Patrick's question

[Patrick]

Unlike the first two books, where the maids and servants of the Ning-guo and Rong-guo houses were mostly secondary characters, a lot more of the action and sub-plots in the third book appear to focus on them. What can explain this change of focus from Cao Xueqin? Is it merely because he wanted to highlight all the facets of privileged life in those days or did it serve mainly to reinforce the main plot of the story?

[John]

It struck me that this emphasized the importance of the role servants played in the "great houses," and how the servants, usually stemming from good or bad management by the house itself, could support the house or lead to major problems.

[Jen]

I found the focus on the maids and domestic hierarchy to be fascinating and was one of the reasons why I enjoyed the book so much.

I think that he had multiple goals in this shift of focus. I think part of the point was to highlight all facets of privileged life but it also served the function of highlighting cracks in the veneer of what seemed to be a perfect and powerful family. Events like searching the rooms of the maids, firing multiple people, marrying people off, and bickering that turned into larger issues all served as a warning (hence the title) of problems to come for the family. There is the beginning of tension between families expressed through domestic disputes that I'm guess will later translate into larger issues for the heads of various families.

[Diane]

I agree with Jen. I think the new focus was important in showing the different aspects of the family's decline.

[Pip]

I, also, found the stories of the servants and slaves absolutely fascinating. However whether this was a deliberate ploy to underline the warning voice, I am not sure. There was certainly a huge change in the seemingly idyllic life in the Prospect Garden as servants began to disappear.