The Story of the Stone (also called A Dream of Red
Mansions) is a novel written by Cao Xueqin in 18th Century China. It
is a fascinating story about the lives (and even things beyond the earthly
lives) of the wealthy Jia family and those that serve them or interact with
them in some form or other. Out of the great number of characters (who are fortunately
included in a character list at the back of the book), the ones we follow
mainly are the boy Bao-yu, who is the incarnation of a magical stone that was
in his mouth when he was born, his cousins Dai-yu and Bao-chai, his older
cousin Xi-feng, and his maids such as Aroma.
First of all, the book was beautiful to read. The
descriptions were lovely, and it all flowed so well that you could end up
reading quite a lot in only a short amount of time. Except for a few
insignificant instances, I couldn’t tell that it had been translated into
English rather than written in English originally. One of the many beautiful
descriptions is of the stone: “she saw a stone about the size of a sparrow’s
egg, glowing with the suppressed, milky radiance of a sunlit cloud and veined
with iridescent streaks of colour,” and another describing Xi-feng with a poem:
“She had, moreover,
eyes like a painted phoenix,
eyebrows like willow-leaves,
a slender form,
seductive grace;
the ever-smiling summer face
of hidden thunders showed no trace;
the ever-bubbling laughter started
almost before the lips were parted.”
There are many verses of poetry within the text,
either that the characters made up or quoted from, or just descriptions from the
author about the setting or characters themselves. Although I thought it was
odd at first, I soon got used to it and found it really added to the atmosphere
of the story.
The book is also excellent with its portrayal of the
characters’ thoughts and desires, especially exploring conflicting ideas and
emotions. So although the book is very detailed in its descriptions of the
events and the setting, it doesn’t fall short of exploring the characters’
mentalities, as well intricacies of the plots they might have. For example,
Bao-yu’s maid Aroma tricks Bao-yu at one point: “By employing only a minimum
amount of deceit, she could use it as a means of ascertaining his real feelings
towards her and of humbling his spirit a little, so that he might be in a
suitably chastened frame of mind for the lecture which she was preparing to
admonish him. She judged from his going off silently to bed that he was shaken
and a little unsure of himself. Evidently she had succeeded in the first part
of her plan.” Xi-feng is also particularly skilled at manipulating people.
There were many priceless moments of humor as
well. For example, when Bao-yu and Qin Zhong go to school (though Bao-yu stops going
soon after he begins), there is a fight with all the boys throwing things at
each other and it just gets so out of hand: you’d have to read it to see, but
it’s absolutely hilarious. Also Xi-feng can be very devious: she was definitely
one of my favourite characters, probably the smartest, and not shy of taking
charge when the situation calls for her, even though she is extremely busy with
running the household. Not to mention when she sets up a plot to get sleazy Jia
Rui caught the act of coming to visit her for an amorous meeting. This ends up
getting him killed because he is trapped outside in the courtyard overnight and
catches a chill, though the fact that he dies is really his own fault when he
fails to follow the advice of a Taoist doctor. Xi-feng isn’t sorry one bit, and
I have to agree with her.
As for the main character, Bao-yu, he is the most
intriguing and seems to have a connection to things beyond the mortal world
around him because he is the incarnation of the stone, even though he doesn’t
realize what this entails. Although he has a glimpse of a higher order in the
world, he is largely secluded in the Jia household and lives a life of luxury
where his every whim is supplied by his maids. It would be nice if, in the next
volumes, he is forced to fend for himself, because now, he has no real responsibilities
and so he’s never really tested, which is necessary for the protagonist of a
novel. He does, however, suffer his own hardships (besides being bored from not
having anything to do) because of his melancholy and reflections about himself
and the world and wanting to know where he belongs in it. He is never able to
really figure it out though, for he is effectively trapped in the Jia household
with his family and almost never gets out in the world. On the rare occasion that
he does (Qin-shi’s funeral), he is curious about other people and feels a
connection to them, especially a girl who works at a farm: “she was standing
watching for him beside the road, a baby brother in her arms and two little
girls at her side. Bao-yu could not repress a strong emotion on seeing her, but
sitting there in the carriage there was not much he could do but gaze back at
her soulfully.” This is what usually happens: he is able to watch life from the
safety of his “carriage” of existence, but not able to do much of anything.
Also, his interactions with others causes him much
turmoil, especially with Dai-yu. Dai-yu was sweet at first, but once she comes
to love Bao-yu, she becomes such a brat and gets annoyed at every little thing
Bao-yu does. She’s very jealous of Bao-chai, and always takes it out on Bao-yu
when he says or does something even slightly out of line. So although he also
loves her, they stay at an impasse for the whole book. Though admittedly,
Bao-yu isn’t very mature either, so it’s possible that his love for Dai-yu will
pass, especially considering that he takes a fancy to many other people (mostly
his cousins and maids. The fact that everyone is a cousin or related in some
way does not stop any relationships from forming) at various times throughout the
book. As is mentioned during a conversation with Yu-cun near the beginning of
the book, Bao-yu has an unusual obsession with girls, not only that he likes
girls, but that he has grown up with girls and likes to do the activities they
do. We often see that he might even want to be
a girl, because he sees them as nobler being compared to males. So he often experiences
an unspoken frustration simply because he is a boy and so cannot really be like
his cousins. And he is definitely in love with his friend Qin Zhong, though
nothing comes of this because Qin Zhong eventually dies. But on the whole, Bao-yu
is confused in his life, for he is largely estranged from not only the higher
reality beyond the world, but even the world outside his very restricted social
situation.
As for the stone Bao-yu is born with, although he
is largely ignorant of its powers, he knows the inscription on it, which says:
MAGIC JADE
Mislay me
not, forget me not.
And hale old
age shall be your lot.
On the reverse, it says,
- Dispels the harms of witchcraft.
- Cures melancholic distempers.
- Foretells good and evil fortune.
This dream ties in to one of the major themes in the
book, and indeed, the book is also called A
Dream of Red Mansions. This “dream,” or transportation to another plane of
existence, is when Bao-yu is instructed by Disenchantment to dispel his “lust
of the mind” so he can focus on “the serious things in life” rather than
illusions of daily life that will only trap him. So far, in the first volume,
she hadn’t succeeded, but I believe there’s hope for Bao-yu yet.
This transport to Disenchantment’s land of fairies
touches upon the supernatural order that ultimately forms the basis of the
world. This is also hinted at with the characters of the Taoist and Buddhist
monks who occasionally make an appearance. They are aware that Bao-yu is the
stone, though as you would expect from a Buddhist and Taoist, they don’t get
involved in the plot much. Other monks and religious persons only get involved
in times of deaths and sicknesses, which also illustrates the fact that what
really matters is not the incessant clamour of day-to-day routines and customs
that occupy most of the characters’ time, but of the ultimate destiny of our
soul when it leaves this illusory world. One particularly interesting part is
when Qin Zhong is dying and bargains with the demons while he is unconscious so
that he can speak to Bao-yu one last time.
The book’s many lavish descriptions of customs,
clothing, and architecture, including an enormous garden that is built just so
the family can receive their daughter (who has become a royal concubine) for a
visit once a year, is very interesting in itself, but it can also be seen as a
mask over the fundamental reality that is spoken of at the beginning of the
book, and so the story is in one sense a parody. It is this higher world and
the beings within it that ultimately determine the characters’ destinies, which
they are largely unaware of, and indeed, we even see that some souls were
purposely sent into the “great illusion of human life” for a particular
purpose. We can’t decide either when we come into the world or when we leave it,
but it is at these times that the characters are able to glimpse a higher
scheme of things in which their day-to-day lives are insignificant. Bao-yu is sometimes
able to sense when he meets a pure soul connected to a higher world, such as the
maid Crimson and Dai-yu, who were sent here by the fairy Disenchantment. Ultimately,
everything that happens is in accordance with the laws of karma, and the only
ones who are really able to escape them are the Taoist and Buddhist monks, who travel
between “the land of illusion” and the higher world.
On top of all this, we learn a lot about the time
period (China in the 1700s), such as how people lived, what they wore, the
different positions in society, medicine, literature, etc. And given that it
was actually written in this time period, we can safely assume that it’s
accurate.
I would certainly say that Cao Xueqin is the Alexandre Dumas of 18th century China: any fans of Dumas would do well to pick up a copy of this book and enjoy.
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