Drouillard 1 Jake Drouillard MCL 390-1 1/30/14 There is danger riding the line between following tradition and

ignoring it. At least that is what Su Tong expresses in his three novellas contained the Raise the Red Lantern book. These novellas contain countless examples of this moral throughout each of them. The authors expressed feelings toward the characters who ride this line and choose not to make the decision between the two is incredibly negative and is in many ways equitable to the national feelings toward individuals who use religion to bash gays while breaking other rules held just as high within their religion. All in all the message the author is trying to express in these novellas is very clear: if you dont take a stand and instead decide to ride the fence between two sides there will be trouble. In the first novella Raise the Red Lantern many of the characters attempt to both follow tradition when it suited them and to ignore it when it did not and inevitably pay for this. The character that we see this through more than anyone else is Coral. She is the third mistress of the head of the household and traditionally she is his and only his to do with as he pleases. Very often she follows this as she bides for his attention throughout the book fighting over it with the other mistresses; but while this adheres to tradition she also has a secret relationship with a doctor, which is very much against tradition. As soon as this secret comes to light her death comes shortly after. Corals death also results in another characters

Drouillard 2 misfortune. Lotus who throughout the book walks the thin line between tradition and nontradition finally hits her breaking point when she witnesses Corals murder. When Chen Zuoqain burst into her room, he saw her standing barefoot in the middle of the floor, frantically tearing her hair out. Lotus went on wailing distractedly; the look in her eyes was dull and lifeless, and her face resembled nothing more than a sheet of white paper. Chen Zuoqian guided her over onto the bed; he clearly understood this was Lotuss final day: that young college girl Lotuss was no more. (97-98) She goes insane after she is unwilling to go along with the consensus the Corals death was suicide, this along with her personal lust for Feipu where her internal downfalls. The second two stories also contain many examples of this idea that not taking a stand with or against tradition will result in much dismay. In the book 1934 Escapes a man abandons his family, a great break against tradition, in favor of a life of debauchery, gambling and drinking and great troubles follow for all those left behind. In the story of Opium Family a man is so blinded by his need to have a successful heir and follow that tradition that he turns a blind and allows his wife to sleep with multiple men breaking many other traditions. This is due to the fact that he does not truly care about adhering to these principles but instead merely wishes to appear to be following these traditions to those one the outside. This along with other acts against tradition in the name of tradition inevitably brings the family to their knees. This the final story in the set of novellas and has a rather interesting

Drouillard 3 ending. It ends with the death of all of the characters who still clung to traditions, none of these characters were truly what one might consider traditional given that they broke more traditions than they adhered too but none the less they clung to the traditional lifestyle if only in for aesthetic purposes. In the end there is only one character left standing and that is the only character that did not ride the fence on between tradition and non-tradition. This character instead choose to cast tradition away completely and solely choosing communism over tradition. This adds greatly to the message of these books because before that the author only expressed that to not choose a side was bad now he shows that choosing a side is good. The authors views expressed in these books can be greatly related to the views of many on individuals who oppose gay rights on a religious basis. Many individuals oppose gay rights due to the fact that there are verses in the bible that explicitly state that homosexuality is wrong, there are many arguments against this from religious beliefs not having anything to due with politics to possible miss interpretations of text; but one of the more poignant statements about this argument is the view that this is either blind following of religious leaders or simply hiding hate behind a faith base. The argument is that these individuals do exactly what Laoxia does in Opium Family they blatantly follow one thing while ignore others. Nearly all if not all of the individuals who use this argument participate in acts that are stated to be just as bad as acts of homosexuality. Eating shellfish, wearing multi-blend fabrics, playing football or even getting your haircut are all stated to be sins in various parts of the bible. Many individuals who do not have this outlook on homosexuality share Su Tongs distaste when viewing these individuals

Drouillard 4 for their not committing to their side but instead riding the line claiming one while still acting on the side of both. All in all these Novellas have a very interesting message. They show us that we must commit to where we stand and not to flip flop our actions when we think no one is looking. And as shown through the real world example of the anti-gay rights activists this message very much applies and relates the world around us.