Orchid’s Motive to Fulfill the Physiological Needs

One afternoon Uncle came with his son, to whom I had never been introduced. His name was Ping, meaning “bottle”. I knew that Uncle had had a son by a local prostitute and that he hid him because he was embarrassed. I don’t know that Bottle was retarded p.20. Logically, his father who is his own blood relatives is embarrassed to admit him as his son. No wonder that Orchid is not interesting to Bottle. The next descriptions of Bottle clearly state the reason why Orchid does not want to marry him. Cousin Bottle was a slope-shouldered fellow. The shape of his face matched his name. He looked sixty years old, although he was only twenty- two. Besides being “slow”, he was an opium addict. He stood in the middle of the room smiling at me from ear to ear. His hands went constantly to pull up his pants, which fell right back to where they were, below his hips p.20. As a “normal” people, she also wants an appropriate person, a better man as her husband. It is fair enough for a woman to have a high expectation for her partner. Biologically, women are weaker than men. It needs a protection from a strong person in their danger environment. From the statement, it can be said that Orchid is in the weak condition and need someone to protect her, while Bottle is not an appropriate person in that time. Besides he is retarded, he moves slowly. Eventually, if Orchid marries to Bottle, Orchid will be the breadwinner of the family and there is possibility that she still lives in poverty because the money that she earns from her work mostly will be spent to buy opium. The denial of the matchmaking can be seen from Orchid’s behavior after knowing that she is being engaged to Bottle unil aterally. “I ran from the house into the snow. Soon both of my shoes were soaked and I could no longer feel that I had toes p.20 ”. It shows the rejection behavior of Orchid to receive the reality she has to face. In order to fulfill the safety needs-the lack of freedom that she had-she has to find a way to avoid the matchmaking. By chance, she gets information from Big Sister Fann that there is a decree called the Selection of Imperial Consorts. She is smart enough to see the opportunity to become one of the Imperial consorts. She gives all that she got to join the decree including borrow the Sister’s fann dress to enter the Palace. Although being one of the consorts is not easy and makes her separated from her family, at least it is her own decision and her family appreciate i t. Being Emperor’s wife does not mean that she can spend her time with the Emperor all day long and sleep with the Majesty every night. However she has to share with the other concubines, she gets freedom that she wants. It can be seen in her conversation with her sister: “What if you never get to spend a night with His Majesty?” Rong asked. Her raised eyebrows formed a line on her forehead. “It is better than marrying Bottle isn’t it?” Rong nodded. “Don’t you go out of your way, Orchid. Everyone knows that Forbidden City has strict rules. One wrong move and your head could be chopped p.26. There is no other way to escape from the matchmaking besides being the concubine of the Emperor. Although it has strict rules, it is the risk that she has to take if she does not want to marry Bottle. Even she said that never spend a night with the Majesty is better than marrying Bottle. The other factor which threatened Orchid is her financial condition at that time. Zimbardo said that it is called safety needs because the person is also need the freedom from financial disaster 2008:122. Note that before her father died, the safety needs of Orchid actually had been fulfilled. The trigger of her financial disaster was started when her father was sick and her parents got caught in debts. “Our doctor bills piled up even after his death. My mother sold all of the family possessions, but we still couldn’t clear the debts” p.10. It shows the evidence that the financial of the family turned into a disaster. Her mother had already sold the family possessions even her wedding souvenir from her father. That was the last item that she got. As her father died, she lost the protection from her father. Before her father died, the financial of the family was the burden of her parents. Maslow stated that particularly at such time, the child’s frantic clinging to his parents is eloquent testimony to their role as protectors their role as food givers and love givers 1954: 41. Since her father died, the family financial becomes her responsibility as the firstborn child. She cannot devote all the responsibility to her mother or her siblings not because of it will be distress them, but because of her mother and her siblings condition. It was a terrible winter. Frozen bodies were found in the streets of Peking after an ice storm. Mother took a cleaning job but was fired the next day for she became ill p.20. The condition of her mother is not possible to be a breadwinner by her own while her siblings are too young to burden this responsibility. This kind of emergencies shows that she lacks of safety need especially in financial. The decision of being a concubine is the best choice that she had in that time. By becoming a concubine, her family will get some taels every month so her family can live in prosperity and the financial of her family gets better. The eunuchs dispensed silver coins in a yellow box to each family after name was called. “Five hundreds taels from His Majesty the Emperor”…. I told myself to be happy, because with the five hundreds my family would be able to survive p.30. That is what she thought when Orchid’s get five hundreds taels from the Emperor. Moreover, when she accepted as the four ranks of the Emperor’s concubine, her mother is granted ten thousand taels to furnish the house. Astonished by the number of the taels,“Her mouth fell open when she saw the taels being carried in the room in cases p.52. Becoming a concubine of the Emperor release her from financial disaster. She gets a lot of money, gold, and gift. Not only her, but also her family member even her father who is already died. Chief Eunuch Shim notified me of my yearly allowance. “It will be five bars of gold, one thousand taels of silver, thirty bolts of satin, silk and cotton, fifteen sheets of buffalo, sheep, snake and rabbit skin, and one hundred silver buttons p.70. All of them should be managed for her own and to pay her private eunuchs, maids, ladies in waiting, and chefs. In conclusion, Orchid’s characteristics help her to become the concubine of the Emperor. Her optimistic and smart characteristics lead her to pass the selection of the Imperial Consort due to her needs of food and safety. Her tough life makes her to work harder and keep survive to fulfill the safety needs. Thus, the lack of physiological needs and safety needs that she has become her motive to become a concubine.