Mrs Spring Fragrance

Told in the first person, “The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese” is told by Minnie Carson about the circumstances that lead to her marriage to Liu Kanghi.

Minnie is 19-years-old when she marries her first husband, James Carson, who is 15 years her senior. At first, James seems happy in the marriage, but he soon comes to resent what he sees as his wife’s complacency with being a wife, and eventually a mother. A strong believer in women's suffrage, his respect for women does not extend to his own wife. When Minnie tells him that she does not admire “clever business women” (64), James calls her jealous and childish. He feels that her lack of ambition is keeping him from accomplishing his own goals because she is not contributing financially to the family. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, James browbeats Minnie into going back to work as a stenographer to help with living expenses so that he can put the bulk of his salary toward publishing a book on social reform. Eventually, her preoccupation with her infant daughter causes her to lose her position, and James does his best to make her feel inadequate because of the loss of employment: “He even made me feel it a disgrace to be a wife and a mother” (66).