Wendy Ni Short Paper #1 JSIS 202 AJ

Ezra Bakkalbasioglu
Instrumentalism and Ha Jin’s Waiting

In the Western world, marriage that does not institute itself from love is immoral; those

people who marry for strictly materialistic reasons are called “gold diggers” (Warren lecture).

Conversely, on the other side of the world, status, money, family, and opportunity are the main

reasons two people join in union. Ha Jin’s novel, Waiting, illustrates how this instrumentalist

theory of love that drives the rules of romance in Chinese society is inadequate when used to

generalize people’s actions because humans are driven by a complexity of motivations. Had Lin

abided by this philosophy, he would have stayed with Shuyu, but instead he resisted against

societal pressures to pursue Manna; this shows the clash of modern and traditional ways of

thinking that parallels with the difference between Western and Chinese culture.

Instrumentalism is a theory of human behavior that believes that action is driven by the

maximization of “gains” and the minimization of “losses” (Warren Lecture). “Gains” and “losses”

are purely subjective based on culture and values of each individual. In the context of Waiting,

the traditional Chinese society finds “rationality” to be taking care of the family and fulfilling

parental wishes. Hypothetically, if Lin acted on the premise of instrumentalism, he would have

stayed with Shuyu. Shuyu was a good wife: she’s docile, she cooks, cleans, and takes care of the

house and their daughter. Most importantly, she was chosen by Lin’s parents to become his

bride and caretaker of his parents up until their passing. Respect towards elders is heavily valued

so it was Lin’s filial duty to take care of Shuyu. Moreover, the traditional Chinese belief is that

marrying for love alone is irrational; love can be developed with time and companionship after

needs of survival are first met. Lin embraces this idea and has even thought to himself that “had

he lived long enough with her [Shuyu], he would have been able to love her” (Jin, pg. 94).
Wendy Ni Short Paper #1 JSIS 202 AJ
Ezra Bakkalbasioglu
Therefore, if Lin had acted on instrumentalist motives, he would have been content with Shuyu

and tried to better connect with his family rather than entangling himself with Manna to start

completely anew.

Lin was caught between being “rational” and wanting to pursue love during the

beginning stages of his flowering affair with Manna. He knew if this forbidden relationship

continued, matters would become troublesome: he couldn’t divorce his wife without criticism

from his village, but he also must live with the guilt of holding up Manna and wasting her time.

“He wanted a marriage based on love and a wife whose appearance wouldn’t embarrass him in

the presence of others” (Jin, pg. 77); even though he was aware of impending consequences, he

couldn’t stop himself from falling in love and pursuing an unknown future with Manna.

As time went on, Lin’s feelings towards Manna overcame his sensibility. He found Manna

to be a suitable wife: decent in appearance, educated, and a city girl, much more fitting to an

army doctor than his old-looking, illiterate, and village wife with bounded feet. Their connection

deepened and he came to like the comfort in her companionship, her boldness in making the

first move, and how she can converse with him about books. He couldn’t keep her out of his

mind despite knowing that being with Manna brings him no socioeconomic benefit, but rather

emotional stress and ethical conundrums. Manna was facing the same problem. She knew that

there was a possibility that Lin would never get a divorce; in that case, leaving her old and

unwanted by any man. The rational action on her part would have been to end their relationship

and quickly find a man to marry, but she demonstrated no effort into doing so because her heart

was set on Lin. By sacrificing her youth for him, evident by the fact that “she had been waiting,

waiting, only for a beginning or an end between them” (Jin, pg. 79), Manna truly loved Lin. To
Wendy Ni Short Paper #1 JSIS 202 AJ
Ezra Bakkalbasioglu
both parties, their future looks disheartening, but they are so afraid of being lonely and leaving

this world without ever experiencing what “love” feels like that they embark on this affair.

While Shuyu represents the traditional views of Old China, Manna is the new ideas of

Modern China; Lin is stuck between this dichotomy. Just in terms of and romance, there is a

drastic difference between the two cultures when it comes to defining the purpose of marriage,

the choice of coupling, and the role that money plays. To start, two different cultures perceive a

different meaning to what marriage is. Westerners see themselves as individuals and marriage as

their own independent affair. On the other hand, Chinese see marriage as the union of two

families. In the book, in reaction to Lin’s attempt at divorcing Shuyu, one of the angered villagers

quoted Confucius, “The order of the world is rooted in every family” (Jin, pg. 123). Chinese

people see themselves as units of a family which is why the actions of one member reflects

poorly upon everyone simply because of association. Family is so important in Chinese culture

that even the whole village chimes in to attempt at securing it for Lin. Continuing, in Western

culture, the choice of coupling can be with anyone so desired, but in China, the choices are

limited. Westerners believe that marriage is based on choice; if two people stay together, it is

because they love each other. In Chinese society, it is much different; factors like economic

status, social class, rank, familial pressure, and age all go into determining who their marital

partner is whether on their own account or arranged by their parents. Lin could not be with

Manna because of societal pressures and spousal obligations to Shuyu while someone like

Commissar Wei could divorce and choose to remarry any woman as he wished “simply because

he had power and rank” (Jin, pg. 137). Finally, the two cultures see the connection between

money and marriage differently. The modern way of thought is that money is separate from
Wendy Ni Short Paper #1 JSIS 202 AJ
Ezra Bakkalbasioglu
marriage; money is seen at most, only as a complication rather than a condition. In China,

however, money plays a tremendous role. Not only do Chinese women strive couple with men

from better socioeconomic backgrounds, but it is also tradition for the male’s family to pay a

dowry to the female’s family to earn the approval for marriage. This becomes an apparent

obstacle when Lin asks Manna for money to help carry out Geng Yang’s plan for divorce. She

rejects “because by custom it was the man who should pay all the expenses to take his bride

home” (Jin, pg. 175). The world is not culturally flat; beyond the scope of marriage there is still

much understanding necessary to bridge the disconnect between two contrasting cultures.

With Ha Jin’s Waiting as the backdrop, it's clear that rational choice cannot be used to

evaluate the actions of Lin or any other person when it comes to love. Even after weighing out

the gains and the losses, in an instant, emotions and feelings can easily outweigh all logic. In the

novel, this is exactly what drives Lin away from instrumentalism and to acting on desire. Human

are just that complex; people allocate weight onto their values differently and that varies by

culture. By understanding culture, more can be learned about the reasoning behind a person’s

actions.