Once White Woman Whom Married A Chinese Analysis

In Sui Sin Far’s The Story of Once White Woman Whom Married A Chinese, there was a clear distinction between the characteristics of Minnie’s ex-husband, James Carson, and her new husband, Liu Kanghi. James Carson was a well-educated American man that was well versed in the problems of the human condition, including woman’s suffrage, labor politics and socialism. Despite his intellectual persona, he was also a deep-seated, emotionally abusive man who treated his wife with callousness and disrespect by insulting her intelligence and ambition, ignoring her attempts to communicate with him and despite the fact that the couple was still married and were raising their daughter together, he even sought out the companionship of another woman. An instance …show more content…
Moran, Minnie took their daughter and left. Without anywhere to run to or anyone to turn to, she walked aimlessly toward the waterfront. Overwhelmed with thoughts about how she would survive without her husband, she absent-mindedly walked towards the end of the dock and was about to fall in when Liu Kanghi reached for her and brought her back to reality. Minnie narrated the scenario as follows, “I could hear the waves lapping against the pier when the voice again fell upon my ear. ‘If you go any further, lady, you will fall into the water!’ My answer was a step forward. A strong hand was laid upon my arm and I was swung around against my will” (Far, 5). After saving the lives of both her and her daughter, Minnie told Liu that she was indeed homeless, which was when he offered to take her to his friend’s house where she could live for the time being. She accepted the offer by stating, “I would much rather live with Chinese than Americans” (Fin, 5).
For about a month, she resided there without any contribution to the household while she attempted to get back on her feet but after that time had passed, she decided it was time that she went out in search of a job as a court stenographer for which she had quite a bit of knowledge of. After the job hunt yielded no results, Liu offered her a job creatively embroidering works of art to be sold at his store. Close to five months later, her …show more content…
He pleaded with her to reconcile their marriage and to return home so that the could be a family again but, after declining the offer and asking to remain friends for a little while longer, he threatened to take her to court and inform the judges that she was residing with a Chinese family, a fact which he insinuated could ultimately cause her to lose custody of her daughter. She still did not cave and was eventually able to muster up enough courage to move on from James and marry Liu, the man that she loved, have his son and raise her daughter as his. The depiction of Liu Kanghi throughout this story was contradictory to the commonly held beliefs that the Chinese were cunning, untrustworthy, and violent against women which insinuates to the readers that one’s ethnic background does not define who they are as person and that the Chinese were falsely identified as menaces to society, when in reality, they are ordinary citizens who are just trying to make a life for themselves and their families in a country unbeknownst to