LikeManyWaters wrote: ↑January 28th, 2019, 1:18 pm
Why, that would be great too. I was hoping someone could actually sing the song & would love to hear it
I suppose a lot of things written back then reflect the cultural predjuces of their time and place. But it seems to me in this book just that, a reflection, and not a direct or intentional belittling by the author.
Yeah I mean, I think that with anything I read/watch/consume, it's fine to read (and enjoy!) problematic literature or consume problematic media, as long as one is aware of their flaws. Just to lay it out here, 'Chinaman' is a relatively offensive slur and it's used a lot in the book; also, Hop Yet is literally described as
"A Heathen Chinee" at the beginning and there are some dodgy passages...
Hop Yet just at this moment issued from his kitchen with an immense platter of mutton-stew and dumplings, which he deposited on the table. On being questioned again, he answered as before, with the greatest serenity, intimating that Dicky would come home ‘heap bime-by’ when he got ‘plenty hungly.’ He seemed to think a lost boy or two in a family rather a trifle than otherwise, and wound up his unfeeling remarks with the practical one, ‘Dinner all leady; you no eat mutton, he get cold! Misser Wins’, I no find pickle; you catchum!’
‘I don’t believe he would care if we all died right before his eyes,’ muttered Polly, angrily. ‘I should just like to see a Chinaman’s heart once, and find out whether it was made of resin, or cuttle-fish, or what.’
And
But as no Chinaman can pronounce the letter ‘r,’ it was laboriously rendered thus, when the unhappy time of the lesson came:
1. The-glass-is-dly.
2. The-fluit-is-lipe...
There are also a lot of generalised stereotypes about Chinese people e.g. "with the practicality of Chinese human nature", "All Chinese cooks are alike in their horror of a woman in the kitchen; but some of them will unbend so far as to allow her to amuse herself so long as they are not required to witness the disagreeable spectacle."
I'm sure the author wasn't aware at the time how unacceptable stuff like that would be today - which is why hindsight is such a gift!
On a different note, I caught a missed line in Chapter 7 - Hop Yet says a single word ‘flend’ (friend).
