Mrs. Spring Fragrance Analysis

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Recommended: 20th century women literature

During the wake of gender politics in the early twentieth century, Gertrude Stein and Sui Sin Far wrote immigration narratives that feature characters who reject traditional gender norms. As female writers, the intersection of gender, sexuality, and cultural identities inform how each character uses, rejects, reacts to traditional notions of femininity and masculinity. While Mrs. Spring Fragrance by Sui Sin Far and The Good Anna by Gertrude Stein feature characters that challenge traditional gender roles and assert their agency, The Good Anna features characters that challenge gender roles directly by not fitting into gendered expectations. Mrs. Spring Fragrance, on the other hand, features characters that seem to follow gender roles as prescribed …show more content…

Spring Fragrance embodies characteristics completely opposite of the stereotypes of Chinese woman at the time; Mrs. Spring Fragrance is neither quiet, subservient, nor a traditionalist (Gudykunst 188). This contrast is most apparent when she makes the decision that she will stay in San Francisco for another week in order to help Laura Chin Yuen. While Mrs. Spring Fragrance asks for permission from her husband to stay another week, she uses her intelligence and personal agency to frame her extended stay such that it would sound appealing to her husband (Far 8). Rather than explaining that she needs to help Laura Chin Yuen solidify her relationship with Kai Tzu—which would subsequently end Laura Chin Yeun’s arranged engagement—Mrs. Spring Fragrance claims that she needs to stay in San Francisco due to other cultural obligations. She offers the following explanation to her husband: “My honorable cousin is preparing for the Fifth Moon Festival, and wishes me to compound for the occasion some American ‘fudge’, for which delectable sweet, made by my clumsy hands, you have sometimes shown a slight prejudice,” (Far 8). Again, Mrs. Spring Fragrance frames the extended trip in a way that appeals to Mr. Spring Fragrance, both through the connection to their culture and to a sweet that he enjoys (the fudge). So despite the fact that Mrs. Spring Fragrance asks her husband for permission to stay longer, her cunning explanation emphasizes her intelligence, agency, and ability to assert her independence while maintaining a positive relationship with her husband. Thus, while it may seem as though Mrs. Spring Fragrance follows gender roles instead of challenging them, the letter highlights her intelligence and her power in her relationship with her

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