Through the story of two army doctors, Lin Kong and Manna Wu, Ha Jin’s “Waiting” explores the reality of human rights in China. The novel begins in Meiji City, China in 1966. At the start of the plot, Lin feels no love for Shuyu, his actual wife, because his parents arranged the marriage. After working with Manna in the hospital for years, Lin falls in love and wishes to divorce his wife so he may marry Manna. To divorce his spouse, however, Lin must receive Shuyu’s consent. Though every year he convinces Shuyu [include what he convinces her of], she changes her mind without fail when they appear in court. Lacking her consent, the court does not grant him his request and without the divorce, he must keep his distance from Manna due to strict gender norms. As the novel progresses, the couple assist each other through social ostracism. After almost two decades, they convince Shuyu to go through with the divorce. Once free, Manna and Lin marry each other and have twin boys. Inevitably, the novel discusses more than the intricacies of Lin and Manna’s relationship. In the timespan of decades, “Waiting” comments on the power struggle between…show more content… The necessity for gender power imbalances comes from the focus of feudal culture: providing order to society. To meet this goal, Confucius focused his moral code on utilitarian obedience. Because of the utilitarian focus of Confucius’s moral code, everyone participated in its implementation. For women, this resulted in a life of constraint and submission. Fathers conditioned their daughters to obey men without question and husbands continued this treatment through male-centric marriages. Over time, the continued submission by women perpetuated the absence of their