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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Red Candle
Explanation and Analysis—Blind and Seeing:
Lindo Jong’s marriage ceremony weds a paradox with simile. Dressed in red, she approaches Tyan-yu in Part 1, Chapter 3 with resignation and new strength:
Someone took my hands and guided me down a path. I was like a blind person walking to my fate. But I was no longer scared. I could see what was inside me.
Lindo expresses the strangeness of her experience through a pairing of paradox and simile. Guided down the aisle, she compares her helpless, feminine state to that of a “blind person.” Lindo has neither agreed to marry Tyan-yu nor truly wishes to, forced to accept her fate as she gets hand-held to an unhappy union. But the moment allows her to see what lies within herself—“I could see what was inside me,” Lindo observes, in a paradoxical pivot from her earlier comparisons to blindness. Her handicap has become an unexpected reservoir of self-resolve. The degrading treatment at the hands of her in-laws merely strengthens her will to defend the “genuine thoughts” that “no one could ever take from me.” In a sudden stroke of new wisdom, Lindo breaks free from the gender conventions that had condemned her to household drudgery and servitude. She holds onto her sanity and in turn outwits Huang Taitai.
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