“Perhaps a marriage should be more like an illness that the couple agrees to submit to so that they can recover together.”
I would say Yiyun Li’s “A Flawless Silence” from the April 23, 2018 issue of The New Yorker is a powerful narrative about family and (the absence of) love. I would say the story is comfortably settled in the uncomfortable time of the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I would say the text explores gender and condemns the patriarchy in a powerful and thought-provoking way. Perhaps, I will begin with a summary.
Min, the protagonist, was born in Beijing but wants to come to America. She is introduced to “The Professor,” a leering pseudo father figure who vacillates over whether Min would be fit to marry one of his sons. Min quickly realizes that, in actuality, “The Professor” has amorous desires for her. To evade his advances, Min settles into a marriage with Rich, an American, and soon moves to America. His name fits his demeanor: Rich is a lucrative business owner and a proud Trump supporter. Min voted for Mrs. Clinton, but her husband instructs her to tell everyone that she did not vote. Neither Min nor Rich has true romantic feelings for each other. But, Rich believes they should not divorce because doing so would cause him to lose money. Min frequently looks back on idyllic moments with her mother as she tries to raise three children, two twin girls and a boy. To her embarrassment, her son announces to his third grade class that he likes Mr. Trump and wishes the other students would too. In a startling moment in the text, Min expresses sadness for her future daughter-in-law who will be unhappy in her marriage to Min’s son. All the while, “The Professor” sends Min emails twice a year. These emails reveal his obsessive thoughts about Min, as he attempts to guess whether she was born during “the year of the rat” and begs Min to send him a picture of her. At the end of the story, Min expresses regret over her rushed and loveless marriage to Rich. In a triumphant moment, Min responds to “The Professor’s” emails for the first time with the simple response: “go to hell.”
Li has excellent control over time in the narrative, as the piece seamlessly jumps from Min’s childhood in Beijing to her marriage with Rich in America. The piece also captures each character’s essence with just a few pointed pieces of dialogue. The only fault of the piece is its overwhelming demonization of the male characters. Everyone from Min’s son to Min’s husband to “The Professor” to the absent but seemingly present Donald Trump is portrayed as a villain. If the piece had a nuanced description of male characters, then the piece would come across as realistic. Regardless, “A Flawless Silence” is an outstanding piece with fantastic dialogue and compelling descriptions.