Paula Berinstein's Blog - Posts Tagged "china"

Peony by Pearl S. Buck

This is a strange book. Granted, the writing style was different when it was written in the early 20th century, but even making allowances for that I found it odd.

SPOILER ALERT!!

The main character, Peony, is a bondmaid for a Jewish family in a tiny Chinese town around the year 1800. She's in love with the son, but because she's a bondmaid she can't be involved with him unless he takes her as his mistress. That he won't do, so instead she, Peony, helps find him a wife, all the while secretly still desiring him. This is supposed to satisfy her, I guess, because . . . I have no idea why. Because a bondmaid isn't supposed to aspire to anything? Isn't supposed to have feelings? Maybe, because in the end she enters a convent and eventually finds peace there. What kind of an arc is that? It isn't satisfying--she doesn't end up with the man she loves--and it isn't a tragedy. So what is it?

I also have to comment on the book from a personal perspective. Because of my background I found it wrenching to read. The mother in the story doesn't want her son to marry a Chinese girl. Only another Jew will do. But there are virtually no Jewish girls in the little community, the only real prospect being the rabbi's daughter, and the son doesn't want her. The father is more easy going and isn't worried about the prospect of his son marrying a gentile. Then the son falls in love with a Chinese girl and has to make a choice: make his mother happy, or seize happiness for himself.

My problem with this scenario is that my own Jewish parents did the same thing to me. I didn't live in China and I didn't fall for a Chinese man, but to say that I was discouraged from dating outside my religion would be an understatement. Needless to say, I found this narrow and exclusionary attitude frustrating and infuriating. To this day I don't understand why people would voluntarily circumscribe their lives and miss out on all the interesting things this huge and diverse world has to offer.

So as I read I wanted to deck that mother, applaud the father, shake the son (who couldn't see what was right in front of him), and tell Peony to tell the guy how she really felt. Obviously this is my 20th- and 21st-century self talking to characters who were set in a completely different place and time, and the characters couldn't have done those things without dramatic repercussions. But I still wanted to hurl the book across the room (except that I read it on my phone, and that wouldn't have been good).

Now I understand to some degree where that mother was coming from. Jews were assimilating into Chinese life and she wanted her own culture to be preserved. I think this is where my parents were coming from too, although living in 20th century America is hardly the same as what the characters in the book faced. This is a real dilemma for many people, not just Jews, and yet, do we sacrifice our own happiness in order to preserve a culture in which we barely participate? My answer is no, but I understand if you feel differently.

So, I found the book interesting from a cultural and historical perspective, but the story was just plain weird. I still don't understand what the point was. The only one who really ends up happy is Peony, and she sacrifices everything she wants. Maybe Pearl Buck was taking a Buddhist attitude, that you can't have any expectations and should find peace where you can. As far as I can tell, no other conclusion makes sense.