Zao Jun in Literature
Laurence Yep's novel Dragonwings describes the honey ritual, but the book refers to the deity as the Stove King.
Zao Jun's story is interwoven with a feminist spin into the protagonist's story in Amy Tan's novel The Kitchen God's Wife. She reflects on her life story as a Chinese American woman. She uses the symbolism of the Kitchen god's story and uses it as a parallel towards modern day life. She outlines the patriarchy that still exists within modern day life but more significantly in Chinese cultural practices. Tan also illustrates several facets of the humble status of women in Chinese society in the early 20th century (Tan, 1991).
In Tan's story, there is an elaborate description of the coming of Zao Jun. The character Winnie goes into detail about how he came to be and attempts to address cultural struggles as she removes the picture of the Kitchen God from her daughter Pearl's stove, as she does not believe this is the kind of luck Pearl needs. She then promises to fill the altar with the image of another god. In addition to this cultural struggle there is also a feminist undertone at the core, suggesting that this ritual is sexist, outdated, and inappropriate in today's world. The story can be viewed as a struggle between traditionalism and biculturalism (Tan, 1991).
Read more about this topic: The Kitchen God
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