2004 5 113 ~ 156 * 93.02.04.93.04.14 *
114 Pomegranate Flower in the Dream of the Red Chamber: A New Interpretation of Jia Yuan-chun Ou, Li-chuan * Abstract This paper identifies the flower symbol of Yuan-chun to be the pomegranate flower. Starting from this, I explore and analyze the meaning nexus of many elements related to the figure of Yuan-chun. First, the bright redness of the pomegranate flower is a simile of the majestic status of Princess Yuan. Second, the pomegranate flower always blooms after spring, which hints that the untimely princess-appointment of Yuan-chun further worsens the economic status of the Jia family and thus hastens its decline. Third, the pomegranate flower fully blooms in mid-summer and then declines in the fall, forming a sharp contrast that intensifies a theme of Yuan-chun: After peak comes trough. This paper also discusses the mother-goddess status of Yuan-chun. It is first of all expressed in Yuan-chun s initiation of the establishment of Prospect Garden and her right to nominate locations wherein, thus giving a symbolic structure (a nomos-morpholism) to Prospect Garden. It also expresses itself in her choice between Bau-chai and Dai-yu. Last but not least, under the discipline of palace life ( distinguishing right from wrong, proper from improper for twenty years ), Yuan-chun has cultivated both the talent of objective appreciation and the virtue of sympathetic leniency. She embodies both the individuation principle of natural idealism and the universal principle of rational realism. This exemplifies the complementary dualism of the Dream of the Red Chamber. * Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University.
115 Keywords: the Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Yuan-chun Chia Uan-ch uen, pomegranate flower, Prospect Garden, mother-goddess worship, right to nominate, choice between Bau-chai and Dai-yu
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