@kevcvs57 said
Good for her. She’s better off without the friends that shunned her, they are the embarrassment.
In depiction of English class barriers, there's a trope about an outsider, say, a
rare working-class student who goes up to Oxbridge and dines at high table.
There's the ignorance of tribal customs, the anxiety of not fitting in and being found out.
When Christina Thompson introduced her Maori husband to privileged white people,
there often seemed to be the shock of 'How could you? You could have done better',
meaning that an attractive affluent white woman was bound to have at least one
affluent white man in pursuit of her. What could she see in her husband?
He lacked her money and education. But he was honest, strong, hard-working, and loving.
He comported himself with a natural dignity among white people who might privately sneer at him.
Some privileged white people might 'forgive' (which was unthinkable in the recent past)
Christina Thompson for taking him into her bed, but to wed?
During the Second World War, China sent some airmen to the USA to be trained
to fly American aircraft. One Chinese pilot met and married a white woman, a
'Southern belle', presumably in a US state that allowed such interracial marriages.
After the war, sometimes she would push a pram carrying their child around their
otherwise all-white neighborhood. Curious onlookers assumed that the child must
be an adopted orphan from the Korean War. This led to 'interesting' conversations.
(X is another white American woman neighbor.)
X: Oh, what a cute baby! Could you be its mom?
S: Yes, I am.
X: I see, may I pet it?
S: OK.
X: (Assuming there was an adoption process). How long did it take you to get it?
S: Oh, the usual time.
X: Which was?
S: About nine months.
X: Oh, really? Why did it take so long? With so many orphans over there waiting
to come here, I thought the government could streamline the paperwork by now.
S: There may be a misunderstanding here. My child is not an orphan.
X: Of course not, not now. You and your husband are so kind to give the little thing a home!
S: Not at all. It was the least that we could do.
X: It looks so Oriental. Won't that be a problem when it goes to school here?
S: I hope not. My child's not conscious yet of appearing different from most people here.
X: You mean that there could be other Orientals around in our neighborhood?
S: Yes, I have reason to believe that may be true.
X: Wait a minute! The baby looks Oriental and, uh, how did you get it,, really?
S: (smiling) The traditional natural way. It took about nine months.
X: So you mean that you did ... (speechless)
S: Yes, and I enjoyed it too!
X: How could you?!
After that child grew up, he wrote a memoir about his family.
14 Jan '21 12:19
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