| Chapter : | Section 1 (Written Between 1995 AND 2004) |
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20.
Of all the characters in Dream of the Red Chamber, who is the most naïve? In addition to the maidservant named Simple, there is a simple boy—Baoyu. Simple is born ignorant and understands nothing. Jia Baoyu, however, possesses great love and wisdom. His naïveté, his confusion, perseverance, mercifulness, awareness, quiet escape from his family, and rejection of the benighted world all point to his real character and soul.
In Laozi’s view, people should shoulder their historical responsibilities in silence, without seeking praise to accompany their journey. Real virtue lies in not talking about the good deeds one has performed and in making sacrifices quietly. If, as you try to rescue a drowning person, you feel happy that you are just doing what you should do and the thought of glory or virtue never even occurs to you, you are acting virtuously. Laozi does not trust those who only talk about taking responsibility. As they talk volubly, these people only demonstrate their superficiality. In Dream of the Red Chamber Jia Baoyu is a naïve person who shoulders his responsibilities in silence and never publicizes his own good deeds. Endurance, self-sacrifice, and forgiveness are all part of his nature.
21.
Jia Baoyu sees how Golden dies after being insulted. He also sees how Skybright dies with unexpressed grievances. Both girls are forced to die by his mother, who, as a mother, should be merciful, kind, and affectionate to all the children in the world. With his own eyes, Jia Baoyu sees his mother kill people by forcing those innocent girls to die, a most confusing kind of cruelty. Stunned and in despair, he can no longer live under the same roof with his mother. Since he cannot live in a world in which even a mother becomes a killer, he has to bid farewell to his family, to those living and dead people he once loved, and to the land that once embraced him but now reeks of blood. He exiles himself to a faraway place. An exile’s eyes are always filled with great confusion and deep sorrow.
In the era of Oedipus Rex humankind did not know its mother, and that gave rise to the tragedy in which Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.