Post #9: Excerpts of the Life of Ning Lao T'ai T'ai
words: 258
Ida Pruitt, an American woman who
lived in Peking, wrote the oral autobiography Ning Lao T’ai-T’ai based on the stories
she told her. Ida wanted to learn more about Chinese customs and met Ning.
They talked for some time and Ida learned a lot from her. The name “Ning Lao T’ai-T’ai’”
means “Revered Old lady Ning” and Ida used it in her writing of her story called
“A Daughter of Han”.
Ning Lao T’ai-T’ai was very poor
and lived with her husband. Anything they obtained was through begging. Her husband
was a man of low standards and often acted on his own. When he is first
mentioned, he jokes about selling his child. At first, she just brushes this
thing off after asking her husband about it, but nothing ends so easily. After
a cold day, she did not have enough clothes to keep herself covered and so her
husband told her to stay home and he would take the child with him and beg.
After a long day, he returned without her. He was on opium and sold their
child away. Even though she was able to get her back, she was stuck with her husband.
Later on, he sold her again, but to someone who could take care of her. Even
though the motive felt different, and the daughter would be raised well, he lied to Ning again. As awful as this man was, Ning could not leave him. On
page 634 Ning says, “The old people tell us that her husband is more important
to a woman than her parents”. As much as she wanted to leave her husband at the
time, she could not. The dynamic of marriage at this time was too favorable for
men. Also on page 634, she says, “There was no freedom for women. I stayed with
him”. Even as she lived and suffered, she could not easily get away from her
husband who was clearly not alright.
To many, there is no greater sorrow than to lose a child. Ning must face this tragedy alone and her husband is the cause of it. Yet, she at first does not leave him because she might receive “retribution in heaven” (634). I find it so frustrating that Ning must worry about her losses in her current life as well as the afterlife when she is a good person. Meanwhile, her husband can be a terrible human being and not feel the weight of his sin because he is a man. I'm so glad she found the will to leave him later and find her freedom.
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ReplyDeleteThis reading was very hard to read. I could not imagine being a mother and losing a child, not to death, but because out of everyone her husband sold her for money. I think it was very bad what he did, but at the same time the couple was not stable enough to raise a kid in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think it was really hard for her to understand how horrible her husband was. She did not want to believe the truth until it got to such an extent on her mental health she had to let him go. Family meant so much more to her and letting go of him was hard but it was only for her better.
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