The Red Candle
Lindo Jong
This chapter is narrarted by Lindo Jong. The chapter begins with Lindo talking about a visit from the village matchmaker to her family. After this visit, two year old Lindo Jong became promised to marry Tyan-Yu, whom was a year younger. After this, Lindo's mother began to refer to Lindo as Huang Taitai's (Tyan-Yu's mother) daughter to cope with the fact that Lindo would not be hers forever. When Lindo turned twelve, her family's house suffered severely from a flood and the family had to move to another village. Lindo, however, had to live with Tyan-Yu's family where she was treated as a servant. After a couple of years, Lindo began to look up to Tyan-Yu's family, living for Huang Taitai's praise and looked at Tyan-Yu as a god. When Lindo turns sixteen years old, she marries Tyan-Yu. On the day of her wedding, Lindo feels nothing but hopelessness and despiar as she realizes that she will no longer live her life in the pursuit of her own happiness. She considers the thought of drowning herself in the river, but as she looks outside she notices the fierce wind blowing across the land. She realizes that she, too, is strong like the wind. One of my favorite quotes from the story is in this chapter, when Lindo realizes her strength.
"I asked myself, what is true about a person? Would I change in the same way the river changes color but still be the same person? And then I saw the curtains blowing wildly, and outside rain was falling harder, causing everyone to scurry and shout. I smiled. Then I realized it was the first time I could see the power of the wind. I couldn't see the wind itself, but I could see it carried the water that filled the river and shaped the countryside. It caused men to yelp and dance.
I wiped my eyes and looked in the mirror. I was surprised at what I saw. I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pre. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind" (pg 58).
After this, Lindo decided to honor her family by marrying Tyan-Yu, but do as much for herself as she possibly could. According to custom, the couple had to light a red candle a wick at each end and their names carved into it. A servant was ordered to watch the candle all night to make sure it burned, because if either end extinguished, then the marriage would be predicted as a failure. That night, the servant required to watch the candle ran away at the sound of thunder because she thought it was a Japanese bomb attack. Lindo, who was walking nearby, ran into the room and blew out the candle. The next morning, the matchmaker showed the candle had burnt thoroughly and the marriage between Lindo and Tyan-Yu was sealed. Lindo looked to the servant, who must have relit the candle, and saw the look of shame on her face.
For months after their marriage, Tyan-Yu refused to consumate their marriage. Huang Taitai blamed Lindo for not being able to become pregnant, saying she was "spilling her son's seeds", so she confined Lindo to her bed so they could not spill out any more. Finally, after months of maltreatment, Lindo found out a way to get out of her marriage. She pretended that Tyan-Yu's ancestors came to her in a dream, telling her that the matchmaker's servant allowed the candle to burn out the night of their wedding, which would mean the demise of Tyan-Yu. Lindo convinced Huang Taitai that Tyan-Yu's ancestors planted Tyan-Yu's seed in the servant girl and that she was in fact Tyan-Yu's true spiritual wife. The servant girl confessed to this lie in order to have her child in wedlock and live a more comfortable life. This trick played by Lindo lead to the anullment of their marriage and Lindo emigrating to the United States.
I learned in this chapter that Lindo is a very tricky, intelligent character. She aims to do the best for herself and knows how to be independent. She, so far, is the only mother character in the story that really tried to better her situation and be a more powerful woman.
Traditional Chinese Matchmaker
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