Family

In Pa Chin’s Family, he portrays a traditional Confucian family battling to keep their traditions and their way of life in tact, amidst the deep upheaval and civil disorder gripping China. Pa Chin clearly portrays a family of which the Venerable Master Kao rules supreme at the expense of his family. The Kao family runs into several set backs such as suicide, death, depression, unhappy marriages, family conflict, and lack of respect for elders that undoubtedly lead to the unraveling of the Kao family. One significant reason the Kao family fails to maintain its integrity and way of life is because of the clash between Confusion traditionalism and Chinese cultural modernization. One of the main driving forces in disruption in Kao family tradition would have to be the rebellious youth, Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, and Chin in particular.

The family’s personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they’ve seen so many before them get lost on. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself.

While traditional Confucianism plays a large role in the problems faced by the Kao family, it is the combination of both Confucianism and modernization that brings the family to its knees. Chueh-hsin is a huge factor in the novel for many reasons. It is because of him that his little brothers Chueh-min and Chueh-hui realize how unfair the old system of arranged marriage was. They witnessed their older brother Chueh-hsin go along with tradition and release a lake of tears over the years because of his willingness to let his elders determine his future instead of himself. Chueh-hsin was in constant reflection of what he should have done to save his happiness and the joy of the woman he loved, Mei. In the end Mei is so overwhelmed with unhappiness that she stops treating herself well, gives up in life and withers away and dies. Chueh-hsin realizes he should have done things differently but is considered a “weakling” by his brothers and does not have the back bone to stand up to the family, even when the family’s intentions are not the best for himself or his loved ones. Chueh-hsin had been through so much torment because of the decisions made by his elders that his brothers pressured him to stick up for himself and make decisions that were best for him, his wife and their 4 year old son. Chueh-min’s and Chueh-hui’s view of Chueh-hsin as a weakling was proven true at the end of the novel when Li Jui-chueh dies giving birth in a shanty compound on the other side of the river outside the city limits. Chueh-hsin might have saved the life of another one of his loved ones if he had just stood up to the family and dismissed their bizarre beliefs and customs as absurd and destructive to his wife’s health.

It is because of their older brother’s weakness that fueled the two younger brother’s fire to make a change in their family. After attending family festive gatherings such as new years and Yeh-yeh’s birthday the youth in the family recognized how vulgar and ill-mannered their family was. Watching the older men, drink large amounts of wine, while swearing at and fondling women impersonators in front of their wives and children, Chueh-min and Chueh-hui were disgusted. It seemed also true that the only time the family was together acting civilized and not fighting was when there was a death. Most of the time the death was caused by the family though, for instance the death of Mei, and Ming-feng were directly related to the traditions of the family. The two younger brothers decided they needed to get away from this style of family that was ruining everyone’s happiness. The two younger brothers found comfort in the magazines of other youths who also saw a problem with the old system and were fighting tradition with pen and paper. The new youth magazines were promoting independence, free will, education and new ideas involving family. Although Chueh-hui was punished by Yeh-yeh for his involvement with the magazines he still found the courage to disobey Yeh-yeh’s orders and continued to read the new youth publications and write articles for the “Dawn”. The “Dawn” was a weekly publication put out by Chueh-min and Chueh-hui along with some classmates to promote the new youth movement. With over 300 subscriptions after 3 weeks the youth had the motivation and support they needed to rebel against their family’s detrimental traditions. Girls began cutting