Mrs. Spring Fragrance
Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a collection of short stories by Sui Sin Far, also known as Edith Maude Eaton, published in 1912. Each of the short stories was written in the years prior to the publication of Mrs. Spring Fragrance and published in various newspapers. As is characteristics of Sui Sin Far’s writing, the stories deal primarily with themes surrounding the Chinese-American experience, which were inspired in many ways by Sui Sin Far’s own experiences as an Anglo-Chinese person living in North America, and those of the Chinese-American people she spent much time with. Among these are themes of bi-racialism, the conflict between Chinese and Western ideologies, and feminism.
Sui Sin Far was deeply concerned about the experiences and plights of Chinese-Americans throughout her literary career. Coming from an English father and Chinese mother, Sui Sin Far was especially sensitive to the prejudice surrounding Chinese-Americans, both men and women, and those of mixed Chinese ancestry, who often experienced prejudice from both sides of their heritage. One of Sui Sin Far’s motivations for championing the stories of Chinese-Americans was to help bridge the gap of understanding and compassion between Chinese people and white people in North America. She held a belief that, “Only when the whole world becomes as one family will human beings be able to see clearly and hear distinctly” (qtd. in [1]). This belief of the world needing to become like “one family” in order to overcome prejudice indicates that Sui Sin Far was attempting to facilitate the unconditional understanding and compassion that is often associated with the idea of family.
Sui Sin Far took a nuanced stance on the themes she presented in her writing. Rather than leaning too heavily on a single representation, Mrs. Spring Fragrance illustrates the diverse range of representations she attempted in her writing. In “The Wisdom of the New,” she acknowledges the well-meaning intentions of the white Mrs. Dean whose mission it is to help Americanize Chinamen while showing how that very same Americanization can become harmful by unbalancing one’s original Chinese identity. Additionally, Sui Sin Far uses the character of Mrs. Spring Fragrance, who appears in multiple stories, to facilitate conversation between Chinese and American ideologies and attempt to find a balance between the two that allows one to stay true to their roots and identity as Chinese while incorporating some aspects of American ideologies.
Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance serves as an illustration of Far’s mastery of complex and timely themes considering the immense amount of prejudice against Chinese people in North America during the turn of the century. While her passion for advocating for Chinese people shines through in her writing, she avoids condemning white people as a whole, instead pushing for readers to recognize how similar each is to the other and how they can come to understand, respect, and even teach one another despite differences.
Major Themes
Identity: Chinese vs. American
Identity: Mixed Racial Heritage
Feminism
Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance contains repeated themes of identity viewed through different lenses. One of these is the conflict of identity between the Chinese identities that the characters were born with and the new “American” identities they have been asked to adopt in moving to America. This conflict is one that any Chinese person living in North America would have had to contend with, especially with the immense prejudices against the Chinese and their ways of thinking and acting. Another concerns the conflict of identity experienced by one who is of mixed racial heritage. This conflict occurs primarily within the character’s psyche and consists of two warring racial identities they were born with, but is heightened by outsiders asking them to choose just one. Sui Sin Far also tackles issues of feminism in discussing the idea of the “superior” and “inferior” woman.
“Chinese principles,” observed Adah, resuming her work. “Yes, I admit Sankwei has some puzzles to solve. Naturally, when he tries to live two lives—that of a Chinese and that of an American.”
”He is compelled to that,” retorted Mrs. Dean. ” Is it not what we teach these Chinese boys—to become Americans? And yet, they are Chinese, and must, in a sense, remain so.”
“The Wisdom of the New,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance, 71
“The Wisdom of the New” depicts the tragic fate of a couple who is unable to strike a balance between their shared Chinese culture and ideologies and their differing levels of Americanization. In this exchange between Mrs. Dean, who has made it her mission to help Americanize young Chinese men, and her niece who is a close friend of Sankwei, the protagonist, Sui Sin Far acknowledges one of the issues inherent in the very concept of Americanization: one cannot fully deny their original identity, no matter how “American” they try to become. For Sankwei, who lives in a community of Chinese people and whose wife is especially resistant to any amount of Americanization, this conflict is especially potent. Although he has fully embraced Americanization, this attitude puts him at odds with his wife, who does not understand American ways of thinking and acting and who clings to the familiarity of her Chinese ways of thinking and acting in the unfamiliar environment she has found herself in. One significant thing about the presentation of this issue in this story is that, although he is the protagonist, Sui Sin Far does not present Sankwei’s attitude as being correct; rather, both he and his wife have tragically failed to understand one another and work together to find a balance between their new American identity and their old Chinese identity.
“…I am a Chinese woman,” she answered.
“You are not,” cried Mark Carson, fiercely. “You cannot say that now, Pan. You are a white woman—white. Did your kiss not promise me that?”
“A white woman!” echoed Pan her voice rising high and clear to the stars above them. “I would not be a white woman for all the world. You are a white man. And what is a promise to a white man!”
“Its Wavering Image,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance, 94-95
In this quote from “Its Wavering Image,” Pan, a young woman who is of mixed race—Chinese and white. Throughout the story, Pan is pressured to choose one race to be, especially by the white Mark Carson. In the process, Pan ends up feeling torn between two identities, that of her father and the Chinese community she grew up in, and that of the man she has fallen in love with. Her crisis of identity reaches its climax in this conversation between her and Mark, who betrayed her trust by writing an article that depicted her Chinese community in a negative light. Mark expects her to be a white woman, but it is impossible for Pan to throw away the Chinese identity she grew up with, especially after his betrayal of her trust. This uncompromising attitude from Mark in terms of racial identity pushes Pan to the edge and forces her to choose a single racial identity rather than exploring both and finding out how to balance them within her. Sui Sin Far poignantly depicts the negative effects of forcing one to choose a single racial identity when they were born with more than one, a conflict that Far herself often had to contend with due to her own mixed background.
Mrs. Carman is your friend and a well-meaning woman sometimes; but a woman suffragist, in the true sense, she certainly is not. Mark my words: If any young man had accomplished for himself what Alice Winthrop has accomplished, Mrs. Carman could not have said enough in his praise. It is women such as Alice Winthrop who, in spite of every drawback, have raised themselves to the level of those who have had every advantage, who are the pride and glory of America. There are thousands of them, all over this land: women who have been of service to others all their years and who have graduated from the university of life with honor. Women such as I, who are called the Superior Women of America, are after all nothing but schoolgirls in comparison.
“The Inferior Woman,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance, 35-36
In “The Inferior Woman,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance finds herself hearing from multiple perspectives about the dilemma of a young man wanting to marry “the inferior woman” despite being promised to “the superior woman” and must come to a conclusion within herself about which of them, if any, is correct in their views of the situation. While Mrs. Carman is representative of more traditional Chinese ideas of duty and arranged marriages, the young lovers and the “superior woman” have adopted Western ideas of freedom in love and feminist ideals. Although Mrs. Spring Fragrance starts out on Mrs. Carman’s side, she soon empathizes with the plight of the young lovers, the indifference of the “superior woman” towards the young man, and the seemingly irrational idea of the “superior” and “inferior” women. It is the educated “superior woman” who attempts to upend the superiority complex of the educated and call out anti-feminist attitudes, and who is most aware of her own limitations in experience in comparison to the supposed “inferior woman” who possesses a secure job and the respect of her male co-workers.
- Ling, Amy. “Edith Eaton: Pioneer Chinamerican Writer and Feminist.” American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 16, no. 2 (1983): 287–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27746105 (link opens in new tab).
Sui Sin Far 