Each of these residences had a long history; some had changed owners several times. Each had secrets. When the black veneer peeled off the big gates, they were painted again. But no matter what changes took place, the secrets were kept. No outsiders were permitted to know them.
The architecture of the Kao family compound symbolizes the theme of facade. Multiple families, generations past, lived in the compound, just as generations of families attempted to embody the Confucian patriarchal system. Because the Confucian family is insular by design and necessity, an outsider's knowledge of the Kao family's inner dynamics stops at the front gates. The architecture both represents and facilitates these types of relationships. With its sprawling estates and curated gardens, the Kao family compound creates an idyllic world. Traditionally, children were educated within the compound and married extended family members. When family members venture off the compound, such as when Chueh-min and Chueh-hui attend school, the cracks in the family's foundation begin to show.
The residence gives the appearance of Confucian values, just as the family's behavior gives the outward appearance of Confucian values, though the harmony those values promise is not present.
The veneer that covers and then recovers the doors symbolizes the Kao family's profound ability to forget. Throughout the text, characters die tragically and are entirely forgotten, as though they had never existed. Family members swallow their disappointments and never speak of them. Though the family is highly insular, conflicts continually arise because the Kao family members do not truly know one another.
“We’ve got four generations under one roof, only one less generation than the 'ideal' family, and yet not one day goes by without open quarrels and secret wrangles.”
This quotation, spoken by Chueh-hui early in the text, summarizes the irony that is the central theme of Family. The Confucian patriarchal system was conceived to ensure harmony, order, and happiness within a family unit. However, this system is the source of the majority of the Kao family's disharmony.
The "ideal" Confucian family has five generations of family members living under one roof; this arrangement should indicate a family's harmony. Chueh-hui references this ideal to illustrate how deeply steeped in Confucian idealism his family is. Even in their devotion to the Confucian system, the family fights both openly and discreetly.
But in a very short time, so many arrrows, tangible and intangible, began flying in his direction. Some he was able to dodge, but several struck home. He discovered something new, he began to see another side of life in a gentry household. Beneath the surface of peace and affection, hatred and strife were lurking; he also had become a target of attack. Although his surroundings made him forget his springtime, the fires of youth still burned in his heart.
This quotation uses the imagery of battle to explain the consequences of Chueh-hsin's philosophy of non-resistance. The narrative frequently uses battle imagery to show members of the Kao family navigating family relationships and strategizing how to get what they want. The narrative compares Chueh-hsin's emotional wounds to the physical wounds delivered by arrows. From the outside, Chueh-hsin should have had a privileged life; as the eldest son of an eldest son, he holds the second most respected position. But this position also puts a target on his back. Chueh-hsin's elders, whom he had previously loved or even idolized, suddenly view him as an adversary when he ascends to his position. Chueh-hsin's responsibility is the catalyst for his disillusionment with the patriarchal system. His family attacks him from all sides.
Upon his father's death, Chueh-hsin receives responsibility beyond what he can handle, and his idealism, passion, and enthusiasm are still present in his heart. Unrelenting disappointment and tragedy chip away at his youthful vigor.
People who originally were strangers to one another, for a pittance of a wage, now served the same masters, living together like some large tribe- peacefully, even affectionately—because they were the same kind of people; they had only to anger their master today, and tomorrow they would not know where their next meal was coming from.
This quotation illustrates the theme of class difference present throughout the text. Though abused by the Kao family and oppressed through the patriarchal system, servants possess a unique freedom. The servants are not subject to nonsensical customs, rules, and rituals that dictate the lives of the gentry. Therefore, they can form authentic, positive relationships with one another. Conflict and oppression, though tragic, serve as common experiences that bring the servants together.
The servants' "found family" recalls how the students of Chengdu form their own family unit based on shared values. The gentry, by contrast, are driven apart by tragedy; when military battles rage in the streets, the Kao family disperses, each looking out only for their individual interests.
“Even though peonies weather the winter, grow leaves and put forth blossoms, in the end they still can’t avoid Yeh-yeh’s shears.”
Chueh-min says this to Chueh-hui, who says that the younger generation ought to be like the peonies, surviving through the winters and frosts, unlike other plants that wither and die. Chueh-min points out that despite the peonies' resilience against natural forces, in the end, they are helplessly beholden to the Venerable Master Kao's wishes. The peonies symbolize the Kao family, particularly the younger generation. The family members weather much pain, from deaths, to tragedies, to disappointments, and even war. However, through complex processes of forgetting, rebellion, and acceptance, the younger generation continues to survive and thrive. For example, Chin and Mrs. Chang endure gossip and exclusion due to Chin's education. Chueh-hsin weathers depression and disappointment and still delights in his child. Yet, as Chueh-min astutely observes, despite all the best efforts, even those who fight back are still often bested in the end by the grandfather patriarch, who is supposed to love them and take care of their best interests. Chueh-min's comment foreshadows his own fate when he runs away to escape an arranged marriage, and the Venerable Master Kao threatens to prune Chueh-min from the family tree by disowning him.
"How many problems can I cram into my one small brain after all? Let everything take its natural course. As long as I behave like a man, that's plenty. That seemed to be the best solution, and he refused to think any further."
Chueh-hui reflects on the truth that it is cruel to try and convince his brother, Chueh-hsin, to learn new ideas. The patriarchal system has already victimized Chueh-hisn, and showing him how to oppose the patriarchal system would only intensify his pain. At this moment, Chueh-hui's commitment to his ideals wavers. Chueh-hui often criticizes Chueh-hsin for his inability to see the whole picture, his complicity in perpetuating oppressive systems, and his submissive acceptance of his face. However, here, Chueh-hui is faced with a problem that indicts his role in the family and his behavior. Chueh-hui's near-constant contrarianism and righteous indignation over the Kao family is exactly what makes Chueh-hsin's life unbearable. Ironically, Chueh-hui says that "As long as [he] behave[s] like a man, that's plenty," because Chueh-hui criticizes Chueh-hsin for espousing that exact attitude. In Chueh-hui's world, the patriarchal family structure and its strict rules directly influence what it means to "behave like a man".
In this scene, Chueh-hui retreats from his ideals and deflects blame. This quotation summarizes the irony in Chueh-hui's behavior; though he sees himself as enlightened, educated, and intelligent, he references his limitations when convenient. Though Chueh-hui frequently criticizes Chueh-hsin's go-along-to-get-along attitude, Chueh-hui is content to "let everything take its natural course." Chueh-hui frequently gets angry with his family members, like Mei and Chueh-hsin, for refusing to intellectually challenge themselves by reading new materials. Yet, Chueh-hui willfully refuses to challenge his own defects and be introspective.
The air trembled and the clear notes of a bamboo flute sailed up from the lake, to the muted accompaniment of a bow on a two-stringed hu chin, lulling its listeners with a melody that charmed like an ancient fairy tale, making them forget their petty cares, evoking old dreams, dreams that were never fulfilled.
This quotation exemplifies the theme of romanticizing the past through the motifs of music and still water. Rowing on the lake apart from the older generation, the younger generation partially forgets their struggles and the roles their family forces them to play. The hu chin and bamboo flute music transport the younger generation to a "fairy tale" version of their pasts, where their dreams were active and separate from Confucian patriarchal requirements. Of course, these dreams, though comforting, do not represent reality; none of the Kao family children can realistically dream beyond the Confucian system. For instance, Chueh-hsin's wildest, unrealized dreams included marriage to a relative and studying to vindicate his mother and enhance the family's affluence.
Distinctly Chinese cultural instruments, like the bamboo flute and the hu chin, both represent the idealized past and distinguish between cultural heritage and Confucian values. The New Culture movement promoted the idea that China was a nation, not a distinctly Confucian culture. By using Chinese cultural symbols without assigning the baggage of Confucianism, this quotation represents New Culture values.
Before her eyes there suddenly appeared a lengthy highway stretching toward infinity, upon which were lain spreading corpses of young women. It became clear to her that this road was built thousands of years ago; the earth on the road was saturated with the blood and tears of those women. They were all tied and handcuffed and driven to this road, and made to kneel there, to soak the earth with their blood and tears, and to satiate the sex desire of wild animals with their bodies. When they first came they still groaned, wailed, prayed, hoping that someone would save them from this road. But before long their hope was shattered, their blood and tears were exhausted, they fell down and breathed their last breath.
In this viscerally horrifying description, Chin contemplates how the ancient institutions of marriage and the commodification of women's bodies are a form of sexual violence disguised through romance, beautification, and duty. Chin expresses her observations through a nightmarish vision, which contrasts sharply with the idyllic dreams of the past described throughout the text. Chin's vision indicates that one substantial but often overlooked cost of the patriarchal family system is women's bodies, souls, and, eventually, their lives. By invoking the imagery of blood and tears, Chin's description enforces that the toll on women is a very physical one.
Chin describes men in the patriarchal system as "wild animals," contrasting sharply with the facade of refinement and sexual self-discipline the gentry projects. By calling the men "wild animals," Chin takes away some of their agency and responsibility. In her vision, the culprit responsible for the mutilation and oppression of women is the Confucian system, represented by the road, not necessarily individual, complicit men.
The women in Chin's description cry out for help, but their pleas for salvation go unheard. Chin's reaction to the vision hypothesizes that the solution to the problem of institutionalized sexual violence is a radical rejection of the past and finding "a new road," a phrase repeated throughout the text.
This tea party of a dozen or so young men was indeed a get-together of a close-knit family. But the members of this family were bound together not by blood or relationship, not by property or inheritance, but by the common possession of equally good intentions and the same high ideals.
This quotation demonstrates how the New Culture movement redefines family. Family is the most foundational social unit in the Confucian patriarchal system, yet it is the source of the greatest strife throughout the novel. Chueh-hui struggles against the very idea of family until he connects with like-minded students. Chueh-hui redefines family as a social unit connected by shared values, mutual respect, and affection. This quotation illuminates how shallow and material the ties that bind the Kao family are; forced co-habitation, deference, and sacrifice based on ties as ephemeral as wealth or as nebulous as common ancestry creates a weaker unit than that of found family.
This river, this blessed river, was taking him away from the home he had lived in for eighteen years to a city and people he had never seen. The prospect dazzled him; he had no time to regret the life he cast behind. For the last time, he looked back. “Goodbye,” Chueh-hui said softly. He turned to watch the on-rushing river, the green water that never for an instant halted in its rapidly advancing flow.
This quotation is the final passage in the text, invoking the ubiquitous motif of water. In other passages, still bodies of water, representing harmony and the status quo, are disrupted. However, as Chueh-hui escapes to Shanghai, he travels along a rushing river that never halts. This river represents the social progress to which Chueh-hui is devoted. Like the river, the New Culture movement is ceaseless; the movement is not a drop in a pond but an untameable force. It is this New Culture that leads Chueh-hui to his destiny. The river, and the New Culture, also put a near-unbridgeable distance between Chueh-hui and his family.
This quotation succinctly illustrates how Chueh-hui's journey is the inverse of Ming-feng's death. Ming-feng, a servant and a woman, feels she has no choice under the patriarchal system but to escape through death. Chueh-hui, a member of the gentry and a man, escapes his old life through a symbolic, not literal death, leaving his past behind and rushing toward a new life. Ming-feng, to escape the fate of concubinage, drowns herself in a still lake. Her body disrupts the lake, but the lake quickly regains its calm. Ming-feng's death, literally and symbolically, has no permanent effect on the status quo. Just as the lake quickly regains its equilibrium, the Kao family quickly forgets Ming-feng's death. Chueh-hui's boat does not disrupt the river, though Ming-feng's body disrupts the lake. Chueh-hui's boat does not disrupt the water because the river is already flowing. Chueh-hui's participation does not markedly contribute to the New Culture Movement. The movement absorbs Chueh-hui's efforts, adding them to its already established momentum, whereas Ming-feng's sacrifice is swallowed and forgotten.
