Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1

Analyze the relationship between two characters bonded by other-worldly or cosmic circumstances (i.e. amulets, stones, similar appearance, names, etc.). In what ways is their relationship foreshadowed? What bonds them? How does their relationship symbolize larger ideas about morality or righteousness?

How does Big Jiao’s incident in Chapter 7 demonstrate the deep-seated nature of social custom and class hierarchy in Chinese culture? In what way has Big Jiao found his own source of power, outside class norms, wealth, and reputation?

What is the role of female power within the family? How is it exercised? Are there limits to that power, and if so, what are they?

What role does illness play in the novel, and how is it related to larger ideas around the strength and purity of the mind? In what ways does spiritual power correlate to physical power and wellbeing? 

What philosophy do the characters have about fate, and the power humans exercise over the workings of the universe? Do any characters ever challenge this idea about fate? What are the consequences?

Examine the role of jealousy in the novel. Which characters are quickest to express it, and what are the repercussions? What do you think is the overall Confucianist message about jealousy and its role in human affairs?

In Chapter 23, Dai-yu is moved to tears by a number of lines of verse that all say approximately the same thing: “The blossoms fall, the water flows, / The glory of the spring is gone / In nature’s world as in the human one” (467). Analyze these lines in the context of the spiritual trajectory of the family. 

In Chapter 17, Bao-yu argues with his father about what is “natural,” suggesting that the garden is only a man-made reconstruction of a more precious natural world, and as such shouldn’t be put in the same category as nature. He calls his father’s definition, an “appearance of artifice” (337). In what other areas of the family life is there an “appearance of artifice”?