found them not as she expected. She realized it when she was in bed thinking about what had happened in her life. Therefore Madame Wu always wished to
be free from her duties in that house, because she did everything well not because of her love but because of her responsibility. None knew that secret of
her heart, except Priest Andre. After knowing Priest Andre, Madame Wu became a loving woman.
Priest Andre had taught her much about love. He also showed the love through his daily life. He picked many unwanted little girls from the street and took
care as well as fed them. Before Priest Andre died, he asked Madame Wu to take care of the little girls. For she had changed, Madame Wu wanted to take
care of them. ‘…. Twenty children waited in the court, the young prostitute sat in the
entrance hall, and Mr. Wu was more than ever a responsibility. There were the newborn girl and her mother, Ch’iuming, and her own sons
and their wives. But she had none of her usual shrinking from human beings. She now realized that for the first time in her life she disliked
no one....’ p. 297
When thinking alone, while she was preparing herself to do her duties, Madame Wu realized that she did not dislike other people again. Although
they gave her a lot of problems to be solved in her life and all of them depended on her much, she hated none of them. She could enjoy her duties
and doing them with her heart, with love without any burden. ‘“All are my children,” she said, wondering that the words could be
hers. At the sound of her voice the children rushed to her to embrace her, to touch her, to lean against her. She looked down at them and saw
their small lacks and defects as well as their beauty. But she felt no dislike.’ p. 299
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She accepted the children who were not her own children as if they were her own children. Although some of them had weaknesses, she did not
feel any dislike feeling to them. She looked after them very well, although no one paid her and it did not give her any advantages. She had become a truly
loving woman for everyone, not only for the members of her family but also for everyone. She also did not think about herself only any more in which she
always wanted to be free from her duties from her house, especially from a duty as her husband’s wife.
2. Tolerant and Understanding
Madame Wu used to be so strict. What she said had to be obeyed by the members of the family. She never let other people to make her cancel her
decision, no matter who they were. In her opinion what she decided was the best one, but it was only from her point of view. She did not consider about
other people’s feeling and thought. After she met Priest Andre, she changed. She admired Priest Andre much. She admired him for his intelligence,
wisdom, and what he taught. Therefore, she let herself be Priest Andre’s student and let her guided by him. Priest Andre opened her mind about human
which is not entirely flesh. Madame Wu had to think about other people’s feeling whenever she decided something or to do something. She became a
woman who wanted to listen to other people’s opinion, even opinions about herself from others’ point of view.
‘“Then tell me what I have done that is wrong.” She lifted her eyes from his hands to his face and wondered that out of all the world she
had chosen to open her entire heart to a foreigner who had been born in 43
some country across the sea whose waters and winds she would never know.’ p. 264
When she was talking with priest Andre, she let him to tell his honest opinion about her. Willing to open her heart to a foreigner that she knew not
long, who was not a member of her family, to listen to his admission of her mistakes is a modest attitude, showing that she wanted to learn and change to
be a better person. She let Priest Andre to tell what her mistakes were and what she had to do.
‘…. “It has been shown me that I did you a great wrong, my sister. It is true that you were brought here as I might have bought a pound of
pork. How could I dare so to behave toward a human being? I see now that I had no thought for your soul. What can I do to make amends?”’
p. 267
Ch’iuming was only a concubine, but Madame Wu never saw her as a lower status person. She even dared to admit her mistake to Ch’iuming. She
was not afraid that what she did would break her self-respect. Madame Wu is a wonderful woman. She even asked Ch’iuming what she could do to correct
her mistake. She realized that she was wrong because she had bought Ch’iuming as a concubine for her husband without considering Ch’iuming’s
feeling. She forgot that human has feeling and to match a couple needs love. Being strict, Madame Wu could be said as an arrogant person who
thought that what she thought about and decided was the right one. But from the two conversations of Madame Wu with Priest Andre and the concubine, it
is shown that Madame Wu started to change. She started to change when she wanted to open her heart, listen to other people’s opinions no matter who they
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