Conservative Madame Wu’s Personality Under the Influence of Chinese Culture Before Meeting Priest Andre
Besides that, a mother and her son had a special importance because a woman’s status depended upon her producing a male offspring and a mother
had a responsibility to choose a wife for her son. For Chinese people, age, generation, and sex were the dominant influences on behavior in interpersonal
relationships Ibid, 160-161. Family was one of the most fundamental social groups in any society
and it played an important role in traditional Ibid, 157. Enoch Wan in his article, Jesus Christ for the Chinese: a Contextual Reflection 2005, says that
the life goal of Chinese individual is to live with and strive for, not personally but for the whole family. Taking good care of reputation is not just a personal
concern, but family. The members of the family were responsible to take good care of the family reputation Chang, 1960: 157-158. All members of the
family had to live under the authority of the head of the family. A wife also had to submit to her husband as long as he lived. Women were subordinate to
men under most circumstances Ibid, 160-161. Being conservative made her become someone who was very obedient
to Chinese traditions and customs and responsible for her duties as a mother and a wife, but it demanded her to ignore others’ feeling, even her own
feeling. As a result, she matched her sons with girls without considering their feelings. She was also matched by her parents when she married with Mr. Wu.
She accepted it, although she did not love him. It was because of her obedience to Chinese traditions and customs, and it was a mother’s duty to
choose a wife for her son. Chinese people seldom got married because they 29
love each other, but because they were matched. Madame Wu also did her duties as a wife responsibly. Although Madame Wu did not love her husband,
she did her duties very well, especially in satisfying her husband sexual desire. It can be proven by the condition of her house.
‘…. In this friendship she knew humbly that she took the second place. It was not only that she was not beautiful, but in her own mind she did
nothing so well as Madame Wu. Thus with all her efforts her house, though as large and handsome as this one, was seldom clean and never
ordered. …. When she came here she felt this, although living in her house she did not see it….’ p.12
From Madame Kang’s opinion which is considered as another character’s opinion, we can see how well Madame Wu managed her house.
Everything was well organized and clean. Not only from the way she managed her house, but also the way she was responsible for her duties.
‘”Heaven,” Madame Wu murmured, “as if I had not enough without this”
But she was dutiful above all else, and she hastened and Ying hastened, and in a few minutes she went into the court next hers where
Old Lady lay high on her pillows….’ p. 179
When Madame Wu heard about the Old Lady’s condition, she did her duty quickly, and then went to the Old Lady’s room and helped her, although
actually she felt tired of everything in that house that was wholly depended on her. Her reaction to what happened to the Old Lady proves that she is a
responsible person. Madame Wu is not only responsible to do her duty as a wife but also as
a mother and a Madame of the house. She never refused to satisfy Mr. Wu sexually when he asked, although at that time she might not want to do it.
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‘…. That is, she was neither cold nor ardent. She was pleasant, she was tender. She saw to it that nothing was lacking, but that nothing was
over and above….’ p. 39
The way she satisfied her husband shows that Madame Wu actually did not feel satisfied, but she preferred to do her best to satisfy her husband.
She did not love him, but she still did her duty responsibly. As mentioned before, Chinese people seldom got married because of
love. It formed Madame Wu to be someone who did not care about someone’s feeling. At the age of forty-year-old she decided to choose a concubine for her
husband. Although most Chinese marriages were monogamous, under the imperial law men were permitted secondary wives or concubines Ibid, 170.
Madame Wu could decide to choose a concubine for her husband because she did not love her husband. She got married with him because she was matched
by her parents. She realized that at that age she could not satisfy her husband as well as when she was younger, while her husband’s sexual desire was still
high at his age. Therefore, she chose a concubine. She bought a concubine as if she had bought pork in the market. She did not think about the woman’s
feeling. ‘…. She must young, yet not younger than the daughters-in-law, for
that would bring trouble into the house. The proper age would be twenty-two. She must not be too well-educated, for Madame Wu had
learning. She must not be modern, for a modern young woman would not be satisfied to be a concubine and in a short time she would be
pushing Madame Wu out of the way and demanding Mr. Wu’s whole time and heart, and this would be shameful in the house before the
sons…. Pleasantly pretty would be enough….’ p. 47
Madame Wu is very intelligent, so she knew what kind of woman she had to choose for her husband. She had her own criteria for the woman she
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would choose. She chose a woman who was beautiful, but not as beautiful as her, and not smart and not modern. A concubine had legal rights, but these
were inferior to those of the first wife. Madame Wu realized it. She treated the concubine very well as a second wife had to be treated.
What Madame Wu did is because she was bounded to Chinese traditions and customs, but it does not show what was really inside herself.
Madame Wu did all her duties in the house not because of love, but because of it was a must. Actually she wanted to be free from her duties, so she tried to
do all her duties very well in order that everything in that house worked well and appropriately, and choose a concubine for her husband in order that she
did not need to satisfy him sexually anymore. She hoped by doing her duties well, she could be free as soon as possible. It had been long time she hoped to
be free from her duties and to be a mistress of herself and her own time only. For she did not do her duties because of love, she considered her duties as a
burden. ‘For her to choose a woman to take her place was one thing. To have
him choose a woman was quite another. She marveled at the tangle that life could make between a man and a woman. She had thought
herself free of him because she did not love him….’ p. 270
From her thought, we can see that Madame Wu really wanted to be free for she did not love her husband. The most important thing for Chinese
women was to bear sons to insure the continuity of their husbands’ family. It made their position in their house secure. Madame Wu knew that. She had
born four sons for her husband and she had also done her duties very well for twenty four years, and now she wanted to be free. We can see how traditional
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Chinese culture forms Madame Wu to be a conservative woman who obeyed Chinese traditions and customs, but ignored others’ feeling, even her own
feeling.