“Women in the old China did not choose. Some men have commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. ” A statement by Maxine Hong Kingston, is where I based the answer of whether the No name woman have committed a sin against her husband of hastily arranged marriage, against her family, against the village, and against the gods.
Though it was a tradition of the old China that women were conditioned to do as they were told, it must have some limitations.Rights of every individual must be separated from it. Especially women, though they were to do what they were told still I believe they have their rights, even in the old times, against all types of abuses. It may be physical, emotional or sexual abuses. Even when she was raped and was threatened by her abuser, still she must have done something. She committed adultery when she broke her promise to him– to be his forever, and did nothing to her abuser.
She betrayed her husband, family and the gods when she kept silent, when she let her abuser manipulate her of his evil doings. I believe her family and the villagers would have helped her and have done something to his abuser to pay for his wrong doings. But, the No name woman did not commit a sin against the villagers though she made a mistake. As stated by Kingston, “If my aunt had betrayed the family at a time of large grain yields and peace… perhaps she might have escaped such severe punishments.
..Adultery, perhaps only a mistake during good times, becomes a crime when the village needed food. ” The villagers have reacted so because of the difficult times they were in and may have blamed her for it and then for breaking the balance of spirits held by time and land. To sum it all, the No name woman did commit a sin against her husband, her family and the gods when she vowed to keep silent – even to her death – but not to the villagers.
