贾母荣国府老太君 · 17
Leaf 17 of the Red Chamber · 史太君 Lady Shi, the Dowager
Grandmother Jia 贾母
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the household (当家) · nicknamed 史太君 “Lady Shi, the Dowager”
The house's last real authority: she fetched the orphan Daiyu to Jinling, shelters Baoyu from her son's bamboo, and keeps her gold in her own rooms.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 3
Sending Boats for the Orphan
引黛玉進京After her daughter Jia Min dies she sends boats and her own old servants to fetch the child Daiyu to Jinling, and puts her in her own rooms — first of the orphans she collects.
- ch. 29
A Match Refused at the Abbey
清虛觀打醮She takes the whole household to the Qingxu Temple to pray for Baoyu's health, and turns down the Taoist abbot's offer of a match for him, saying the child's fate will not bear an early wife.
- ch. 40
Two Banquets in the New Garden
兩宴大觀園She gives two banquets in the new garden for Granny Liu's sake, picks out the old silk she keeps for the lodge windows, and is unsettled by how bare Baochai's chamber is.
- ch. 54
Pulling Apart the Stock Tale
破陳腐舊套At the New Year gathering she pulls apart a storyteller's tale of gifted scholars and beauties, mocking the stock daughter who throws away her training to meet a man.
- ch. 107
Dividing Her Hoarded Silver
散餘資After the confiscation she brings out her own hoarded gold and silver and divides it among the sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, so the house can pay its dead and keep its servants.
結局 The ending
She dies in chapter 110, past eighty and untroubled, having already handed out her savings to keep the house standing; chapter 111 buries her in full splendour, and the text never asks her to repent the bride-substitution that killed Daiyu.
The book itself: what happens, how long it is, which English version to read — The story · How long it is · Which translation · The lamp-oil night · The family tree · The first expulsion