long time in short stories as well as in human society. Take "The
Bridegroom", written by Ha Jin, as an example: Huang Baowen, who is a
gay man, marries Beina, "a short, homely girl" (HaJin P35), and ends
up in prison because of the so-called crime—homosexuality. Baowen's
trying everything to cure himself and people's attitudes toward
homosexuality in the story demonstrate their ignorance of
homosexuality at that time in China.
Baowen's way of trying to cure homosexuality by himself shows clearly
his ignorance of homosexuality. It is said, "Years ago I tried
everything to cure myself. I took a lot of herbs and blouses, and even
ate baked scorpions, lizards, and toads. Nothing helped me. Still
I'm fond of men." (HaJin P38) It's hard to believe that in order to
cure homosexuality, he relies on scorpions, lizards or toads! Yes,
traditional Chinese medicine has special ways of treatments for
various kinds of diseases, but it is usually based on doctor's
judgments and prescription, not toads, herbs or boluses as one shall
wish to take as some kind of treatment. Not to mention that
"homosexuality is not an illness, so how can it have a cure" (HaJin
P45) as Dr. Mai says, the only one in the story who knows a little
about homosexuality. What's more, "Baowen was good—natured and well
educated—a middle school graduate", but still he doesn't know that
"It's not a disease. It's just a sexual preference". (HaJin P45) This
is really ironic.
People's attitudes toward Baowen describe a picture of society's
ignorance of homosexuality. From Chief Miao's, who comes from "the
Investigation Department" (HaJin P37), point of view, homosexuality is
"a social disease" (HaJin P37) and that it "originated in western
Capitalism and bourgeois lifestyle. According to our law it's dealt
with as hooliganism." (HaJin P38) This is something ridiculous,
especially when these words are spoken by a Department Chief, who is
supposed to be knowledgeable. Homosexuality is just a kind of human
nature; it exists among human beings. From the perspective of Baowen's
family, homosexuality is a disease which can be cured. Beina "broke
into tears at the good new" (HaJin P341) that her husband—Baowen is
being sent to the mental hospital for treatment. And that's why Old
Cheng who is Baowen's father-in-law, "feeling relieved" ((HaJin P41).
They think Baowen could be cured and return home early before the New
Year. Neither of them knows that there is no way out for
homosexuality even with the Electrotherapy as "so far it has cured
only one out of a thousand homosexuals". (HaJin P45) As to people in
the factory, some say "Baowen was impotent" (HaJin P39) while others
believe "he was a hermaphrodite". (HaJin P39) These are the strange
views common people at that time have for homosexuality. At the
beginning of the story, however, "A brazen one even declared she'd
leave her door open for him all night long" (HaJin P36). What a
contradiction! From the above we can easily get a sense of the
society's ignorance of homosexuality. They don't really know what
homosexuality is but come up with answers based on their imagination,
not evidence.
From the above, we can see people at that time in China, including
common people, the upper class and even the homosexuals, don't know
much about homosexuality. Especially through the ways of treatment
adopted by Baowen and people's strange views toward homosexuality, we
may come up to a conclusion that people are really ignorant of
homosexuality at then China.