Brother Andre and Madame Wu
Because I put more than a whole week between my finishing "Pavillion of Women" by Pearl Buck and my writing about it, there's a good chance my short-term memory loss will come in to play; sorry in advance.
Madame Wu is the decisive hard-nosed matriarch of the well-to-do Wu family in a decent-sized Chinese town away from the main cities in the early part of the last century. As she approaches her 40th birthday, she decides on a radical change. She will bring in a concumbine for her husband, and herself retire to separate rooms for the rest of her days. It isn't a practice her household has ever undertaken, so her family reacts pretty much against it, but she is the matriarch, she's thought out her decision well, and in the end, there's no arguing. She wants to put the things of the flesh behind her, she surely doesn't want additional children, and while she ends up having second thoughts, they're relatively minor, and that's that.
Their household is a bit forward-looking anyway. One of the sons is given permission to go abroad. Another is allowed to choose his own bride. And then, when Brother Andre enters everyone's lives, things begin to change even more radically.
He's a foreigner, a big, hulking, handsome white man from afar off. I believe it is Holland. He's a thoroughly spiritual man, and comes to teach one of the sons English, so that he'd be more impressive to his young bride who herself has picked up some English while living in another town.
The mother, Madame Wu, becomes intrigued by Andre, and they end up spending a lot of time together, as, after his lessons with the son, he sits with Madame Wu and teaches her as well. Some English, but mainly the lessons of his own life lessons. You could call his persona religious, but perhaps instead one should say "without religion" or in any event, without organized religion. He's a simple man, strong, knowledgeable, friendly, poetic. Spending all the time she does with him, Madame Wu is forced to question her own methods and beliefs, and comes to the --to her-- shocking conclusion that, with the decision to bring in the concubine, with the rules and regulations she's set up in the household, she's put tradition and her own desires ahead of what is best, that is, she's come to learn, doing nothing but granting freedom to everyone in her household. She begins loosening the binds under which everyone's been instructed.
When Brother Andre is beaten near to death, he calls for Madame Wu, who rushes to his bedside, and hears his dying words--"Take care of the children."
The orphans Brother Andre has been caring for...Madame Wu takes in...gives them a wing of her house...and they have shelter and food and a sense of family...for the rest of her days.
She senses each family member's difficulties--many of which she sees she helped bring about with her meddlesome behavior--and rectifies each matter as best she can.
Her relationship with her husband matures, even as she arranges his marriage to a young former prostitute...and as she overcomes the pettiness she's felt towards many family members over the years. She sees and lives with Brother Andre in her mind and in her heart, he's her "true love" for sure, and he is brought into her intimate thoughts on a regular basis, which helps to guide her decision-making.
I don't do the book justice here, but suffice it to say it is remarkably moving and real.
Madame Wu is the decisive hard-nosed matriarch of the well-to-do Wu family in a decent-sized Chinese town away from the main cities in the early part of the last century. As she approaches her 40th birthday, she decides on a radical change. She will bring in a concumbine for her husband, and herself retire to separate rooms for the rest of her days. It isn't a practice her household has ever undertaken, so her family reacts pretty much against it, but she is the matriarch, she's thought out her decision well, and in the end, there's no arguing. She wants to put the things of the flesh behind her, she surely doesn't want additional children, and while she ends up having second thoughts, they're relatively minor, and that's that.
Their household is a bit forward-looking anyway. One of the sons is given permission to go abroad. Another is allowed to choose his own bride. And then, when Brother Andre enters everyone's lives, things begin to change even more radically.
He's a foreigner, a big, hulking, handsome white man from afar off. I believe it is Holland. He's a thoroughly spiritual man, and comes to teach one of the sons English, so that he'd be more impressive to his young bride who herself has picked up some English while living in another town.
The mother, Madame Wu, becomes intrigued by Andre, and they end up spending a lot of time together, as, after his lessons with the son, he sits with Madame Wu and teaches her as well. Some English, but mainly the lessons of his own life lessons. You could call his persona religious, but perhaps instead one should say "without religion" or in any event, without organized religion. He's a simple man, strong, knowledgeable, friendly, poetic. Spending all the time she does with him, Madame Wu is forced to question her own methods and beliefs, and comes to the --to her-- shocking conclusion that, with the decision to bring in the concubine, with the rules and regulations she's set up in the household, she's put tradition and her own desires ahead of what is best, that is, she's come to learn, doing nothing but granting freedom to everyone in her household. She begins loosening the binds under which everyone's been instructed.
When Brother Andre is beaten near to death, he calls for Madame Wu, who rushes to his bedside, and hears his dying words--"Take care of the children."
The orphans Brother Andre has been caring for...Madame Wu takes in...gives them a wing of her house...and they have shelter and food and a sense of family...for the rest of her days.
She senses each family member's difficulties--many of which she sees she helped bring about with her meddlesome behavior--and rectifies each matter as best she can.
Her relationship with her husband matures, even as she arranges his marriage to a young former prostitute...and as she overcomes the pettiness she's felt towards many family members over the years. She sees and lives with Brother Andre in her mind and in her heart, he's her "true love" for sure, and he is brought into her intimate thoughts on a regular basis, which helps to guide her decision-making.
I don't do the book justice here, but suffice it to say it is remarkably moving and real.