I'll start by first summarizing the plot of Pa Chin's Family and the plot of Junichiro Tanizaki's Some Prefer Nettles and summarizing the characters as I go. I will then explain how the two authors built their characters on modernity and tradition and I will conclude this article by explaining the themes of the novels and how I would compare the two novels. Family: The plot of this novel is set in the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Providence, located in central China. The book itself was written in 1931 and at that time the Chinese Communist Party was well established and fighting battles with the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek and spreading influence in southern and central China. (Chin, 1931) This story is about the rich and aristocratic Kao family, who lives in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan. The story has some very interesting characters but for the most part it focuses mainly on the three brothers and their very interesting and downright depressing lives. Chueh-hsin is the older brother and the more obedient and traditional brother. He is a strong believer in filial piety and even sacrifices his marriage to the woman he loves (his cousin Mei) and forgoes getting a scientific education to do what his grandfather wishes. His grandfather arranges a marriage to a young woman named Jui-cheuh and takes a job his grandfather got him in the city to honor the tradition. (Gale, www.bookrags.com/Family, 2014) (Chin, 1931) The next brother is Chueh-min who we might describe as a radical. He is the middle brother of the three. He also falls in love with his cousin named Chin and runs away to defy his grandfather because he doesn't want to be unhappy like his older brother and narrowly escapes an arranged marriage... middle of paper... ...morality and courage. (Gale, www.bookrags.com/Family, 2014) The reason I advocate courage is because the youngest brother leaves his family to start a new life and that takes courage. He is also too rebellious to be like his older brother. Immorality is a given theme in this book. Because of the mistreatment of the servants and the overtly sexual 66th birthday party, the concubines claim that their society is full of obscenities and that they lack morals. An interesting observation is that all the women they love are pure and virtuous and 2 of them die horribly, which shows how immoral the author considered his society. Another point to make is that inequality is also a common theme of this novel. The author describes this from the treatment of young women and how they are treated and cannot have a normal education. (Gale, www.bookrags.com/Family, 2014)