Chapter Summaries Flashcards
(21 cards)
1
Q
What happened in Chapter 1?
A
- Meet XSG and learn about his family
- father dead, grandad senile, taken care of by 4th uncle
- XSG works at silk factory in town
- XSG friends with AF and GN
- XSG, AF and GN go to give blood in town - talk of blood having a special ‘energy’
- naive talk about giving blood
- drinking water to thin it out
- chapter feels youthful, naive, innocent
- description of countryside and relating things to countryside images
2
Q
What happened in Chapter 2?
A
- short chapter
- XSG is eating melons
- XSG decides to get married
- countryside idyllic imagery
3
Q
What happened in Chapter 3?
A
- XSG is deciding who to marry
- Lin Fenfang works at his factory and Xu Yulan is the ‘fried dough queen’
- XYL is very fashion-conscious and aware of her image
- XSG takes XYL for a meal, paying for it with his blood money
- tells XYL she’s obligated to marry him now, even though she is seeing He Xiaoyong, but she protests
- XSG goes to her dad to convince him
- XSG is older and has more money than HXY
- XSG and XYL have the same surname
- XYL not involved
- XYL tries to convince HXY to marry her but he refuses
- learn XSG’s mother ran away with a Nationalist commander and abandoned him when his father died
- chapter feels matter-of-fact and abrupt
4
Q
What happened in Chapter 4?
A
- short chapter
- XYL has 3 sons in 5 years
- contrast of female pain and male joy (sons literally called ‘joy’)
5
Q
What happened in Chapter 5?
A
- gossip in town about Yile’s parentage
- Yile is 9 so 9 year jump from last chapter
- large jump likely because period was relatively happy?
- XSG tells his sons that HXY kept visiting after him and XYL were married
- XSG accuses XYL of sleeping with HXY
- XYL publicly cries and wails when protesting her innocence
- she finally admits to it happening one time (HXY forced himself on her)
- issue of face and gossip
6
Q
What happened in Chapter 6?
A
- short chapter
- XSG exacting his petty revenge
- he refuses to help his wife with anything
- he checks out of his marriage and responsibilities
7
Q
What happened in Chapter 7?
A
- white gloves from factory
- family dynamics
- XSG and Yile
- XYL and Erle
- Sanle neglected and ignored
- Sanle instigates a fight with Blacksmith Fang’s son
- Yile hits him in the head with a stone and almost kills him
8
Q
What happened in Chapter 8?
A
- learn about extent of BF son’s injuries
- BF wants Xu family to pay for healthcare
- village thinks XSG should abandon Yile as he is not really his son
- XSG demands that XYL goes to HXY and beg for money for what Yile has done
9
Q
What happened in Chapter 9?
A
- XYL goes to HXY’s house for money
- HXY turns her down and refuses to give her any money
- XSG is angry with XYL
- XYL cries dramatically on doorstep again
- XSG then demands Yile goes to HXY’s house to beg for money
- Yile is also turned down so returns to Xu house
10
Q
What happened in Chapter 10?
A
- BF continues to demand money from XSG
- XSG refuses to pay his money
- XSG allows BF to take all of XYL’s stuff to pay for medical care, on the basis that Yile was not actually his son
11
Q
What happened in Chapter 11?
A
- short chapter
- XSG turns Erle and Sanle against HXY
- XSG makes his sons promise to rape HXY’s two daughters when they are older (blood debt)
- XSG goes to sell blood to pay off BF
- tries to give Blood Chief Li bribe of sugar, but he can’t accept to as he is a CCP member
- BCL tells XSG he is a famous cuckhold
12
Q
What happened in Chapter 12?
A
- XSG first spends his money on fried pork livers and yellow rice wine
- he then pays off BF to get his stuff back
13
Q
What happened in Chapter 13?
A
- key chapter: feels like breaking point
- XYL hears XSG had sold his blood, which she believes is like selling your ancestors
- XYL goes to HXY’s house
- XYL and HXY’s wife have a slanging match on the street - very public
- BF tells XSG but he doesn’t care
14
Q
What happened in Chapter 14?
A
- LFF is now very fat (lots of descriptions)
- LFF is married to a man with glasses
- she broke her leg slipping over when doing washing
- XSG goes to visit her, gropes her leg then jumps on her
15
Q
What happened in Chapter 15?
A
- meet AF and GL again who are going to sell blood and XSG joins them
- XSG decides to send LFF various gifts of food and drink
- XSG does not acknowledge Yile as his son
- says he has two sons
- won’t spend any money on him
- find out he definitely had sex with LFF
16
Q
What happened in Chapter 16?
A
- LFF’s husband brings the gifts back to XSG’s house
- XYL is there and finds out XSG slept with “Fatty Lin”
- LFF’s husband waits for XSG to get home, publicly announces that he raped his wife, then leaves with the gifts
17
Q
What happened in Chapter 17?
A
- short chapter
- power balance battle between XSG and XYL
- XYL is strutting around (like how she was pre-marriage)
- XYL uses threat of public doorstep drama to stop XSG from fighting
- XSG now doing the cooking, neighbours come round and laugh at him
18
Q
What happened in Chapter 18?
A
- 1958 and the Great Leap Forward
- XSG is skeptical of all the changes
- repetition of “XSG said to XYL…” x5
- see the passing of the GLF and famine
- depicted through the lifespan of the communal canteens
19
Q
What happened in Chapter 19?
A
- XYL is scrimping and saving for the bad times - this is what saves them
- famine seen through everyday experiences of XSG and XYL
- chaos and breakdown of the community is seen through the mundane
- silk factory because there’s not enough silkworms
- price of rice tripling
- XYL no longer frying dough as there is no flour or oil
- only Victory Restaurant remains open
- schools and restaurants shut
- family is starving - lack of energy, inability to move, sleeping all the time
- moment of XSG being a caring father
- “cooks” for his family with words
- his dish is the liver dish that replaces his energy when he’s given blood
20
Q
What happened in Chapter 20?
A
- XSG decides his family needs to eat so he needs to give blood
- they had eaten corn flour gruel for 57 days straight
- BCL is corrupt again and demands 5¥ out of the 35¥ as a bribe to allow XSG to give blood
- XSG is weaker than ever
- XYL is fed up
21
Q
What happened in Chapter 21?
A
- recurring image of XYL and sunflower cream
- XSG very hard on Yile
- doesn’t let him have food at Victory Restaurant with the rest of the family
- only gives him some money for sweet potato
- switch to Yile’s eyes
- he buys sweet potato but it doesn’t fill him up
- seller cheats him into buying a smaller potato
- wanders street
- people publicly see him alone, semi-abandoned
- realises XSG isn’t his father
