Daiyu's Fasting: Emotional Trauma and Physiological Responses in Dream of the Red Chamber

Brief Introduction

"Daiyu's Fasting" (Jue Li) is not an official chapter title or specific event name in the original Dream of the Red Chamber, but rather a figurative description used by readers and critics to depict Lin Daiyu's loss of appetite and physical decline caused by emotional turmoil. In literary analysis, this concept is often used to explore Daiyu's tragic fate intertwined with "emotional illness." Due to her suspicious and sensitive nature, she often stops eating and grows progressively thinner when misunderstanding Baoyu or worrying about her own fate. This physiological response is an externalization of her inner pain.

Core Knowledge Points

1. Emotional Illness (Qing Bing): Daiyu's "fasting" is essentially a psychosomatic disease. She views her feelings for Baoyu as the pillar of her life. Once she encounters a misunderstanding (such as the talk of the "Golden-Jade Alliance"), she suffers an emotional breakdown, which directly leads to a decline in physiological functions.
2. Psycho-physiological Feedback: The book frequently describes Daiyu's "coughing," "spitting blood," and "refusal to eat" occurring together. Fasting is not an active protest, but a natural result of excessive grief, reflecting the fatalistic color of her destiny to "die when her tears are exhausted."
3. Symbolic Meaning: Daiyu's refusal to eat symbolizes her silent resistance against secular ethics and the arrangement of fate. In a situation where she cannot control her marriage or future, the decay of her body becomes the only tragic aesthetic she can control.

Connection to the Book's Content

In the specific plots of Dream of the Red Chamber, Daiyu's changes in appetite are closely linked to key storylines:

* Chapter 29 "The Spirit Stone Confuses the Spirit with Words": Baoyu and Daiyu have a fierce quarrel due to the matter of the Daoist Zhang proposing a marriage. After returning home, Daiyu "cries until she is choked and gasping," and refuses to eat all day. This is a typical physiological response caused by misunderstanding.
* Chapter 34 "Love within Love: The Sister is Moved by Emotion": After Baoyu is beaten, he sends Daiyu his old handkerchiefs. Upon understanding the meaning, Daiyu "cannot help but let tears roll down." Although she does not completely stop eating, long-term worry causes her body to become increasingly frail.
* Chapter 97 "Lin Daiyu Burns Manuscripts and Breaks Her Obsessive Love": In the Cheng-Gao continuation, Daiyu mistakenly believes Baoyu is getting married, and her condition deteriorates rapidly. At this point, she is unable to eat and ultimately dies with her tears exhausted on the night of Baoyu's wedding. This plot pushes "fasting" to the end of life, completing the tragic loop.

Summary

Although "Daiyu's Fasting" is not a literal term from the original text, it accurately summarizes Lin Daiyu's character trait of "sacrificing her body for love." It reveals the profound connection between "emotion" and "body" in Dream of the Red Chamber, reminding readers to pay attention to the dual destruction of individual emotion and health by feudal ethics behind Daiyu's tragedy. Understanding this concept helps in interpreting the psychological depth and artistic value of this classic literary figure more profoundly.