Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1

“He said, ‘Once, when the pain was very bad, I thought that perhaps if I shouted the word ‘girls’ it might help to ease it. Well … I just called out once, and the pain really was quite a bit better.’” 

Bao-yu shows his natural tendency to spend time among women and to seek out the attention of girls to ease his own pain. This is his fate, according to Yu-cun and the jade stone. 

“Once, when I was only three, I can remember a scabby-headed old monk came and said he wanted to take me away and have me brought up as a nun; but of course, Mother and Father wouldn’t hear of it. So he said, ‘Since you are not prepared to give her up, I am afraid her illness will never get better as long as she lives.’” 

Dai-yu tells this story to the Jia family when she first arrives at the palace. The monk is either Impervioso or Mysterioso, and her illness and her meeting with him at a young age marks her as cosmically significant in the spiritual scheme of the novel. 

“Dai-yu looked at him with astonishment. How strange! How very strange! It was as though she had seen him somewhere before, he was so extraordinarily familiar.” 

Dai-yu speaks in reference to her first sighting of Bao-yu. Bao-yu has a similar reaction to seeing Dai-yu. The two are fated to have a strong bond and romantic relationship because they seem so familiar to each other, despite having never met. 

“Nowadays, every provincial official carries a private hand-list with the names of all the richest, most influential people in his area […] they are called ‘life-preservers.’” 

A lesser page says this to Yu-cun after Yu-cun becomes a magistrate. It indicates the ways in which wealth equates to unfair leniency in the eyes of the law in this period of Chinese history.

“[T]he following words were inscribed vertically on the two sides: Ancient earth and sky / Marvel that love’s passion should outlast all time. / Star-crossed men and maids / Groan that love’s debts should be so hard to pay.” 

This takes place in the Land of Illusion, where the fairy Disenchantment lives and where Bao-yu travels in a dream. The sayings on the gates indicate the theme of love’s relation to suffering and the consequences of romance. 

“‘My motive in arranging this is to help you grasp the fact that, since even in these immortal precincts love is an illusion, the love of your dust-stained mortal world must be doubly an illusion.’” 

The fairy Disenchantment says this to Bao-yu in the Land of Illusion. She talks about one of the central tenants of the novel, which is the idea that love is irrelevant because it is only an illusion. 

“‘Who would ever have believed the Old Master could spawn a filthy lot of animals?’ he bawled, ‘Up to their dirty little tricks every day. I know. Father-in-law pokes in the ashes. Auntie has it off with nevvy. You think I don’t know what you’re all up to?’” 

The old servant Big Jiao says this while he’s drunk, talking about the realities of life in the mansion. His comments indicate the dirty truths of the house, which don’t match up the impression the family seeks to give.

“Looking at it as it lay on her palm, she say a stone about the size of a sparrow’s egg, glowing with the suppressed, milky radiance of a sunlit cloud […] Reader, you will, of course, remember that this jade was a transformation of that same great stone block which once lay at the foot of Greensickness Peak.” 

Bao-chai admires Bao-yu’s jade for the first time, and this is the most vivid description of the stone. It also marks a significant moment in their relationship because Bao-chai’s locket has a similar inscription as the one found on the jade.

“Mislay me not, forget me not, / And hale old age shall be your lot. On the reverse side: Dispels the harm of witchcraft. Cures melancholic distempers. Foretells good and evil fortune.” 

This is the inscription found on each side of the magic jade. It proves itself as a charm later, when it saves Bao-yu and Xi-feng from black magic. The characters often reference this charm throughout the book. 

“He said, ‘I’ve gotten used to the peace and quiet of the monastery and I’m not willing to go back into your quarrelsome world again.’” 

Jia Jing speaks here. He is an older relative who has gone into the monastery seeking spiritual guidance and immortality. He hates the mortal world and refuses to enter it and participate in what he sees as mindless and unimportant customs.

“‘This object comes from the Hall of Emptiness in the Land of Illusion. It was fashioned by the fairy Disenchantment as an antidote to the ill effects of impure mental activity […] I lend it to you on one important condition: you must only look into the back of the mirror.’” 

The monk Mysterioso attempts to heal Jia Rui from his obsession with Xi-feng, but Jia Rui looks into the front of the mirror, and his own obsessive lust kills him. This is another moment in which love causes only suffering and proves to be an illusion. 

Honour and disgrace follow each other in an unending cycle. No human power can arrest that cycle and hold it permanently in one position.’” 

Qin-shi’s ghost visits Xi-feng just after her death. She speaks to her of the impending doom of the family and gives her instructions to maintain the family’s honor after they fall from grace. 

“On learning that her affianced had been sent packing, she quietly went off and hanged herself in her scarf. The captain’s son, too, turned out to be a young person of unexpectedly romantic notions, for on hearing that Jing-ge had hanged herself, he promptly threw himself into a river and was drowned.” 

These characters are secondary in the novel, but their story, as told through the grapevine to Xi-feng, is another instance in which love results in suffering and death.

“With the return of his soul, Qin Zhong regained consciousness and opened his eyes. He could see Bao-yu standing beside him […] he was unable to utter a word. He could only fasten his eyes on him and slowly shake his head. Then […] he slid once more into the dark.” 

This quote describes Qin Zhong’s death and the ways that Bao-yu uses his jade talisman to pull Qin Zhong briefly back to Earth. It is a significant moment for Bao-yu, who grieves his friend, and it indicates the power of the jade stone. 

“A farm set down in the middle of a place like this is obviously the product of human artifice […] It sticks up out of nowhere, in total isolation from everything else […] not nearly so ‘natural’ in either form or spirit as those other places we have seen.” 

Bao-yu speaks to his father in this scene, among the literary gentlemen, as they name the new garden. He criticizes his father’s idea of what “natural” means and argues about the idea of things that appear natural but are actually man-made. This demonstrates the theme of illusion. 

“What is the use of all this luxury [...] if I am always separated from those I love—denied the tenderness which even the poorest peasant […] is free to enjoy?” 

Yuan-chun speaks here, after returning from the palace for her visitation with her family. She mourns the loss of her connection to them and wonders if wealth and prestige are worth disconnecting herself from her family. 

“At the same time […] the anxiety to be thought well of and the shrinking fear of criticism […] made her take pains, even when she was at her busiest, to appear outwardly as idle and unoccupied as the rest.”

This quote describes Xi-feng, who is naturally a powerful and go-getting woman, but who fears appearing this way. She hides her true nature to match the expectations of her social standing. 

“‘I’m not one of your house-born slaves, my family lives elsewhere. I’m the only member of my family away from home. There’s no future for me here. Naturally I want to rejoin them.’” 

Aroma speaks to Bao-yu about the realities of her station and of her life apart from her family. This is the first time that Bao-yu must reckon with the idea that his beloved servants have lives beyond his own comfort. 

“These Bao-chais, Dai-yus, Aromas and Musks spread their nets and dig their pits, and all the world are bewitched and ensnared by them.”

Bao-yu writes this after reading a piece from Zhuang-zi. He blames the women in his life for his distractions and obsession with love, and he vows to swear them off. 

“‘Bao is that which is of all things the most precious, and yu is that which of all things is the most hard. Wherein lies your preciousness and wherein lies your hardness?’” 

Dai-yu says this as a joke to Bao-yu, but the sentiment actually gets to the heart of the meaning of his name and to his nature, which has equal possibility for both goodness and evilness. 

“[A]ll the girls’ verses contained images of grief and loss [...] it is almost as if they were all destined to be unfortunate and short-lived and were unconsciously telling their destiny.” 

Jia Zheng has this revelation during a game of riddles and becomes mournful at the thought of all the girls in his life coming to horrible ends. This connects back to the foreshadowing of the fairy Disenchantment when Bao-yu visits the Land of Illusion in a dream. 

“The blossoms fall, the water flows, / The glory of the spring is gone / In nature’s world as in the human one.” 

Dai-yu is brought to her knees by the memory of this line and many other similar ones, about the inevitable end of good things and illusion of human life. This is a main theme of the narrative, which most of the characters ignorantly ignore.

“Unfortunately the little group of body-servants who had accompanied him into the garden guarded their privileges with tooth and claw and were careful to allow no toehold to an ambitious outsider.” 

This quote describes the maid Crimson’s attempts to get close to Bao-yu, as well as the catty and vicious nature of the servants and their clinging to power within the mansion.