Reading Notes Week 9: Du, Part A

In The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du, a young beautiful woman name Kieu is told that though she is attractive and talented, she is doomed to a life full of misfortune. The main plot of the story is about those misfortunes: first, her wedding to the man of her dreams is postponed due to the death of one of his relatives, then while he is gone, Kieu's family is wrongfully accused of a crime and her family stands to be imprisoned. She sells herself to save her family, and contemplated suicide. A man claims he is going to save her, but abandons her and she is recaptured into prostitution. This cycle of trying to escape her pimps only to fail continues multiple times, and she is passed around from person to person, who only care for her body. In the end, she reunites with her fiancee and they finally wed, but she refuses to sleep with him because she feels that her body is not worthy.

It's not uncommon to read stories where a beautiful woman is "tainted" by sex, but it gets no less depressing to read ever single time. At least Kieu got a somewhat happy ending and didn't kill herself, but the implication that she is forever traumatized, forever trapped in self-loathing over circumstances that weren't her fault, without anyone to tell her otherwise, not even her husband, is hardly the most joyful thought. It almost seems like the author is suggesting this is right, that a woman is supposed to feel worthless if she's been raped or had sex with someone besides her husband. I don't like to believe that other people would think like this, but people do and it is likely that this author does, though from what I've seen some people think the author did see value in Kieu as a person. I can somewhat see where this argument comes from, considering the line "Inside ourselves there lies the root of good: the heart outweighs all talents on this earth." (Du, 586) Kieu was described as only being valued for her talent as an entertainer, so the author seems to be saying that what mattered most was that Kieu was a good hearted person. However, I still feel like there's too much sex shaming for this moral to fully ring true.

I found it interesting, but not unexpected, how frequently expressions I didn't understand without context were used. To a Vietnamese person familiar with 18th century writing styles, these expressions would probably be understood immediately. However, when I read "He walked straight on and made toward her Blue Bridge. Fast gate, high wall: no stream for his red leaf, no passage for his bluebird bearing word." (Du, 556) I had no idea what that could possibly mean. Thankfully the footnotes explained that the Blue Bridge is from a legend where a man met an immortal nymph and became immortal himself by marrying her, and the red leaf is a symbol of fated love, while the bluebird is a messenger of love.

Citation: Nguyen Du, "The Tale of Kieu" p. 550 - 586

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