The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom by Ha Jin, like many other stories we've read recently, focuses on human relationships and the overarching power that the politics and culture put on individuals.

The story starts with the narrator talking about his adopted daughter, Beina, whose father was an old friend of his who had passed away. Beina, short, squat, and homely, was not exactly a shining beauty. The narrator was surprised when a handsome man, Baowen, proposed to her and married her soon thereafter.

A funny quote from the story happened when the speaker was describing Braowen as "well educated-a middle school graduate" (page 92). This just shows the cultural difference between the United States and China. There, being a middle school graduate was quite the accomplishment, when in America it's certainly a given.

When it turns that Baowen is a homosexual, the narrator didn't even know how to react. He'd "heard that term before but didn't know what it meant exactly. Seeing many of us puzzled, Chief Miao explained, it's a social disease, like gambling, prostitution, or syphilis" (page 95). This furthered on what we talked about in class today. China's censorship of things for their citizens really extended to cover a lot. They can't research many topics thoroughly, and are so censored that they don't even properly know what homosexuality is, thinking of it as a disease.

This censorship includes elements of brainwashing. Chief Miao even tells the speaker that "homosexuality originated in Western capitalism and bourgeois lifestyle", which of course has no substance or concrete backing (page 96).

They even go as far as trying to treat the homosexuality in a mental care facility. They make Baowen undergo electric shock treatment which obviously isn't going to do anything towards his sexual preferences. One of the doctors finally admits to the speaker that homosexuality is indeed not a disease, but rather a preference. The speaker is, of course, shocked by this new found knowledge.

I did find it interesting that Beina really didn't mind having a gay husband. She viewed the entire relationship as very platonic, seeing advantages for both sides in getting married without including a physical relationship.