Waiting

The larger question that needs to be addressed is whether intimacy as a value was diminished by cultural obligations?

Shuyu’s values are directly connected to the norms of her culture. The small rural village is a major factor in her normative world. She informs the reader “I’m like an old tree that can’t be moved to another place.” Throughout the novel there is a binary division between rural and city life. Her persona invites the reader to believe that her values revolved around the axis of nurturance, community, responsibility and care. She believed that the order of the world was rooted in every family. Family life overrides individual accomplishments. To illustrate this point, the reader can look to her ability to care for Lin’s parental family. She took care of Lin’s mother and father when they both became sick. She was the one who cleaned up and decorated Lin’s family grave stones with flowers and bouquets. In addition, during the divorce proceedings Shuyu’s personality was completely detached from reality. She was blind to outside matters. Even though Lin showed no intimacy towards her she broke down and began to cry and show deep emotions towards Lin.

Shuyu was not a shrew woman. She is the complete opposite of Shakespeare’s Kate in “Taming of the Shrew.” However, her independence is finally a reality when Lin shows up outside her apartment, in the City, and he realizes that she does not need him to survive. This is the classical example of her ability to overcome and adapt to difficulties in her life. A great example of Shuyu and her world view is illustrated by her mention of Lin’s new twins. She informs Lin that I am “very pleased” to hear about them and this will make “our” family larger. Even after divorce and re-marriage she sees Lin and his extended family as one. The central component of her morality arises from the family.

Fear and the concept of sham were huge cultural factors throughout the novel. Shuyu concept of harm was directly linked to the dissolution of her family. However, even if the law recognized a formal divorce, in her mind, her family was beyond any legal conception. The family bond is universal and cannot be broken by some man made decision. I think her belief in the family was a spiritual belief as well. Her morality was linked to improving her family and making sure that their lives were improved. Her capacity of nurturance and care dictated her existence. In that sense, Shuyu was the strongest character and possessed conviction in her virtues.