there are still similar structures of dominance. In an attempt to abbreviate, for the rest of this posting I am going to address Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance as “the husband” and “the wife,” respectively (“Spring Fragrance” is a very long name). This structure of dominance is most observable in the wife’s letter to the husband. Explicitly, the wife asks for permission to stay another week in San Francisco. Here, we learn about the formal, societal expectations of a wife’s duty to a husband in Chinese culture. The wife issues this formal request to appease the requirements of traditional chinese customs, but we can tell that she only sends the letter as a formality. Both her and her husband understand that the letter functions as more of a statement than a request. 
If the letter is read more carefully, we can detect an almost condescending undertone. Although the wife awaits her husband’s “gracious permission to remain” another week, she treats him like a child by punctuating the letter with an overly simplified condescension (1697). By reminding her husband not to eat too quickly, she is assigning him childlike characteristics, suggesting that she maintains the position of authority in the relationship. This inversion to the typical (and historical) male authoritarian structure of marriage can be detected through a careful reading. I found this statement to apply to more than just the Chinese culture, even though there is no explicit evidence of any other marriages in this work. What do you think? 

1 comment:

  1. Terrific post--especially the idea that the big cultural differences really aren't that big. Well done.

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