ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses frequent theme in the writings, fictional and nonfictional, in the years following the May Fourth period. It discusses two women are representative of many who were unable to cope with the world around them. The unnamed young woman in the first account, which appeared in Chia Family, Shanghai, had the opportunity for self-development provided by the new higher education, and she seems to have flourished while she was away from home at a local university. Shen-shen was married into our family she never ever showed the slightest trace of a smile. Her face was dark and expressionless, as if it had been dusted over by a heavy frost. Sometimes, when my fifth aunt would try to make trouble because she was envious of Shen-shen just sitting there reading without doing any work, Grandmother would give a cold smile and say, 'Well, who are you to compare yourself with her-she is a young lady scholar'.
