The Literacy Analysis Essay of the Book "Dream of the Red Chamber"

Name Instructor Course Date The Literacy Analysis Essay of the Book "Dream of the Red Chamber" The book "Dream of the Red Chamber" shows the Chinese culture during the period of Qing dynasty. It relates to the social structures and life of Chinese society during the eighteenth century. Further, it blends supernatural occurrences and daily life, realism and romance, and mental motivation and fate. The content of the book is based on the author’s life experience and contemporary event where she tries to depict how life changed at the beginning of Qing dynasty. Therefore, in this work, I will provide a critical analysis of the content of the book. First, the book gives a reflection of realism and fiction. The author states that “Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true. The real becomes Not-Real when the Unreal's Real.” This means that things can change just as the collapse of the Jia clan which nobody expected after their properties were confiscated. Moreover, the idea is seen in the meaning of the two clans where one is known as Jia, which means fictitious or false, and the other family is called Zhen which means real. Therefore, the author uses the two names to give realistic and fictional versions of her family at the time. In the first chapter of the book, the author recalls her life as a damsel including the relationships that she had with friends. However, this changed later with the widespread of kinsmen and servants as the Jia family decline. The idea is to show that ‘’the truth may become false when false is true.’’ The truth revolves around the wealthy lifestyle which the author lived as she was a member of the Jia family which was considered famous and wealthy at the time. However, this changed when their properties were seized by the government, which led to the fall of the clan.[Ma, Guorong, Mufan Wang, and Wei Wang. "Societal Culture from Late Imperial to Contemporary China: As Indirectly Reflected in A Dream of Red Mansions." Chinese Perspectives on Cultural Psychiatry. Springer, Singapore, 2019. 21-39.] Also, the book shows melancholy and incest relationships among the Chinese people at the time. Bao-yu is seen to have a crush on his cousin Dai-yu, and they later fall in love and even plan to marry each other. Unluckily, this change after Bao-yu had a dream of another woman who also happens to be his cousin and he decides to marry the woman as a way of fulfilling what he saw in the dream. The act leaves Dai-yu frustrated, and this is seen in the book where the author stated that ‘’I would do anything – absolutely anything,’ he was thinking, ‘if only you would be nice to me. If you would be nice to me, I would gladly die for you this moment. It does not matter whether you know what I feel for you or not. Just be nice to me, then at least we shall be a little closer to each other, instead of so horribly far apart.’’ The statement proves that Dai-yu is frustrated by Bao-yu’s change of decision to marry a woman whom he saw in the dream, thereby, hurting Dai-yu who is his first love who still fights to bring the love back. Actually, despite the efforts made by Dai-yu to bring the love back, Bao-yu decides to assume her and follows his dreams. Therefore, the love relationship between the cousins and ill-fated love are signs of incest relationship and melancholy in the book.[Moyer, Jessica Dvorak. "Reframing the Boundaries of Household and Text in Hou Honglou Meng." Late Imperial China 36.1 (2015): 53-87.] Further, the way the author portrays the extended family shows a faithful image of the upper-class life during the beginning of Qing dynasty. Moreover, the variety of characters in the book shows a psychological depth which has never been approached in the Chinese literature. Only one clan is seen to be wealthy and dominates the other families. Additionally, the dominant clan is made up of people from the same family. Contrarily, the other people who are not members of the dominant clan are seen to be suffering. Specifically, the government exploits their wealth through a mandatory tax system where every person is expected to contribute a given amount of money to the authorities irrespective of their levels of income. Similarly, variation in social class introduces the theme of poverty where the lower-class works very hard, but all the benefits go to the upper-class through a corrupt system of government. Moreover, the novel describes the personalities of every character regarding their social class which are the warning fortunes and life of an aristocratic Chinese family. Specifically, the author describes the dealing of Baoyu who is the leading character and other characters that live in the same social class. Apparently, despite the political fortune and financial problems their families face, the characters continue being extravagant by continuing to make a grand appearance through spending money. The same is seen in the statement made by the author that “The whole family is accustomed to luxury and ease, but not one of the...