Masculinizing the feminine in Tu luc van doan (A case study Khai Hung’s Cock-Hen (Trống mái))

22 HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2018-0045 Social Sciences, 2018, Volume 63, Issue 7, pp. 22-28 This paper is available online at MASCULINIZING THE FEMININE IN TU LUC VAN DOAN (A CASE STUDY KHAI HUNG’S COCK-HEN (TRỐNG MÁI)) Phan Thi Thanh Tam Faculty of Pedagogy, Tay Nguyen University Abstract. Concerning an issue of individual emancipation and a feminist sense in Vietnamese literature in the 1930s, Khai Hung’s Cock-Hen describes Hien as a representative of an innovative women image in compare with the traditional culture. Masculinizing rules of the feminity in the creation of a character have provided Hien most characteristics of male privileges such as a powerful body, a strong personality, and the interest in adventures and risks. Cock-Hen, thus, helps us to identify a feature of feminism in Vietnamese society in the early 20th century. Keywords: Tu Luc Van Doan, Khai Hung, Cock-Hen, masculinizing feminity, discourse. 1. Introduction In The early 20th century, with big changes of economy, politics, and culture as well as the appearance of the urban environment, there is an emergence of Western individual human beings, which Tu Luc Van Doan (TLVĐ) is a typical representative. As a literary association toward the social tendency, the issue of the individual human in TLVĐ’s novels has raised a fight for women’s rights and emancipation. This thought was obviously represented in TLVĐ’s creative manifesto: making people and society increasing progressive (Article 2), respect for individual freedom (Article 7), and making people recognize that Confucianism is no longer suitable for this age (Article 8). Besides Nhat Linh, Khai Hung is also a crucial pen for TLVĐ’s novelistic genre. With an abundant creative ability, fineness in the way of the psychological displays and describes, Khai Hung’s novels have been especially favored by young people and intellectuals at his time: “Khai Hung is the Vietnamese young people’s writer like Alfred de Musset, who is the French young people’s in the past” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p.6). Khai Hung’s Cock-Hen was born in a period of the Democratic Front (1936-1939). Thus, the atmosphere in his narratives is also bright and optimistic. Character Hien in this novel is representative for a style of “new girls” and “newly educated women” (Tân học nữ lưu), stated the democratic spirit of this age. When Truong Chinh criticizes Cock-Hen, he bases on Class-viewpoints to show that Hien can not love and also does not love Voi because she has characteristics of the bourgeois class’s personalities. As a romantic and loved – artistic girl, she feels interesting in a fishing guy with a beauty of the strong body, not love. Because of no being in love, “she is very natural behaviors as standing in front of an unfeeling thing” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p.93). Received March 1, 2018. Accepted July 28, 2018. Contact Phan Thi Thanh Tam, e-mail address: [email protected] Masculinizing the feminine in Tu Luc Van Doan (A case study Khai Hung’s Cock-Hen (Trống mái)) 23 Also, discussing Cock – Hen, Phan Cu De confirmes that it is Hien’s very romantic personality and Sam Son beach’s dreamlike nature are factors spring up an ebullient love of Hien and Voi. The distance of the culture is considered a crumbled reason for thihaos love by the author: “A very far gap between the civilized urban lifestyle and natural one, in a wildlife is the reason to make the romantic, uncertain and ebullient love between a happy and young urban girl and a frank fishing boy broken.” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p. 248). Pham The Ngu also finds out a function of To Tam’s detoxification for Cock – Hen: “The story was criticized as unreal one when it was born, but it has the function of the detoxification of To Tam. The author shows up a view to cure a sick love and leads youths to the direction of a happy, healthy, and class-indiscriminate living way.” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p. 120-21). Basically, although there are some different emphasized points, all perspectives above have shared a common conclusion: Cock-Hen is an unreal story and we could not explain as a logical way about Hien’s personality, leading to “unreasonable”, “incomprehensible” things in this work: “Hien has a passion for Voi’s body beauty (), such passion, but she does not love him (), does not love but has intimate and easy behaviours as lovers” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p.51). Thus, Bach Nang Thi concludes: Cock–Hen “is a romantic story, but the meanings of faithfulness, humanity and poetic delight is far from the love story of a fishing guy in the past (Truong Chi)” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p.52). In this paper, discussing on Cock-Hen, we interest in how the discourse of the person and the issue of the woman emancipation influence the creation of the “New Girl” image in this novel. In TLVĐ’s novels, whereas Mai (A Half of Young Age - Nửa chừng xuân), Loan (Making a Break - Đoạn tuyệt), and Nhung (A Coldness - Lạnh lùng) are victims of the feudal regime, and they are described in the directly confrontative relationship with ethical norms of feudalism, Hien (Cock- Hen) is the representative for the new things rising, for feminist spirit in Vietnam in the 1930s. Hien confirms her equal position with man through her body beauty and actions that consider man as an object to experience and discover her emotions. In an essay on Nhat Linh’s novel Making a Break, Tran Van Toan (2011) notes that the feminist spirit in TLVĐ’s novels had concerned the trend of the masculinizing feminity. Loan’s efforts to archive equality with men fasten a hope of having a life as Dung’s one: A nuclear factor in Loan’s personality is a desire to become Dung, having Dung’s qualities, and being lived a life as Dung’s one” (p. 86-97). According to our viewpoint, if compared with Loan (Making a Break), Hien’s personality is a stage of the next feminist spirit’s development as well as an individual sense in TLVĐ’s novels. 2. Content 2.1. Masculinizing the feminine and Body in the healthy beauty of women In the feudal society, women seem to be the objects who have to stand much oppression; they are victims of the patriarchal system, the families regime, and the theocratic state. An ideological history of both the West and the East have considered the body as a physical body, the desire of sex’s source, a dark place that the reason’s light can not radiate it for a long time. As a result, showing women’s body is prohibited, being considered as an ignobleness. In the system of ethical criteria “Four Virtues” for women including “Cong (diligent work), Dung (tasteful appearance), Ngon (Proper Speech), Hanh (Good Moral),” Dung (tasteful appearance) emphasizes on the decent beauty, which is suitable for moral norms. It is different from the body’s natural beauty in the folk culture. In literature, the female protagonists in TLVĐ’s novels such as Lien (A loud of Flowers - Gánh hàng hoa), Mai (A Half of Young Age), even the beauty of To Tam (To Tam) have been mainly described toward the mental beauty. In that correlation, emphasizing Hien’s body beauty in Cock-Hen is really a difference. A thing we want to hightlight here is the body beauty of heroines in Cock-Hen. That beauty always depictes in the direction of identifying an equal position of women in related to men. In this work, Phan Thi Tam Thanh 24 there are many times that Hien states about the equal right: “Hien glances a group of the French and realizes that they are looking at her with a praised, coveted and jealous glint. She thinks: if we want to be equality, we must be coequal, and firstly, it is necessary to be equal in terms of body.” (Khai Hung, 2019, p,12). This detail explained why from the beginning of the work, Khai Hung describes Hien with the beauty of a premature tree that is ardently growing up, containing full of primary vitality of the spring: “A vivid, pure beauty is the opposite of the feeble, sloppy and reticent beauty” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.9). The first time, a woman in literature is praised in the anti-traditional beauty, which generated from Western culture. Hien’s brawny and well body is a result of a process of practicing the sport: “She takes her hand to hold her firm thighs and rub her well-developed chest, being happy to take a deep breath. That gesture reminds her to do exercise.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.9). The realistic pen of the author has concretely depicted each detail on the girl’s body: “Although a piece of the mirror does not reflect her well-proportioned body, she also sees a line of the straight back, a shape of the well-developed chest, and a slim belly. In consequence, she has to spend much time and lots of pains to get it.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.9). The author specifies many times about the body’s outstanding beauty on the beach: “Because of the modern swimsuit that closely holds her practiced body, Hien becomes a special person among other peoples on the beach, making everyone stop their feet to see her curiously.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.12). The sensitive parts of the body such as “body”, “thigh”, “chest” do not represent toward the nature and sexuality, but mainly emphasize the firm and healthy beauty: “With early green-rice’s color flaps and silk pants, the winds blow to stick them on the body to make an emergence of Hien’s well-developed chest and two round thighs.”(Khai Hung, 2010, p.18). Hien’s sports beauty is emphasized as a symbol of power. It helps to remove the prejudices that men are strong, and women are weak existed in society for a long time. Thus, the equal rights between men and women are identified! That beauty reminds Luu, Hien’s friend further thoughts of social issues, of abolishing the patriarchal regime: “Looking at them, he realizes an involvement of the gentle and lissom body and the power of pains to do exercise. Moreover, he understands that today is no longer the age divided into men are strong, and women are weak.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.69). Even seeing two female friends, he asks himself: “They and I, who is strong gender, who is weak gender” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.69). Luu’s acknowledge has an important meaning for re-evaluating a conception of the body, and the source of the gender inequality. Nguyen Thi Minh Thuong (2016), when discussing Michel Foucault (1926-1984)’s theory of the body with the feminist issue, notes that body is not only a physical carcass but a focused point of the power, knowledge, and discourse. It is a very patriarchal ideology to make a prejudice that men are strong; women are feeble; men have involved transcendental attributes, women are inferior. Luu’s secret thought have revealed that, with innovations of society, recently, women’s position is equal with men. That issue appears in front of Luu’s eyes: “An issue he thought in the past that it has just existed in the ideal, because he just read dry, vague, and mannered comments in the newspapers, but they are not understood profoundly through reality like today.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p. 69). Compared with men, Hien has never considered herself as a “feeble person,” an object is selected by others. Thus, being opposite to Hong, her friend, who is immediately red when talk about men, Hien is hardy: “From now, if you are listening to boys, or standing in front of men, you are still blushing your cheeks, I would like to give you a fist of the crooked jaw to remind you.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.24). In the essay “An Imagination of the French/the French Style in the Vietnamese Press, Case study Tu Luc Van Doan”, Phung Ngoc Kien (2018) notes about illustrations in the newspaper Nam Phong for images of Vietnamese women with the new living styles that influenced by Frech culture: “The new volume Nam Phong represents many images following the French style, as an illustrative picture that we see in no. 18 titled “Women Practice Masculinizing the feminine in Tu Luc Van Doan (A case study Khai Hung’s Cock-Hen (Trống mái)) 25 Badminton.” This sport generates from France, but the more important thing here is a new way for describing it: that is the image of a woman who is taking a racket with “a posture of rising” and stepping her leg on man’s body.” (Phung Ngoc Kien, 2018). It is easy to find some similar outstanding characteristics between Khai Hung’s Hien (Cock-Hen) and the image of a woman in illustration mentioned above. The Western culture, and the beauty of sports, hence, bring a new space for awareness of women gender’s equality. Following the physical beauty is also the reason to explain Hien’s special view for Voi. Hien takes a photograph with Voi in the posture that he is nude a half of his body, his pans are highly tucked up! Moreover, to be careful, she takes a photograph twice, “Because your body is very beautiful” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.15). Men’s body is firstly represented through women’s eyes. Looking for the beauty of the body is not the privilege of men. Men or women have the same rights for affirming and contemplating a body value of oneself and others. The conception “Men and Women are different” of the feudal class has been out of date when the author describes a sense of Hien and Voi’s swimming competition. In this aspect, Hien’s view is opposite to Luu (a character is depicted as the representative for men’s opinion in the patriarchal world). When Luu comments on Voi as “Hien’s well -trained Gorilla” by French, Hien also reacts by French “My Gorilla is more handsome than all of you” (Khai Hung, 2010, tr.41). Moreover, obviously, Voi’s strong body comprehensively attracts the attention of Hien’s heart and mind. Even when she is sleeping, “Voi’s body shapes in the blue sky” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.36) still appears in her mind, It is necessary to remind: in outlook on the beauty of East-Asian masculinity, men’s elegant beauty is emphasized. This view has truly been hurt when Hien gives her admire for Voi, and disrespects flabbiness and colorless of Luu and intellectuals surrounding her: “She takes the beauty of the well-developed body, and tendon and bones' regular power to opposite to flabby spirit, the gathered knowledge that white-faced intellectuals have never forgotten to show.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p. 64). 2.2. Masculinizing the feminine and the new beauty of women When criticized Cock-Hen, Truong Chinh quoted a comment that: “A big failure of Cock- Hen, according to many critics, that is sexual intercourse between Hien and Voi. They said that that gender does not exist, and can not have. It is just the imagination of the novelist.” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p.92). Because of an unspoken agreement like that, essay Cock-Hen’s author analyzed to display that Hien and Voi’s love is an unreal one, it can not happen. From this, he concludes: “Hien does not love Voi” (Thao Nguyen, 2013, p,92). Furthermore, when reading this work, we also find out that even the author also does not confirm that Hien falls in love with Voi: “Until now, I seem to not love anyone, even the frank and innocent fishing guy. So, I should arrange that philosophical story into a corner.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p. 28). Writting Cock-Hen, Khai Hung may want to depict a process of the loving psychological experience of an adventurous soul, of a “tortuousness” in women’s heart. Besides highly assessed the beauty of the body, Khai Hung provides attributes and qualities of men, the former privilege of men for Hien. In the traditional society, women were limited in the family space: “You go far from me with wind and rain/ I stay at our room with only pillow and blanket” (Chàng thì đi cõi xa mưa gió/Thiếp lại về buồng cũ gối chăn) (Lament of Soldier’s wife). Even the girl in Nguyen Binh’s poetry in the modern age is not better: “I am a girl in a loom/ Weave silk with old mom all year round” (The Spring Rain - Mưa Xuân). In such space, it does not exist a place for adventure and for who is looking for risks. Hien in Cock-Hen is a comprehensively different version. The character steps out of the familiar domestic space, taking part in the modern society that changed each day, desiring to experience the adventurous and discovered life. Hien “tried” to love Voi, because she is an imaginative person, and spoken to above, she likes to adventure: “She wishes to go out to sea in order to eat old rice with boiled egg-plant soup and the sea water. Especially, she Phan Thi Tam Thanh 26 and her strong young boyfriend sing together and draw up a net. For a long time, she always thinks of unusual things, likes to do things that others cannot do or does not dare to do.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.26). She prefers uncommon things, and this characteristic is a presence of a strong personality, men’s privilege. Meanwhile, Voi is “very different,” in compare with her world where most of them are mandarin’s sons, students of the university. They do not have any ideas except enjoy the comforts of life that money, knowledge. Social status is a foundation for their life: “Voi is not an opportune guy, also is not a writer containing dream psychology and philosophy, especially, is not a melancholy and sentimental poet, an amorous person. He is a very frank and good-natured fishing guy.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.27). Growing up in the boat among immense sea, if Voi does not distinguish the different fishes, he also does not pay attention to the change of four seasons. He is very unfamiliar with modern facilities of the urban life such as camera, toothpaste, singlet (maillot), etc. Voi’s soul brings natural and affected features. That soul has not been influenced by urban life to make him become a pragmatic, trivial and narrow-minded person. Voi’s unusual things attract Hien’s attention, so Hien’s look favor Voi more than for others. She does not completely find him as a ridiculous man, in contrast, Voi is considered as an “elegant,” “imposing and impressive” person. Not only Hien is initiative in making a close relationship with Voi, but she also wants to “experience” love with Voi. “Experiment” here is similar to adventures and risks: “Yes, I experimented!” (Khai Hung, 2010, p. 27). In the former times, Hien initiatively went out with Voi, they competed with themselves in swimming, looking like a couple. However, the more important thing is perspectives that she imagines in “a brain has a passion for sports, and like to do the adventurous actions”: “She dreams to live with An Tiem, or Robinson in a wild island where they have to provide food for themselves as well as making clothes and weapons to fight against wild animals.” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.27). In reality, she strongly set up the first steps to make her dream come true. Even in front of Hong, don’t hesitate, she askes Voi: “If I marry you, and then we build a house at this plain Lan and focus on doing the fishing job, do you agree?” (Khai Hung, 2010, p.30). Hien’s proposal is directly and liberally. From the feminist perspective, Hien’s proposal is deservingly considered an event! Such liberal action only finds out in legend Tien Dung and Chu Dong Tu – a legend that the people can realize an echo of the matriarchal regime (Vu Tien Quynh, 1997, p.20). However, that is folk space. In writing literature, under a Confucian pressure, the active role always belongs to men. A strong personality as Ho Xuan Huong, but she is still the tradition, being subtle to hide her proposal in the speech of inviting to chew betel! It can say that: with Hien’s strength, imagination, and adventure, Khai Hung’s heroin in Cock-Hen breaks down the prejudice that men are strong, and so, they are always an initiative person in marriage. The darin