2. Have the main characters personalities changed?

[John]

2. Have the main characters personality traits, motivations, and inner qualities changed from The Golden Days?
• Why do characters do what they do?
• Are their actions justified?
• Describe the dynamics between characters (in a
marriage, family, or friendship).
• How has the past shaped their lives?
• Do you admire or disapprove of them?
• Do they remind you of people you know?

[[deleted user]]

No they have not changed since the last volume and this volume covers less than a year so they don't grow by the end of the book

[Patrick]

Bao-yu is still playing up (luckily his dad is away); Dai-yu is still crying all the time and getting sicker by the day; Bao-chai is still pining for Bao-yu, but still can't get him and now has a lot of competition; I started to dislike Wang Xi-Feng when I realized how stingy and dishonest she can be (she earns interest on other people's money!). The additional new characters will surely create numerous little intrigues and plots in the next books.

[Jen]

I didn't find much growth or change but rather saw their characters develop more fully. Ugh, Dai-yu drives me nuts and if anything is more annoying in this volume.

If I remember correctly, we got to learn more about the maids in the household.

[Pip]

There wasn't much development, we just got to know the characters better. It was interesting how Caltrop is able to muscle in on the poetry club, despite, as far as they know, being a servant. We also get to understand how the master-servant relationship works, in this household at least, when the servants are sometimes better off than the family ie Bao-Yu's beating by his father. Everyone's marriages are arranged, but that is still prevalent today. I felt sorry for Dai-Yu. I thought she had tuberculosis and so was sympathetic to her miseries.