讀書筆記 Fool’s Sacrifice (East and West)

I read the article “ Fool’s Sacrifice”( Shanghai-1930s), in the book “ East and West” . This article tells about a British couple living in Shanghai. When the wife returned to the England, she fell in love with another Englishman. Although she still returned to Shanghai, she would not let her husband into her room. She even wanted to die. When her husband found out the reason, after painstaking pondering , Determined to make sacrifices for the happiness of his wife, decided to fake that he was in love with another woman and wanted to divorce her, so that his wife could be free. He bought a steamer ticket sent her back to England. This story is the opposite of the previous article « until tomorrow », It talked about women accepting open culture and defeating traditional culture. 
1) (A) Freddie Hill waited at the dock of Shanghai for his wife Marian, she had been gone five months to England, she get away once in a year or two. He had missed her horribly, Marian had been at eighteen when he married her.They had lived together fifteen years and no kids, but still liking each other best.Freddie stood very short and sturdy and thick in the crowd. It’s summer now. Suddenly he saw her standing by the rail, she was very pretty,and she threw him a little kiss and he noticed how thin she was.
At dinner, he had seen she left half of her portion, thick anxiety gathered in his heart. “You go to bed now”, he said. “ you look tired”. And she said: ‘I am all right but so tired, terribly tired. Gave me a few days’.
So he had waited, wait until she made some sign of being rested and herself again, but a month passed, she made no sign. He began to think that something was different  between them.
(B) Every day she wanted to go somewhere, She said: “I’m tired of the house”. Then Winter was coming. One night, Freddie had gone to her room and stood by her bed, she was already asleep. When she felt his hands, she cried out: “ Don’t, I’m so tired tonight “. The slow anger in him broke. He shouted: “ the truth is you are tired of your husband”. She answered: “It’s true”,  “I hadn’t been married to you a week before I knew it was all wrong. But I’d marry you, you are such a good sort , I’m fond of you still — only now I must not be touched”.  “ There’s another fellow” he whispered. She answered:  “this summer I met someone, we both know how we feel. But I told him how good you are”. 
(C) He thought what sort of a chap the man was. He had to know something about that man. He said to Marian: “l think you ought to tell me—it is due me”. Marian said: “ Don’t talk. You have had all that is due you” and at night, she went into her room and shut the door. After many days, he asked her if she wasn’t getting over it, “ I’m getting jolly tired waiting”.  Marian answered: “No, I can’t ever”, she rushed to the window, “ I’d kill myself”.She cried out “ I am so unhappy”.
(D) He knew she had never loved him. He  had never been worthy of her beauty as a wife. He thought “ I ought to be the one to die”.  But he couldn’t kill himself . He could tell Marian he had someone, that would set her free. 
He had bought her a ticket and once more they were at the dock, it was spring now . Marian said:” I wish I could love you!” And he marched from the cabin back to his empty house.
2) I think: 
Although Freddie was kind to Marian, he was short, thick, and not much of an artist, and Marian was not satisfied. When Marian met another satisfied man in England, she fell in love with this man. She was in great pain when she returned to Shanghai. Freddie loved Marian deeply, and in order not to cause Marian pain, decides to divorce her, let her go back to England, and send her to the dock. Freddie is right, he's not a fool. Maybe Marian will came back to him again.
In the 1930s, the status of women in Western countries was higher than that in Eastern countries, which was also a cultural difference.                                          

Discussion prompts:

1. What effect has the opening scene on the reader, especially Fred’s attitude toward the Chinese gathered at the dock in Shanghai?

2. After being told that he does not notice the Chinese, we learn that he’s looking for his wife.  Does this seem slightly ironic to you, considering what happens as the story unfolds.  If so, why?

3. How do the last sentences in the opening paragraph contribute to its effect?  “…he had missed her horribly…There had been a steady dull ache in him for weeks; he hadn’t been able to take food properly, although that might have been the more than usually hot summer” (27).

4. Fred’s description of himself as “not very clever—” (35) becomes a kind of motif throughout the story. Can you cite a few instances when his lack of cleverness is rather clear? 

5. Reflecting on some of the changes in Marian’s daily activities since returning from England, Fred notes that she used to be something of a homebody, preferring to spend her evening reading a good book rather than going out somewhere.  He recalls her special fondness for the novels of D. H. Lawrence, especially Women in Love, and tells us, “He had never been much of one to mess about inside people…” he tried a bit of it and it was beyond him—he didn’t know what the fellow was driving at” (33). How might these remarks contribute to our understanding of Fred and his relationship toMarian?  (See A Few Words on D. H. Lawrence at the end of these prompts.)

6. The estrangement between Fred and Marian grows, andtwo months after their last lovemaking, he tells her in anger that it seems she’s tired of him.  How does Marian respond to this accusation? How does he translate what she says so that he can eventually fall asleep that night?How does Fred feel the next morning? How is his appetite? 

7. Note that Fred always seems to enjoy his food and eats with gusto, even as Marian eats very little.  How does this make you feel about him, about Marian, and what’s going on in their marriage? 

8. When Marian’s cold look prompts him to place his goodbye kiss on her forehead rather than her lips, hefeels the need to offer to help her in any way he can, and she is appreciative.  But when he follows his offer of help by saying that he thinks it’s his due to know something about the other man, how does Marian respond? (See p. 39.) What is the penalty he will pay for this demand?  

9. How does Fred’s vision of Marian change? 

10. Tired of how things between them have become, Fred decides to reason with her about getting over the other fellow and returning fully to him.  How does she react?

11. What dramatic change does the wife’s suicide threat bring about in Fred?  

12. How does Fred prove himself to be clever after all?  

13. What do you make of Marian’s solicitousness for Fred’s welfare as the time for her departure draws near—Does he love the new woman terribly?  Can’t live without her?  She apologizes for not being able to love him.  Would not have left if he hadn’t learned to care for someone else---  Is this concern genuine?  Is it helpful?  Cruel?    

14. Who is the fool in this story?

15. How do you feel about Fred at the story’s end? Does Fred gain insight, learn through suffering? Does he know himself better at the story’s end?

 

[周泰]

?D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) was a British writer and a contemporary of Pearl S. Buck. He was the author of several novels, including Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, all of which were subject to censorship trials because of portrayals of sexuality and the use of explicit language. Lawrence does a lot of “messing about inside people” in his novels ( something Fred admits he does little of). He created a new kind of novel in which he explored human relationships with what one writer calls ”psychological precision and intense poetic feeling” and this doesn’t appeal to readers who prefer conventional categories of plot and character. He's interested in examining various kinds of relationships, especially those between men and women and the marriage relationship. He believed that the mores of the Victorian period and modern industrialization had made it extremely difficult for such relationships to flourish in a natural way, that men and women found it extremely difficult to relate to each other. And he treats these problems with a lot of philosophical discussion and description of the characters’ emotional states and unconscious drives.
?Lawrence wrote his novels between 1911 and 1929, and it’s very likely that Pearl Buck knew of him and had read some of his work. In 1921 she was teaching English literature at the University of Nanking and by 1926 had earned her master’s degree in English at Cornell University. Buck’s description of Fred’s reaction to Lawrence’s novels suggests her familiarity with Lawrence’s subject matter and style and how a less sophisticated reader might react to them.