Mrs Spring Fragrance

“I offer the real Americans my consolations that they should be compelled to do that which is against their principles.” 

Dripping with sarcasm, this is Mr. Spring Fragrance’s response to his young neighbor’s assertion that “real Americans” are against the racist policies that criminalize immigration from China. While many Americans say they are against such policies, most do little to change them. Racist policies are put into place to benefit white Americans, and while many white Americans express an opposition to those policies, they continue to benefit from them. It seems clear from his reaction that Mr. Spring Fragrance does not feel that “real Americans” can be depended on to bring about an end to systematic discrimination. 

“American poetry is detestable, abhorrable!”

Tennyson’s words have caused Mr. Spring Fragrance a lot of pain. As Americanized as both he and his wife are, there are some aspects of American culture that will never make sense to him. This preoccupation with the idea of love divorced from the actual practice of love seems counterproductive and impractical. He doesn't grasp what good can come from loving outside the confines of marriage if marriage plays its role in society.

“If you were a scholar you would have no time to read American poetry and American newspapers.” 

In Chinese society, scholarship is highly prized. Even though Mr. Spring Fragrance has a lot to be proud of, he is insecure about the fact that he never got a proper education. However, his wife is able to put his lack of a formal education in perspective. While scholarship is highly praised in China, it is those who are adaptable and business-minded who succeed in America. It is the Chinese merchant class that funds Chinese scholarship both in the U.S. and China. This is one illustration of how certain qualities that are highly valued in one culture are less valued or useful in another culture. Mrs. Spring Fragrance knows that her husband has those qualities that are necessary to succeed in America, and she does not want him to be anything other than what he is.

“What anguish of heart would be hers if that son deserted her for one whom she, his mother, deemed unworthy!” 

The theme of familial duty is not only explored with the Chinese-American characters, but with some of the white ones, as well. Alice Winthrop is willing to give up the man she loves in order to preserve his relationship with his disapproving mother. In Alice’s case, it seems to be her lack of family support that makes her more sensitive to the value of family.

“‘No doubt, the poor old mother, having lost face, minded not so much the losing of her head,’ sighed Pau Lin.” 

Pau Lin has been told the story of an old woman whose fellow villagers back in China decapitated her when they learned that her son in San Francisco had been baptized a Christian. Instead of shock and horror at the violent murder of an old woman, Pau Lin considers the son’s conversion to be the worse crime. This is the first indication that Pau Lin’s inflexibility could result in violence. Adaptability is an essential quality in someone navigating a new culture. Pau Lin’s inadaptability causes her to hurt those around her.

“He would play her some Chinese music. And Pau Lin, whose heart and mind, undiverted by change, had been concentrated upon Wou Sankwei ever since the day she had become his wife, smothered, for the time being, the bitterness in her heart, and succumbed to the magic of her husband’s playing—a magic which transported her in thought to the old Chinese days, the old Chinese days whose impression and influence ever remain with the exiled sons and daughters of China.” 

Again, Pau Lin’s inability to take in new information and incorporate it into her existing knowledge keeps her from growing as an individual and learning from new experiences. Her heart and mind are “undiverted by change.” She is happiest when she feels transported back home to China, where she knows what to expect and what is expected of her. 

“Sooner would I, O heart of my heart, that the light of thine eyes were also quenched, than that thou shouldst be contaminated with the wisdom of the new.”

Here, Pau Lin makes it clear that she would rather see her son dead than altered or "Americanized." For Pau Lin, there is only one way to be, and any alternative is a fate worse than death. She fears that American culture will negatively influence her young son, Yen. For every immigrant, there is a tightrope that has to be walked, deciding how much of the old identity to retain and how much room to make for change. With his mother’s adherence to traditional Chinese values and his father’s willingness to adapt to American culture, Yen seemed poised to being able to incorporate the two cultures into his identity. However, the cultural blending terrified Pau Lin. 

“Secure in the difference of race, in the love of many friends, and in the happiness of her chosen work, no suspicion whatever crossed her mind that the woman whose husband was her aunt’s protégé tasted everything bitter because of her.” 

One of the themes that runs through many of the stories is how the presence of American women in the lives of Chinese men affects how the men value Chinese women, and in turn how the Chinese women value themselves. Adah, surrounded by people and interests that give her pleasure, cannot know the effect that she is having on Wou Sankwei’s marriage, and how Pau Lin feels about herself. Pau Lin experiences her new world through her husband, and Wou Sankwei’s high valuation of Adah Charlton makes his wife feel unworthy and unloved. 

“[T]his little Pau Lin. She has everything that a Chinese woman could wish for.” 

Mrs. Dean’s comment reveals her attitude that Chinese women should be content with less, relative to their white counterparts. As well-intentioned as Mrs. Dean is toward members of the Chinese community, even she is not immune to the feeling of superiority that white Americans have toward their Chinese-American counterparts, and others. 

“Rows of lanterns suspended from many balconies shed a mellow, moonshiny radiance. On the walls and doors were splashes of red paper inscribed with hieroglyphics.” 

This is Mrs. Dean’s impression of Chinatown during the Harvest Moon Festival, and her impression of the Chinese writing as hieroglyphics shows how mysterious and other-worldly Chinese culture seems to her. Hieroglyphics are enigmatic, just as Chinese-Americans and Chinese culture seem mysterious to Mrs. Dean. There is this idea of “the other” in this story, and many others. While white Americans look at their Chinese-American counterparts as exotic and unknowable, members of the Chinese-American community also see their counterparts as mysterious. In “The Inferior Woman” Mrs. Spring Fragrance wants to write a book about Americans because “[t]he American people are so interesting and mysterious” (13).

“Pan, don’t you see that you have got to decide what you will be—Chinese or white? You cannot be both.” 

Before befriending Mark Carson, Pan was never put in a position of having to choose between her Chinese identity and her white identity. Her community accepted her as she was, the child of a Chinese father and a white mother. But belonging to a group that feels itself superior to Chinese-Americans, Mark needs her to discount her Chinese self and become wholly white in order to be with him. 

“The distress of these Chinese people was hers; their troubles also. Had she not adopted them as her own when kinfolk had failed her?” 

Like Minnie in “The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese,” Jean McLeod gets to know the residents of Chinatown by living among them and learning about Chinese culture. She adapts to the needs of her neighbors and becomes part of the fabric of the community. In many ways, she is straddling two cultures the way that Chinese-Americans have had to do. The difference is that, being white, she is not subjected to the systematic discrimination that her fellow Chinatown residents are subjected to.

“‘Oh!’ I cried, ‘I am a narrow-minded woman. All I care for is my husband to love me and be kind to me, for life to be pleasant and easy, and to be able to help a wee bit the poor and sick around me.” 

What it means to be a woman is another thread running throughout many of the stories. In “The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese,” Minnie Carson feels inadequate because her husband dismisses her efforts to be a wife and a mother. In his mind there is only one way for a woman to self-actualize, and that is to join the women’s suffrage movement and make her mark outside the home.

“The American people think higher. If only more of them lived up to what they thought, the Chinese would not be so confused in trying to follow their leadership.” 

Minnie’s first husband, James Carson, perfectly personifies this gap in ideals and actual behavior. He speaks and writes about expanding the rights of women and the importance of social reform. But in his interpersonal relationships, he is not above using his own privilege to control others. Liu Kanghi, on the other hand, does not make lofty speeches, but treats the people in his life with kindness and respect. His ideals seem to match his actions.

“When a bird is about to die, its notes are sad.” 

Pau Tsu is devastated by her husband’s perceived interest in Adah Raymond, a white American woman. Compounding her pain are Wan Hom Hing’s efforts to have Pau Tsu follow in Adah’s footsteps. As Pau Tsu feels diminished in her husband’s eyes, she soon loses the will to live. 

“The Little One protested lustily against the transfer; but his mother covered her face with her sleeve and her father silently led her away. Thus was the law of the land complied with.” 

In this story, the U.S. government takes a Chinese child away from his parents. Racism is codified, as different members of society, who may not be racist themselves—the customs officers, the Mission ladies, the devious lawyers—all play a part in systematically carrying out those racist laws. While they may find it personally reprehensible to separate children from their parents, it is the law of the land and must be complied with.

“There cannot be any law that would keep a child from its mother!”

It is incomprehensible to Lae Choo that the government would intentionally separate a mother and child. But that is only because Lae Choo is unaware of the United States’ long history of separating the families of People of Color. Selling the child of an African-American slave was done under government sanction, as was the forced removal of Native American children from their parents. In all of these situations, family bonds are destroyed, and parents are not as able to transmit their culture and values to the next generation.

“Sin Far is happy. And I—I did my duty with her approval, aye, at her bidding. How then, little sister, can I be sad?” 

Both Lin John and the woman he loves, Sin Far, have the same understanding of familial duty. When Lin John chooses to save his sister over Sin Far, he chooses to fulfill his obligations rather than acting on his wants and desires. Having followed his conscience over his heart, Lin John is able to live with his decision without regret. Again, the importance of familial duty is emphasized repeatedly throughout the book.

“He had been rather difficult to manage at first and had cried much for his mother; ‘but children so soon forget.’” 

By keeping Little One away from his parents and community for 10 months, the government, along with the help of the Mission, has given “Kim” a new name, a new language, and a new family. They have succeeded in breaking the bond between mother and child.

“[I]t is always our best friends who know how bad we are.” 

Sie's husband has tricked and threatened her, but she does not blame him for his selfishness and violent nature. For Sie, marriage is a place where one is safe to show even one's unfavorable personality traits. The nature of marriage is explored in many of these stories. For Sie, marriage is where you show yourself completely to the other person. Here, she is reaffirming to Koan-lo the Second that she is also more than just his wife, she is also his friend. 

“Does the fallen leaf grieve because the green one remains on the tree?”

Fin Fan explains to O’Yam that while she mourns for her mother’s death, she, unlike her brother, does not feel obligated to delay her wedding for three years. A version of this quote gets repeated by one of the three women impersonating Ah So Nan’s three souls at the end of the story. Cultures differ in how they handle mourning. In China it is traditional for a son to refrain from getting married for six months after the death of a parent. Members of the Chinese-American community considered Fou Wang’s insistence on self-deprivation for three years excessive. The quote about the green leaf reflects the unnaturalness of foregoing the joys of life for the sake of the dead.

“She had been a hard-working little slave all her life, and after her mistress sold her to be wife to Chung Kee, she never dreamt of

complaining, because, though a wife, she was still a slave.” 

Although slavery was against the law in America at the time Fin Fan was sold into marriage, there is no readily available recourse to her, and she lives at the mercy of her husband’s will. Even her child is not hers to keep, and she is under the constant threat of losing Jessamine Flower if she does not perform up to her husband’s liking. Fin Fan represents the most vulnerable members of Chinatown’s community—a young female slave with no protection from her master. It also highlights the extreme of power dynamics within a Chinese marriage.

“This independent and original stand led Fin Fan to live, as it were, in an atmosphere of outlawry even amongst her own countrywomen, for all proper Chinese females in Canada and America, unless their husbands are men of influence in their own country, conform upon request to the religion of the women of the white race.” 

A woman’s husband dictates how she may balance two cultures, and in this instance, the American and Chinese cultures. If the status is high enough back in China, the woman is able to retain her own religion. However, if that is not the case, she is expected to adopt the religion of the white women that she comes into contact with, whether it be Catholicism or Protestantism. It shows that there are often factors beyond the individual when determining how to integrate Chinese culture with western culture in one’s life.