The Bridegroom

I’m not too sure what to think about this story. In some ways I agree with the response to homosexuality of the father in law. But in other ways I think that he may have over reacted.

This story starts out with a man taking his brother’s daughter after he dies and raising her. She is not attractive at all. On page 92 the uncle describes Beina. “What had caught his heart? Did he really like her fleshy face, which often reminded me of a blowfish?” He is talking about Beina’s suitor. His name is Baowen and he is an extremely attractive man that could have just about any woman that he wanted. But for some reason he out of the blue marries this unattractive girl. The uncle is skeptical about why this happened. But he relived that Beina has a husband to take care of her and provide for. The uncle really tries to make their marriage a success and for a while it seems to be going well.

After a time Baowen gets arrested for involvement in a gay gathering. This is viewed as a criminal offense in this eastern country. Baowen had done nothing “wrong” so far but on page 97 he states. “I – I liked a man in the club, a lot. If he’d asked me, I might’ve agreed.” At this time we know for sure that he is a homosexual.
In this country very little was known about homosexuality. The overriding opinion is that it is a sickness that can be cured. This is very interesting because I have never thought of it this way before. I am trying to put myself in people’s shoes that have not been exposed to this type of behavior before. It must have been very strange and I can see why it was considered a crime. But now it is very widely accepted and not uncommon. I wonder if there are more homosexuals now than before or now they make it more known.

From the beginning of their marriage in the story I was suspecting that something was wrong. This completely explains everything. Baowen states that he was doing Beina a favor by marrying her and keeping his homosexuality a secret. This is because she seems indifferent to this. I don’t understand this at all. It makes no sense that she would want to remain married to a gay man. But maybe he was the first person to treat her right without caring about her looks.

Baowen is sent to a mental hospital to get “cured”. But obviously this had no effect because he had relations with a male nurse and then was convicted of criminal activity. This was the last straw for the uncle. He could not be associated with this type of behavior. It looked bad on him and his niece. But at the end of the story we find that Beina still doesn’t care about her husband’s actions. On page 115 the uncle shares how he feels. “Well, it’s impossible for me to have a criminal as my son-in-law. I’ve been humiliated enough. If you want to wait for him, don’t come to see me again.” At this point he picks up his hat and leaves his niece.

One thing that I really admired about this story is Beina’s attitude. She remained calm throughout the entire episode and still remained in love with her husband. This shows how much spouses can look over when they become soul mates. It is kind of neat to see how other cultures view homosexuality. I haven’t thought about this much, but after reading this I am more aware of these difference