62 pages • 2 hours read
Cao XueqinDream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1760A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
The wife of Zhou Rui reports back on Granny Liu’s visit to Lady Wang the next morning. She waits for Lady Wang to finish her chat with Auntie Xue, Xue Pan’s mother, by talking to Bao-chai, who reports on her undiagnosable illness and the monk who prescribed her fragrant pills to remedy it. Later, Zhou Rui’s wife is asked to take 12 silk flowers to each of the young women in the house. She delivers the flowers to all the granddaughters of Grandmother Jia, finally bringing the last two to Dai-yu at the request of Xi-feng. As she finished delivering flowers, the wife of Zhou Rui runs into her daughter, who is worried about the country deporting her husband because of some minor legal issues. The wife of Zhou Rui agrees to ask Xi-feng for help.
The next day, Xi-feng goes to the house of You-shi and Qin-shi, where she relaxes, makes jokes, and enjoys wine and games. She takes Bao-yu with her, and Bao-yu meets Qin-shi’s brother, Qin Zhong, who is compared to Bao-yu in beauty and in temper. The boys become fast friends and decide to try to attend school together while their private tutors are on leave.
The chapter ends with a rousing episode with the drunken servant Big Jiao, an old man who has lost his temper and is berating all the members of the staff, and even some of the honorable family members. He makes suggestions about the depraved behavior of the family members and says he wants to “weep before the tablet of his Old Master” (183) at the way the family has descended into ruin. Bao-yu doesn’t know what Big Jiao’s words mean, and Xi-feng scolds him for asking.
Chapter 8 Summary
Arrangements are made for Qin Zhong and Bao-yu to go to school together at the Jia clan school, at the agreement of Lady Wang. Two days later, Xi-feng goes back to Qin-shi and You-shi’s house to see entertainment, which she won in a card game. She takes Lady Wang, Bao-yu, and Dai-yu with her, though Lady Wang returns home around mid-day to rest from all the noise. After walking home with Lady Wang, Bao-yu decides to visit Bao-chai, whom he hasn’t seen for many days because of her illness. Aunt Xue greets Bao-yu and is excited to see him, and she ushers him inside so that he can spend time with his cousin.
Bao-chai is the opposite of her cousin; she is simply dressed and doesn’t like a fuss, while he is dressed to the nines in crowns and jewels. During Bao-yu’s visit, she asks to see the magic jade that he was born with and reads an inscription on the back that is similar to an inscription on her own golden locket. Both demand the jewelry be worn each day and never lost, or the wearer won’t live to old age. Bao-chai’s maid reveals that Bao-chai received the inscription from a “scabby-headed old monk” (190) who demanded the phrase be placed on a piece of gold. Bao-chai clearly doesn’t like to talk about the locket, but the maid and Bao-yu are startled by the similarities between the inscriptions.
Later, Dai-yu visits Bao-chai as well, and the cousins drink wine and stay together into the evening. Nannie Li, Bao-yu’s wet nurse, goes home early, after arguing with Bao-yu about how much he should drink. Bao-yu eventually returns home to see his Grandmother Jia, and she sends him to bed. He argues with his maids about having Nannie Li dismissed permanently, until his favorite maid Aroma talks him down from his temper tantrum and has him put to bed.
The next morning, Qin Zhong, who has come to meet Grandmother Jia, greets Bao-yu. The arrangements are made for Qin Zhong to join the Jia school with Bao-yu, despite the financial hardship it places on Qin Zhong’s middle-class father. The boys will begin school on the next “auspicious” (201) day.
Chapter 9 Summary
Qin Zhong and Bao-yu go to school. There are two pretty young boys, Precious and Darling, who “their fellow classmates much admired [...] and entertained towards them feelings not at all conducive to that health of mind which the Young Person should at all times endeavor to cultivate” (207). Xue Pan, notorious scoundrel that he is, decides to enroll in the school to gain access to boys he could use for sex. Xue Pan is good friends with Jia Rui, who takes over one day when Jia Dai-ru, his grandfather and the normal instructor of the school, takes a brief sabbatical. Although Xue Pan never really attends the school—his attendance is atrocious and he is more concerned with showing up whenever one of his boys falls through—Jia Rui is worried about appeasing Xue Pan in the manner the school is run.
Other students become jealous when Qin Zhong, Bao-yu, Precious, and Darling become fast friends. In retribution, a student called “Jokey” Jin starts a rumor that Qin Zhong and Darling are kissing and fondling each other in the courtyards during breaks. The rumors become more and more toxic, and finally Jia Rui seeks to solve the problem by enticing Bao-yu’s hot-headed servant Tealeaf to threaten Jokey Jin. An enormous brawl breaks out, and the classroom falls to chaos; the narrator remarks of the scene: “Disorder was now general” (213). Finally, some control is gained, and Jia Rui tries to salvage the situation to stop his own reputation from coming to light. Bao-yu agrees to drop the matter if Jokey Jin apologizes by kotowing Qin Zhong and himself. Jokey Jin is resistant, and the chapter ends with the resolution hanging on his actions.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
The ideas of power and reputation are prominent in these chapters—specifically, the disparity between reputation and actual behavior, and the ways that power throws that delicate balance into question. In Chapter 7, a day of entertainment for Xi-feng and Bao-yu at the Zhong household ends with an old servant, Big Jiao, getting drunk and spouting off rumors and accusations about the prominent members of the Jia family: “Who could ever believe the Old Master could spawn this filthy lot of animals? … Up to their dirty little tricks every day. I know. Father-in-law pokes in the ashes. Auntie has it off with nevvy” (183). Big Jiao notes the sexual deviancies of the older family members as “dirty little tricks” (183). In response, Xi-feng and others within earshot ignore him as he gets carted away, but Bao-yu is curious about these accusations. The disparity between the behaviors of the family and their reputation and power is notable, as well as their decision to give no heed to the accusations of Big Jiao. This scene speaks to larger conflicts around lustful behavior and its consequences and foreshadows the conflict to come.
These problems are similarly noted in Chapter 9, in which accusations of lust cause conflict among the boys at the school. Rumors of lustful behavior and sexual deviancy are devastating to all those involved. The power of these kinds of statements is made clear by the “disorder” (213) in the classroom that results and the desire of Jia Rui to quiet the situation before his own deviant behavior comes to light: “Jia Rui was by now terrified lest the matter should go any further and his own far from clean record be brought to light” (215).
The other notable theme in these chapters is the subject of fate or fated encounters. The jade makes a reappearance, when Bao-yu and Bao-chai discover the necklaces they wear have similar inscriptions. The presence of the “scabby-headed old monk” (190) in the story of Bao-chai’s golden locket is noted, as it calls back to Mysterioso and Impervioso and their interference in human life. This scene solidifies the bond between Bao-yu and Bao-chai and foreshadows a relationship between them that has cosmic power.
