The very first paragraph introduces us to Zhenbao, and even before we know anything about his character, we are told that there are two women in his life. They are, significantly, symbolised in ideal form: a white rose (a chaste woman) and a red rose (a passionate woman). In the very next moment, the narrator deems it necessary to comment, somewhat critically:Isnt that just how the average man describes a chaste widows devotion to her husbands memory—as spotless, and passionate too? – p. 255When, in the next paragraph, the narrator says “maybe every man has had two such women—at least two”, the assumption of the desirability of both a chaste and a seductive, passionate woman may appear strange to a Western reader. It should be borne in mind that when the story was written (1940s), China had only recently become a republic. Traditional values still held sway. Classical images (for instance the line of a poem by Li Po) are contrasted with mundane, negative images (such as a bloody mosquito):Marry a red rose and eventually shell be a mosquito-blood streak smeared on the wall, while the white one is “moonlight in front of my bed”. Marry a white rose, and before long shell be a grain of sticky rice thats gotten stuck to your clothes; the red one, by then, is a scarlet beauty mark over your heart. – p. 255The classical images come across as artefacts from another time. The wife is described through the eyes of a married man, as someone annoying. Neither a passionate woman nor a chaste woman, once she becomes a wife, can hope to remain romanticised in his mind. In each case the mistress, on the other hand, is idealised. This is not simple hypocrisy on the mans part. There is an indirect co-dependency between these descriptions: the romantic memory of his mistress is like the spice in curry, covering the underlying rotten meat that he wants to avoid tasting
From the following three aspects , that is , the analysis of the " correct world " , reversion of the " red " and " white " world and the overturning the established world , zhang ailing s medium – length novel red rose and white rose questioned and overturned the gender concept in the patriarchy – centered cultural context
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