Mrs. Spring Fragrance Analysis

In Sui Sin Far’s “Mrs. Spring Fragrance”, the main characters, Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance, lack good communication skills. They have a lack of communication in their marriage. This absence causes a massive misunderstanding in their relationship. Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance are Chinese-Americans. Their culture is different than people born in America and it has many taboos. There is a large contradiction between traditional Chinese-American and Westernized Chinese-Americans. Mrs. Spring Fragrance tried to help her neighbor, Laura, get out of her arranged marriage. Laura was in love with an American- born man named Kai Tzu, however, she was arranged to marry a schoolteacher’s son. Laura tries to become as American as possible. She lives …show more content…
It was not Chinese custom to discuss personal details with each other. According to the study, “Culture- and Immigration-related Stress Faced by Chinese American Families with a Patient Having Schizophrenia”, Winnie Kung writes, “Taboo against discussing dating and sexuality and the consideration of arranged marriages caused unique stress” (409). When people discussed this, it caused a lot of tension in the relationship. Chinese-Americans unique cultural values and beliefs cause even more tension on already stressful relationships. However, in the study, “Confiding About Problems In Marriage And Long-Term Committed Relationships: A National Study”, Kristen Lind Seal writes that, “Results showed that 73% of U.S. adults have been a confidant to someone with a problem in a marriage or long-term committed relationship” (438). Almost three-fourths of United States’ adults, even if they are not Chinese-American, have admitted to confiding in someone about a problem in their marriage or relationship. Confiding usually occurs before they seek professional help, such as marriage counseling. They confide in a variety of different people. For example, Laura confided in Mrs. Spring Fragrance even before she was married. She revealed that she did not want to marry the man her parents had chosen for her, but that she was in love with Kai Tzu. By confiding in Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Laura was …show more content…
Spring Fragrance’s elderly cousin, Sing Foon, wrote him a letter that shook his confidence in his relationship with his wife. The cousin confided in Mr. Spring Fragrance telling him that the man Laura was betrothed to was spending a lot of time with Mrs. Spring Fragrance. His cousin even added in that the schoolteacher’s son was good looking. Foon writes, “but if women are allowed to stray at will from under their husbands’ mulberry roofs, what is to prevent them from becoming butterflies” (Far 869). He is saying that if women are allowed to get up and leave the home and meet with other people, what will stop them from leaving forever and never returning. He described his cousin as old and cynical. Therefore, he destroyed the letter and tried to not think about it anymore. However, it caused him to second guess his wife’s letter. Mrs. Spring Fragrance had requested to stay for an extra week to make fudge. He was probably beginning to assume that the reasoning behind her extension was to spend more time with the schoolteacher’s attractive son because fudge was not a sufficient enough reason. His wife was become more American every second. He used to take pride in that, but it messed with his mind at that moment. Far writes, “If his wife was becoming as an American woman, would it not be possible for her to love as an American woman” (670). This references that love comes before marriage. American women fall in love with someone before they marry. That is not the case in