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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an anti-hero is an “A

central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.”

Some of the conventional attributes associated with heroes include courage,

idealism as well as moralities. In the case of an anti-hero, they lack these attributes,

however, they are not the villain in the narrative. They often want to do the right

thing, but mostly do it for the wrong reasons such as to satisfy their own interests.

Sometimes anti-heroes glorify morally bad actions such as the Waltzing Matilda

(West, Brad) which is seen as a symbol of the true Australian spirit, yet part of its

lines glorify suicide and theft. In the books The Bridegroom and When I Was in Hsia

Village, the authors use the actions of characters in addition to the representation of

the issue of gender to bring out the theme of anti-heroism.

Cultural contexts refer to the traditions that are adopted by people in a

certain social structure. “Culture teaches one how to think, conditions them how to

feel, and instructs one how to act, especially how to interact with others—in other

words, how to communicate. In many respects, the terms communication and culture

can be used interchangeably.” (Rogers, Everett and Thomas, Steinfatt). In the

cultural context of The Bridegroom, women and men are required to interact with one

another as they grow up so that a woman can find a potential husband in the

process. Old Cheng speculates that Beina will never find a husband for herself
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because she is a Timid and quiet girl who did not know how to interact with men. On

the other hand, the other women in the factory seem to be very brazen with their

romantic intentions with Huang Baowen, who is considered to be the most eligible

bachelor in the company (Jin, Ha). Although it is societies’ expectation that men and

women interact and date before marrying, when Baowen proposes to Beina out of

the blues, Chang hastily agrees to the marriage of the young couple. Outwardly

Cheng appears to be genuinely worried about whether the young couple’s marriage

will last. However, instead of insisting that they first date, he hurriedly marries Bina

off to cover his own face from the social shame of having an unmarried daughter in

the house.

Similarly, in When I was in Xia Village, both women and men are seen

to interact freely and date openly before considering marriage. However, brazen

women are frowned upon in the culture of Xia Village. women like ZhenZhen who

openly romantically chase after men are considered as prostitutes and a shame to

their families (Ding Ling, in Lau, Joseph. and Howard, Goldblatt, eds.). The younger

generation who are more open-minded, do not treat ZhenZhen as harshly as the

older, more conservative generation (Słupski, Zbigniew). The older generation is

more scornful and unforgiving of ZhenZhen’s behaviour of loitering in the streets

trying to catch the attention of Xia Dabao. Additionally, inter-cultural interactions

between men and women from Japan and Xia village is a taboo in the culture. when

ZhenZhen comes back from Japan, her parents force her to marry Xia Dabao in a

selfish proposal to save themselves the shame they already experience from her

reputation and taboo marriage to a Japanese officer. They are not considerate of her

suffering at the hands of men and do not for a moment consider that she may not
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want to interact with men romantically after being raped. To them, it is her fault that

she was sexually harassed.

Consequently, socio-political realities are employed in works as a

social reality, which presents the state of affairs as they are, rather than as the

people would imagine them to be (Ogundokun, Sikiru Adeyemi). In the Bridegroom,

the people expect romantic relationships to be heterosexual. So high is their

expectation of heterosexual relationships that when the chief of the investigation tells

the heads of security in different companies that their employees have been accused

of homosexuality, almost all of them do not understand the meaning of his words.

The idea of a man having romantic feelings for another man is so foreign to Chinese

conversations that Cheng and others think that it is a disease that can be cured

(Ibáñez, José Ramón Ibáñez). Sadly, he is the most affected by the reality of

homosexuals existing in the society, when he discovers that his own son in law is

infected by the “disease”. Men who are homosexuals are considered as criminals by

the law. Cheng refuses to drink malt milk offered by Cheng, fearing that the feelings

that Baowen’s gay feelings are contagious. So much effort is put in place to try and

rehabilitate the gay men, who are considered as outcasts and lose their jobs as well

as their political titles if the cannot be cured. Cheng is one of the people who are so

keen to ensure that Baowen is cured, to ensure that his position as chief of security

in the factory and that of Beina are secured. The issue of homosexuality is a true

representation of the reality in China today, where the issue is regarded as disease

contracted from the western culture, which is far from the truth (Su, Lezhou). Jin

wishes to expose the reality of the prevalence of homosexuality in China, yet the

people still remain confused and adamant to accept the reality (Ibáñez, José Ramón

Ibáñez). Chen faithfully fights for the release of Baowen because he pities the
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suffering that his son in law will suffer, but as well as to fulfil his own interests of

saving his family’s reputation.

On the other hand, Ling demonstrates the people of Xia Village as self-

righteous. They lie under the illusion that women are responsible for maintaining

their chastity until marriage. According to them, sexually transmitted diseases are a

curse that affects only the immoral women. Instead of having pity on ZhenZhen for

being raped, the women of Xia alienate the young girl, regarding her with an

unreasonable fascination of an alien (Feng, Jin). Society insinuates that ZhenZhen

was sexually harassed because she is not morally upright. They assume that had

she been a more conservative girl, she would not have been raped. The reality

nevertheless, is that she was still very young and innocent when she was abducted

by the Japanese soldiers. She was just an unfortunate victim who happened to be in

church when the Japanese attacked Xia village. when she decides to come back,

only a few people are sympathetic to the sexually transmitted disease that she

contracted while at the cruel hands of Japanese officers. Her family and the rest of

society continue to ostracize her (Barlow, Tani), victim blaming her for the

unfortunate contraction of the disease. Surprisingly, it is not her family but the

Communist party that she worked for that offer to find a solution to her illness. that

offer to treat her illness. The book effectively demonstrates the reality of the Chinese

world, where the issue of rape and sexually transmitted diseases are not openly

discussed and victims are blamed for attracting the perpetrators of the heinous

actions.

Both writers employ the use of literary images, in addition to

symbolism to show the gender disparity between how men and women are

perceived in both societies. Jin uses imagery to appeal to the senses of the audience
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and symbolism to give things meanings that are far from the original meaning. The

Bridegroom is full of dramatic visualization of Baowen’s physical features as well as

those of Beina. Combined with imagery and symbolism, Jin manages to build a

mental image of the characters and their surroundings. A good example is where the

narrator describes the way that Beina looks like in her uniform. “She must have

gained at least a dozen pounds since the wedding. Her blue dungarees had become

so tight that they seemed about to burst. Viewed from behind, she looked like a giant

turnip” (Jin, Ha). The author describes women in a very contemptuous tone while on

the other hand, men are compared to other men’s attributes instead of vegetables

like women. This means that the book is written to demonstrate a time when

misogyny was still an issue in China. From the way the narrator describes the

women in his life, it is clear that he lacks respect for them and finds them stupid and

somewhat incapable of being sufficient. Cheng describes the men with positive

attributes at all times, which reveals the importance that the Chinese had placed

over the boy child for centuries. The male child has been for long considered to be

superior to the female child, whose only use was to make children and do household

chores in traditional Chinese society.

Similarly, Ling uses dramatic visualization to describe the features of

the surroundings in Xia village. additionally, Ling extensively uses suspense as a

feature in the narration. At one point, when the visiting comrade goes to the shop to

buy Liu Erma red dates, the shop owner describes the severity of ZheZhen’s disease

as having taken her nose, yet Argui refuses to tell her anything about the young girl.

All night, the visitor is kept in a mysterious darkness regarding the happenings

outside her sleeping Kang. The reader of the narrative is intrigued by the description

of the commotion outside, as well as that of the features of ZhenZhen. They are left
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anticipating to finally see through the narrator’s eyes whether all the rumors about

the girl are true. The vivid description of the villagers’ facial expressions, toes and

reactions to the young girl, reveal to the reader the suffering that the female gender

goes through. Argui repeatedly says what a tragedy it is to be a woman. During the

war with Japan, women were taken as spies and during the times they spent at the

army camps, they were sexually and physically abused by the soldiers. ZhenZhen’s

experience is a true account of how inferior the females were treated like. Women

were not allowed to speak out if they were harassed, and were considered at fault for

provoking the man who was guilty of harassing them (Barlow, Tani.). this is a sad

reality that many Chinese women have had to face in their lives. Women do not uplift

each other, instead, they try to eliminate their association with the victim of violence,

pretending to be better than them. It is absurd how ZhenZhen’s return is seen as an

act of revenge towards her father since she is a source of shame for the family.

Furthermore, Jin uses fist persona narration, where the story is told as

Old Chen’s experience with other characters and the environment. The narration

shows the struggle of women to conform to the rules of men in the book. For a

woman, marriage is considered as the ultimate success in life. None of the women

mentioned in the book has any position of leadership or influence. When Baowen

and other men are caught in the club, it is the heads of security in their companies

who are contacted, yet for someone like Baowen, his wife Beina is the one who had

been searching for him. Old Cheng is burdened with the task of finding Beina s

husband, and when Baowen proposes to her, it is Cheng who is congratulated by the

other men for securing the marriage so fast. Women in this book are described as

incapable and as inferior to men. When Baowen refuses to denounce his gay

feelings, Beina is forced to denounce him to save the face of her foster father. She is
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denied the free will to stick with her husband and is disowned by Cheng when she

refuses to divorce Baowen (Altman, Lynn). The brazen girl who offered Baowen a

place in her house proudly announces her marriage and immediate pregnancy. This

is a clear demonstration of the traditional Chinese view of a woman as incapable

without a man. A Chinese woman was attached to her father, husband or son,

depending on her age, but never as a person on her own (Darong Ma). For this

reason, Beina will suffer the consequences of her husband’s mistakes, risking even

losing her job, yet she is free of mistakes herself.

Likewise, the women in Xia village are viewed as inferior and incapable

of making their own decisions. The narrative perspective is first persona narration, as

accounts of the southern woman with the people of Xia village. At the beginning of

the narration, the Southern woman is frustrated with the long duration taken to get to

the village, partly because Argui cannot walk fast. Her feet had once been bound.

Feet binding was a traditional Chinese culture that forced women to bind their feet

primarily to look attractive to men. It was believed that the tighter the feet were

bound to look small, the more delicate a woman appeared, which increased the

likelihood of her getting a suitor (Herreria, Carla). The issue of marriage is also

discussed in the book, where women were viewed as successful only if they could

find a husband to marry them. ZhenZhen is seen as a failure and disgrace to her

family because she refuses to conform to her father’s choice of marrying her off to a

rich merchant. The reality of many Chinese marriages being for convenience rather

than for love is demonstrated in the book, where her parents accept Xia Dabao as a

suitor for ZhenZhen because she cannot find another man to marry her being a

social outcast.
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The narrative approach of Jin is effective in demonstrating the

misogynist attitudes of men in the Chinese culture. Social awareness is created on

the issue of gender inequality in terms of choosing a marriage partner, education

political and employment opportunities. Woe in the book work in less influential

positions of employment, they cannot choose a marriage partner on their own and

they are not required to have any other skills apart from their beauty to attract a man.

On the other hand, the men are shown to be educated and skilful in other areas like

martial arts, which was in line with the culture of wen and wu qualities of Chinese

manhood (Su, Lezhou). It is a vivid revelation of the gender disparity that exists in

the Chinese culture even today. the perspective shows the author’s understanding of

the male-female gender as being oppressed and that it is time for society to accept

same-gender relationships and the reality of hermaphrodites existing as oral people

in the society.

On the other hand, Ling’s perspective reveals the oppression that the

Chinese women went through during the war and the transition of their roles after the

war. The perspective successfully describes the suffering that the women underwent

in the hands of male soldiers. ZhenZhen’s body is portrayed as a sort of battlefield

between the Chinese and Japanese soldiers, who repeatedly defile her before

sending her on errands on both sides (Liu, Lydia He). Yet, her contribution to the war

is forgotten because she is defiled and refuses to marry the man her father chooses

for her. To her fellow villagers, she is not a heroine but a disgrace who deserves the

curse of being raped by the soldiers (Yeh, Wen-Hsin, ed). Women are still

considered as the property of their husbands and are only accomplished after

marriage. Additionally, the perspective shows the lack of value of education for

Chinese women. Most Chinese women were not allowed to read books or be
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educated. It was considered a waste of time to educate a woman since her sole

purpose was to commit to household work and bear children preferably boys with her

husband.

To conclude, it is clear that both books describe the theme of anti-

heroism, together with the issue of gender in the Chines society. In the Bridegroom,

the interaction between men and women before marriage is encouraged, yet we see

that most heterosexual marriages are done out of convenience. The socio-political

reality of the people has confined to the illusion that all romantic relationships are

heterosexual. Cheng shows how hermaphrodites are considered as less of persons

when compared to other genders. According to the culture of the Chinese people, a

woman who cannot interact with men cannot attract a suitor and may very well end

up an old maid in her father’s house, which is a taboo. The accounts of Cheng with

other characters and the environment reveal that the issue of gender inequality is far

from being solved in the Chinese society. on the other hand, Ling demonstrates Xia

village as a close-knit society that frowns upon an open interaction between men and

women while dating. The old generation brands ZhenZhen a prostitute for roaming

about in the streets after Xia Dabao. The cultural belief is that women should agree

with all the decisions that their men make for them without questioning, which is the

case with traditional Chinese culture. the people live under a falsified illusion that

rape is the fault of the women and that sexually transmitted diseases are a

punishment for immorality. Victims of violence are alienated plus sunned from the

society, they are made to feel filthy and worthless in the Chinese society. the

approach of Ling is effective in showing the struggles of the Chinese women to

achieve gender equality after the war.