Summary

“The Arrangement” begins by describing Ruolan’s home life: her father, a salesman, is gone for most of the year, while thirteen-year-old Ruolan and her disdainful mother stay at home, visited weekly by Uncle Bing, who teaches in a nearby village. Other people in the neighborhood have gossiped to Ruolan that her mother and Uncle Bing were having an affair, causing Ruolan to wonder about her paternity. Ruolan wonders why her father stays with her mother, who she believes has been selfishly faking illness to justify ordering Ruolan around for several years. Ruolan cares for Uncle Bing, as he is the most present and pleasant adult in her life, and wonders why he cares so much about her mother. Ruolan soon gets her period and fears becoming a woman like her mother. Ruolan’s father then returns home and suggests divorce. Ruolan’s...