A Great Achievement
Throughout Spring Grass are depictions of Spring Grass’s sexual activity. Up to chapter 21 of the novel, she has sexual encounters with four individuals— her Uncle, Rivers Ho, Robbie, and Brother Lowe. Each of these build upon Spring Grass’s understanding of her own sexuality. Particularly insightful is her extramarital affair with Brother Lowe, of which Spring Grass and Brother Lowe’s understanding show a stark contrast. This essay examines the manner in which Spring Grass views her own sexual activities and how she relates her own sexual desirability to her self-worth. This essay then analyzes what aspects of Spring Grass match or deviate from her prescribed gender role based on a close reading of the text.
The first description of a sexual scene in the novel is when Spring Grass is merely 15 years old, lending a hand at her Uncle’s household to care for their children. She is sexually harassed by her alcoholic Uncle, which confuses Spring Grass— she does not know how to respond. She has not had any sexual education or experience, so she does not know what her Uncle groping her means, yet she still picks up enough contextual clues from her Uncle’s hesitance and guilt and her Aunt’s reproach to figure out that something is very wrong. However, she does not realize that it is her Uncle’s behavior that is inappropriate, but rather draws the wrong conclusion that she herself is the problem. As a result, she tries to hide her most “offending” feature that prompted her Uncle seemed to be interested in: “She no longer held her chest straight and her head high as she walked, trying her best to conceal that chest that looked as though it did not belong to a fifteen-year old girl.” (Ch5, p.5) When her Uncle approaches her again, this time in her room, she is rightly terrified. Having been saved by the timely cry of the two infants she was taking care of, she is again lost in confusion as she tries to make sense of the events: “Was it that fifteen-year-old girls shouldn’t have chests like hers? Did being touched like that by her Uncle mean that she wasn’t a girl anymore but a woman?” (Ch5, p.6) Ultimately, she arrives at the conclusion that it was indeed her Uncle’s fault and not her own: “She could not permit him to take advantage of her. Didn’t mother often push away the hands of other women’s men?” (Ch5, p.6) Even though Spring Grass correctly decides that this event was her Uncle’s fault and not her own, it is likely that this event had a very negative effect on Spring Grass’s perception of her sexuality. Her unpleasant experience reinforced the cultural norm that a woman should hide her sexuality. When her sexual side had been seen, bad things had happened to her. Her Uncle’s hand had taught her this. Her Uncle’s hand was the hand of those in power. It was the hand of men, it was the hand of a patriarchal society. It was the same hand that had shaped her entire life, from the day she was born.
At this point, we must acknowledge that Spring Grass, although of rural origin, manages to migrate to the city. Women who migrate to the city are more selective and autonomous in choosing a spouse than their nonmigrant peers (Gaetano 2015, 100). In the case of Spring Grass, this autonomy in being able to choose a spouse is one of the core motivating factors for her migration to the city. The experience of labor migration empowers rural women to assert themselves in the matter of marriage and take charge of their own futures. Yet, their greater agency in their own lives do not free them of all constraints of gender and class (Gaetano 2015, 100). Although Spring Grass finds Rivers Ho and manages to marry for love, this marriage turns out to be another indoctrination process in which Spring Grass is further entrenched into a Confucian understanding of her sexuality that is shaped by the patriarchy.
The description of her sexual relationship with Rivers Ho is interesting. They are married, yet Spring Grass tends to be unenthusiastic about sex: “Spring Grass impatiently pushed him away, saying, ‘How are you still not finished? You really need such a blasted long time?’ ” (Ch13, p.10) While outbursts such as this implies that Spring Grass does not derive pleasure from sex and is also insensitive to her husband’s desires, she soon realizes her callousness and makes amends: “This time, with nothing to distract her, she strove to meet her husband’s enthusiasm.” (Ch13, p.10) Yet still, it is unclear whether Spring Grass derives pleasure from sex itself. More evidence from the text again points to the couple’s sexual relationship as being rather one-sided: “Thoroughly exhausted from the day’s work, Spring Grass let him at it.” (Ch20, p.3) Spring Grass’s behavior fits neatly into the traditional Confucian Chinese concept of sex. A Confucian model of marriage does not stop at the bedroom. A woman is forever locked in servitude. This sex is a service, from wife to husband, a duty to be performed for the enjoyment of the husband. As it is a duty, the concept that a woman can also enjoy sex is foreign. Rivers Ho’s constant need of her sexual services further reinforces in Spring Grass’s mind of this idea that sex is a duty she must perfrom to appease men.
Her sexual encounters with Robbie and Brother Lowe are rather similar in that both men are of a higher economic status than Spring Grass herself, and they both have a position of power over her. Also, these events all describe extramarital sexual affairs. It is no secret that Robbie has had feelings for Spring Grass, having proposed to her (which Spring Grass declined). Robbie gropes her inappropriately which Spring Grass promptly rebuffs, knowing that it was wrong. Robbie again expresses his feelings for Spring Grass, and Spring Grass seems to find validation in his affection: “It looked like Robbie really did like her… This gave Spring Grass a different sense of satisfaction than what she felt with Riv.” (Ch17, p.5) However, she later comes to her senses, remarking that “Although Robbie’s behavior in the moment had excited her, had made her happy, she found it preposterous afterwards when she thought about it.” (Ch17, p.5) Yet she still admits that “Rivers had never made her feel the same happiness she had felt that evening with Robbie.” (Ch.17, p.5) This theme, her equating her self-worth with her sexual desirability is again seen with Brother Lowe. Being wanted by men, those with money and therefore power, is validating to her own worth and gives her happiness.
Spring Grass goes to Robbie’s house the very next morning, making up her mind to ask for financial support after she learns that her husband Rivers Ho has gotten himself swindled in the city, leaving the family bankrupt and chased after by debt-collectors. To her surprise, Robbie who had liked her so much refuses to help her, which leaves Spring Grass feeling betrayed. She ponders to herself, “Could he have stopped liking her just because she hadn’t responded to his advances that evening… Were all men like that?” (Ch.17, p.7) This conclusion that Spring Grass draws goes on to influence her later actions with Brother Lowe.
Most importantly, now we arrive at Spring Grass’s affair with Brother Lowe. One might say that Spring Grass deviates from her prescribed gender roles here by being assertive with Brother Lowe. However, her assertiveness in her affair with Brother Lowe speaks more strongly of her confinement in these gender roles because she was so willing to accept that her sexuality was a commodity— the only thing of value she could offer to Brother Lowe as a form of repayment. Brother Lowe was an angel sent down from heaven in Spring Grass’s eyes. He came when he was most needed, and aided her with a gesture of true altruism and empathy. Brother Lowe’s actions truly stemmed from the goodness of his heart, yet Spring Grass, being her stubborn, headstrong yet honest self, could not bear to stay indebted to anyone. She however has no real way to repay him, so in the moment, she comes to the conclusion that Brother Lowe must want her sexual services.
The fact that Spring Grass thinks this way is an indication of the very framework which she views the world with. She is unable to understand that Brother Lowe’s act of kindness is an act of true altruism— attempting to repay it in this way is demeaning of Brother Lowe’s good intentions. He did not help her for his gain, yet she cannot fathom that he would act so irrationally. She does not understand that offering Brother Lowe a sexual favor is also extremely inappropriate. Of course, as they are both married, there is the issue of infidelity. But even looking past that huge issue, asking Spring Grass for a sexual favor degrades her worth as an individual from Brother Lowe’s perspective. Brother Lowe was one of the first people willing to recognize Spring Grass for the incredibly hard-working, honest, and kind individual that she was, and not degrade her identity to her gender or reproductive utility. It is ironic yet realistic that Spring Grass would be so eager to sexually commodify herself for him. This irony was lost to her, however, as she led her life in a patriarchal world and her mind was confined to its ways.
Spring Grass, throughout her life, has internalized in herself a sense of inferiority. She was mistreated by her mother because she was a daughter. This led to her not being able to attend school, which in turn rendered her illiterate and uneducated. In the city, she was perpetually ashamed of her own rural origin and illiteracy. While she mourns her horribly unlucky plight all the time, she seems to more or less accept that due to her circumstances, she is simply “worse” than other people. This is evidently portrayed in many scenes in the novel, but perhaps none better than her “great sense of accomplishment” at “That a city man like big brother Lowe, a man who had gone to college, would take a fancy to her…” (Ch.21, p.13) Spring Grass’s inherent perception that she is of inferior standing and therefore less desirable, less deserving of love speaks to the fact that her patriarchal society has made her accept her plight.
In conclusion, while Spring Grass deviates from her prescribed gender role in a few minor ways, she is still very much entrenched in the roles that her society has designated her. She feels wronged by society yet she cannot blame it, because everyone else lives in it. It would be absurd to blame something so normal, even if that normal was incredibly absurd. Instead of blaming the patriarchal society, she chooses to blame her own bad luck.
Works Cited
Gaetano, Arianne. (2015). Out to Work: Migration, Gender, and the Changing Lives of Rural Women in Contemporary China. Hong Kong University Press.