"The Bridegroom" blog

I found the story, "The Bridegroom" by Ha Jin to be very interesting. Right off the bat we learn that Beina's father has passed away and it was his wish for his best friend to adopt her since him and his wife had no children. He starts off by being worried that Beina will never marry because she is already 23 and has never even had a boyfriend, but then out of the blue she is proposed to. The guys name is Huang Baowen and no one knows why he would ask Beina, considering she is just an ordinary plan girl and he is very attractive and smart.

Even after them being engaged he couldn't help but feel she might get hurt because the whole situation was to good to be true. They ended up being married just two months after he has proposed. I myself think this is way to soon to get married since they have only been together two months. He says, "I'd do almost anything to make Beina's marriage a succuess, because I believed that if it survived the first two years, it might last decades"(page 93). When he says this you can tell that he still has doubt in the whole situation. He wants to do whatever he can to make his adopted daughter happy and to stay happy. There were tons of girls in the office that liked Baowen and would do anything to be with him, which worried Beina's uncle.

Next thing we know Baowen ends up not coming home one night and Beina has no idea where he was. We soon find out that he has been charged, along with many others, in a crime of homosexuality. He says, "According to the detectives' account, it was a bizarre, emotional scene"(page 96). From the description it is clear that no one understands why Baowen would do this and Beina's father finds it very disturbing. Baowen says, "Whenever I'm with a woman my heart is as calm as a stone"(page 97), I found this quote interesting because it shows that when he is with women he doesn't feel anything but he doesn't know why this is.

In the next few pages we see that Beina's uncle finds out about the agreement to the marriage and how rumors spread throughout the office. Beina tells her uncle how she likes being married to him even if he is the way he is because she doesn't have to worry about him looking at other women. We come to find out that Baowen is transferred to a mental hospital instead of being in jail, from what Beina's uncle had done. Then after visiting Baowen at the mental institution and seeing what goes on he says, "My heart was full of pity for Baowen. He was such a fine young man that he ought to be able to love a woman, have a family, and enjoy a normal life"(page 107), this shows Beina's uncles acceptance of Baowen. He knows that he can't help who he is and wants him to be able to be fixed.

Beina continues to make visits to see Baowen in the mental hospital and takes him presents when she goes. Her uncle says, "He was happy to see Beina and even cuddled her in my presence."(page 109) this shows that hopefully the treatment is working some or at least he realizes what a good wife he has for understanding who he is. Soon enough Beina's uncle finds out there is no cure for homosexuality and is shocked. All this time he thought his son-in-law was getting treated so he would love his wife but in fact it isn't possible. "Homosexuality isn't an illness, so how can it have a cure?'(page 111) this shows that even though Beina's uncle wants Baowen to get rid of what he has there really is no way for that to happen. Just like Dr. Mai said there is not a cure for it. Homosexuality is something people just have and can not help how they feel.