The Concepts of Yin-Yang 
Presented Throughout
Peony

Contents:
Introduction
Peony
Leah
Kueilan
Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
    “Life— is life happy or sad?” questions Peony.  “Life is sad.  You cannot be happy until you understand that life is sad,” is the confident and easily stated reply that Wang-Ma gives the young servant girl (83).  Throughout the novel Peony, written by Pearl. S. Buck, the concept of the Daoist philosophy, Yin-Yang, is presented.  The concept of Yin-Yang simply defined means having the good and positive principles in life, like happiness, intertwined with the bad or negative principles, such as sadness.  The Daoist philosophy states that without evil one cannot know what is good.  Without sadness one cannot know what is happy (“Introduction to Daoism”).  This is the message that Wang-Ma is trying to convey to the young servant, Peony.  Life is sad so that when wonderful and happy moments occur, one will know and be able to appreciate those moments.  Within Peony, the Yin-Yang philosophy is best illustrated in the decisions David must make about whom he should marry and whom he should love.  He must decide between three women, Peony, Leah, and Kueilan, and weigh out the good and bad to determine who best will make him happy.

PEONY
     Peony is the young servant who at an early age was bought to take care of the son in the House of Ezra.  She grew up playing with the child, David, and as the two became older, Peony became not only his servant, but his friend.  David often talked to Peony about the events in his life and confided in her many secrets.  Perhaps this is one reason Peony grew to love David as more than a friend.  David too has strong feelings for Peony, but he never fully understands that he perhaps loves her until the royal official comes to take her away after the two have returned from a trip to the east after the death of Madame Ezra.  It is then that David realizes that his emotions for Peony are deeper than he thought, and that he does love her, but he will not reveal these emotions.  By revealing them, he will be admitting that he has feelings for a servant.  However, David cannot possibly marry a servant.  It is not in accordance with his Jewish faith or Chinese customs.  Also, if David is to truly love Peony and allow his feelings to show, he will break his mother’s heart.  Madame Ezra wants David to marry a Jewish woman, Leah, the Rabbi’s daughter.  However, David sees that Peony is a beautiful and very kind person.  She has been a wonderful servant to him, but more importantly, she has been a true friend.  It would make David happy to be able to let himself love Peony, but to confess his feelings and come to terms with them is simply out of the question.  He cannot marry her.  Now David must decide whether it is Leah he will marry or the Chinese girl, Kueilan.

LEAH
    Leah is the beautiful and knowledgeable daughter of the Jewish Rabbi in K’aifeng.  Over Leah’s crib, Madame Ezra promised Leah’s mother that some day her son and Leah would marry.  With the two married, the Jewish faith would remain alive, thus pleasing Madame Ezra.  When David is of age to marry, Madame Ezra seeks to fulfill the promise of marriage.  Puzzled, confused, and unwilling, David is faced with yet another dilemma.  He does not love Leah.  In fact, he hardly knows her and they barely speak.  But perhaps he can get to love her once they get to know each other.  She is after all, a beautiful, smart, and faithful woman.  Leah is very learned in the Torah, the book of her people, and is willing to love David as best she can.  It is David, though, who is not so willing to love Leah. As Peony states to Ezra, “David will be very unhappy if he marries Leah” (157).  If Leah is to come into the House of Ezra and the two marry, she will not allow Peony to be such a large part of David’s life.  Also, David is struggling with his faith in Judaism, and does not want to be forced into marrying someone who is so strongly set in the Jewish ways.  By marrying Leah, it is possible that David will become the next Rabbi, and at many points throughout the novel, this is not something David wants.  David is often torn between Confucian thought and Judaism.  Also, he is torn between loving a woman whose faith is like his mother’s or loving a woman whose faith is not.

KUEILAN
    One day, David’s father sends him to the house of Kung Chen, Ezra’s business partner, to take a message to Kung Chen.  It is here that David meets Kueilan, the third daughter in the house.  She is a very beautiful and delicate Chinese girl.  She often reminds David of a lotus flower, and he begins to have romantic feelings towards her.  This begins to pose a problem in the House of Ezra, because David is already betrothed to Leah, yet his feelings are for Kueilan.  If David is to marry Kueilan, Madame Ezra will not approve, and she will be devastated.  However, David truly believes that Kueilan will make him happy.  She will not press her religion on David, as Leah will.  Also, because her father is a merchant with Ezra, the marriage will be good for the business that David is soon to inherit.  Furthermore, with Kueilan as his wife, David will be able to maintain his relationship with Peony and she will still be allowed to remain in the house as his servant and friend.  David does not seek to hurt his mother’s feelings, and if David is to marry Kueilan, the Jewish heritage in K’aifeng will die.  Although David is unsure of his religious beliefs, he still does not wish to see the religion of his parents become nonexistent.  Ultimately David decides to marry Kueilan after the death of Leah. He also comes to terms with the fact that Peony can never become his wife or even a concubine.

CONCLUSION
   As illustrated throughout Peony, where there is Yin, there also must be Yang.  There is never a situation where one is present without the other (“Introduction to Daoism”).  It takes negative principles like sadness to help one realize what is positive or good.  Such is the case with David.  It takes the thought of almost losing Peony to the court official for him to realize what a wonderful friend Peony is.  Also, it is her sad departure to the monastery that brings David to understand and fully appreciate her.  With Leah, perhaps more Yin is present than Yang.  David cannot seem to find many reasons why the two should marry.  He is not sure that the religion of Judaism is right for him. Once he acknowledges this and discusses his feelings with Leah, she is heartbroken, and takes her own life.  This is a case where the Yin was greater than the Yang because the negative and evil principles took over what was positive—Leah’s life.  It is after Leah’s death that David realizes what a wonderful spirit she had and what a loving and devoted person she was.  And throughout his life, he never truly over comes his feelings for Leah.  It is through the marriage of Kueilan and David that Pearl S. Buck shows how Yin and Yang produce harmony.  The two begin a marriage based upon physical attraction and romance.  The marriage starts off with a disadvantage because David is still struggling with his feelings for Peony and Leah.  But as time wears on, the marriage became stabilized and Yin and Yang are harmonious.  David and Kueilan’s love grew to a deeper level and the two became happy parents and as well as lovers and friends.  Yin and Yang are present in each of David’s relationships, and in some of them there is more of one principal than the other.  Even still, the good and the bad must be weighed, and one can determine that with all the sadness that life produces, happiness can be found in each and every situation.

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Works Cited
Buck, Pearl S. Peony.  Wakefield, Rhode Island: Moyer Bell, 1996.
“Introduction to Daoism.”  Daoist Depot.  1998.  20 Aug. 2000.
 <http://www.edepot.com/taointro.html>

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