Abandonment Is Not The Answer

Why Zhen Shiyin is not the hero of Dream of the Red Chamber

Abandonment Is Not The Answer

We’ve got a tendency to just take literature as it’s handed to us.

I think this is drilled in us from our earliest moments. We’re taught to not question what others say, especially if they are experts.

If a book is written a certain way, then that must be the way it was written. We’re not supposed to ask why the Cat in the Hat decided to come back: we just figure it had to happen for there to be a sequel. We don’t ask ourselves why Link feels this desperate urgency to save Zelda in each of those games: we just take it as a matter of fact.

And so, when Zhen Shiyin decides to completely abandon his family, his wife, his quest for his lost daughter, and his struggles, and follows the insane Taoist priest, we tend not to ask why.

But we should ask why.

We saw a few days ago that Zhen Shiyin’s poem ended with the line “甚荒唐，到頭來，都是為他人作嫁衣裳” (it’s all absurd, and, in the end, I’m just sewing someone else’s bridal clothes), which is probably as strong a rebuke of his current situation as he could make. It’s a sarcastic reply to the mocking of the Taoist priest’s chant — a chant that is more an invitation to go to the depths of hell than something designed to lead the recipient to salvation.

But then Zhen Shiyin decides to follow him anyway.

I’ve asked myself a lot of questions about this, and I’ve searched up and down through the text. And, honestly, I think that this early story is one of the most important stories in the novel. In fact, if you really ask yourself why, you’ll discover the whole point of the book.