Why Jia Zhen Was Freaking Out
There are two really odd things going on in yesterday’s short segment, which is why I decided to make it so short.
The first is really obvious. Jia Zhen is freaking out over the death of his daughter-in-law, as if her death meant that his family line simply couldn’t continue:
賈珍哭的淚人一般，正和賈代儒等說道：「合家大小，遠近親友，誰不知我這媳婦比兒子還強十倍！如今伸腿去了，可見這長房內絕滅無人了！」
Jia Zhen was crying as if he’d never stop crying. “Everybody in this household, old and young, close relatives and distant, everybody knows that my daughter-in-law is ten times better than my own son!” he said to Jia Dairu and the others. “And now she’s passed away! She’s gone! There’s nobody worthwhile left in the elder branch of the family!” And he burst into tears as he said this.
Now, most commentators on Dream of the Red Chamber will tell you right away that the true reason Jia Zhen is crying is because he had an affair with Qin Keqing.
It’s possible that he feared that his son Jia Rong would never be able to find another girl like her, sure. But it’s a lot more plausible that Jia Zhen is lamenting because he feels personally responsible for her death, and because he truly was in love with her.
Of course, this makes more sense if Qin Keqing took her own life after an incestuous scandal. And, naturally, Qin Keqing’s “affair” with Jia Zhen was actually Qin Keqing being raped by Jia Zhen, which is something that is actually clearly depicted in the television version of Dream of the Red Chamber. I went over a bit of this in my most recent video:
But there’s another thing going on here, something that you probably are going to miss unless you read the book in Chinese. And it has a lot to do with that list of names.
Check out the list of names once again:
彼時賈代儒、代修、賈敕、賈效、賈敦、賈赦、賈政、賈琮、賈㻞、賈珩、賈珖、賈琛、賈瓊、賈璘、賈薔、賈菖、賈菱、賈芸、賈芹、賈蓁、賈萍、賈藻、賈蘅、賈芬、賈芳、賈藍、賈菌、賈芝等都來了。
I’m not going to bother with the English translation here, since the actual transliteration of the names is beside the point.
There are four different generation names listed here. The first starts with the 代 character, which has a strong, masculine feel to it:
賈代儒、代修
The second list of names have the 文 radical, which supposedly indicates literary talent:
賈敕、賈效、賈敦、賈赦、賈政
The third list of names have the 玉 radical, which is a bit different. 玉 means “jade” and gives off a slightly feminine feel:
賈琮、賈㻞、賈珩、賈珖、賈琛、賈瓊、賈璘
And then we come to the fourth list of names, which all have the 艸 (grass) component (rendered as 艹). And many of these names are unmistakably feminine:
賈薔、賈菖、賈菱、賈芸、賈芹、賈蓁、賈萍、賈藻、賈蘅、賈芬、賈芳、賈藍、賈菌、賈芝
Some of these names are actually girls’ names, such as 賈芬, 賈芳, and 賈芝. In fact, it’s kind of surprising when you realize that these are supposed to be the names of the men of this family group.
Through this naming convention, you can see the decline of the Jia family. The feeling of leadership in the older generations has given way through time to a passive and feminized set of names.
Perhaps this is the other reason Jia Zhen is so worried. And it’s possible that he felt an urgency to have a grandson, that he was worried that Jia Rong wasn’t capable of having his own children, and that he concluded that he should do the deed himself.