Ha Jin – The Bridegroom
Ha Jin – The Bridegroom
Described as utopian in nature, the Chinese culture is often in pursuit for the perfect individual, a harmonious and structured society where the citizens as a whole create the ideal culture. In a collection of short stories entitled The Bridegroom, author Ha Jin documents this aspect of reality in homeland China. Primarily for the purposes of instruction and satirical verse, Ha Jin, shows how people are trying to find themselves in a society that focuses on the ‘whole’ of the country rather than the individual. He is able to interconnect this theme of individualism through four major stories in the book while presenting ‘Chineseness’ or satire of fictional verse as a way to focus on the changes throughout China and the political discourse that its citizens face.
In the short story Alive, Ha Jin depicts individualism, or the loss thereof and its impact on a Chinese family. Headed to Taifu City to collect money at a coalmine, main character Tong Guhan develops amnesia after an earthquake devastated the community and impaired the memory of its citizens. Since the government felt that all people must work together for the betterment of the community, people like Guhan were forced to re-marry, adopt an orphan, and start a new life. For the Chinese government, this was a unique opportunity to create a new movement and “since this was an emergency [measure], love wasn’t taken into account; so long as the couple didn’t dislike each other, a marriage certificate was issued to them (29). Although as time progresses, Guhan happens to pass by the smell of dumplings and in a flash, instantly remembers his past life. At that point, he decides to return to Muji City where he encounters his original family. What can only be considered as satire, Ha Jin structures this story around wit in his literary style of writing. Who would conceive that the smell of dumplings could suddenly force an individual to remember the past? The amnesia and the
Described as utopian in nature, the Chinese culture is often in pursuit for the perfect individual, a harmonious and structured society where the citizens as a whole create the ideal culture. In a collection of short stories entitled The Bridegroom, author Ha Jin documents this aspect of reality in homeland China. Primarily for the purposes of instruction and satirical verse, Ha Jin, shows how people are trying to find themselves in a society that focuses on the ‘whole’ of the country rather than the individual. He is able to interconnect this theme of individualism through four major stories in the book while presenting ‘Chineseness’ or satire of fictional verse as a way to focus on the changes throughout China and the political discourse that its citizens face.
In the short story Alive, Ha Jin depicts individualism, or the loss thereof and its impact on a Chinese family. Headed to Taifu City to collect money at a coalmine, main character Tong Guhan develops amnesia after an earthquake devastated the community and impaired the memory of its citizens. Since the government felt that all people must work together for the betterment of the community, people like Guhan were forced to re-marry, adopt an orphan, and start a new life. For the Chinese government, this was a unique opportunity to create a new movement and “since this was an emergency [measure], love wasn’t taken into account; so long as the couple didn’t dislike each other, a marriage certificate was issued to them (29). Although as time progresses, Guhan happens to pass by the smell of dumplings and in a flash, instantly remembers his past life. At that point, he decides to return to Muji City where he encounters his original family. What can only be considered as satire, Ha Jin structures this story around wit in his literary style of writing. Who would conceive that the smell of dumplings could suddenly force an individual to remember the past? The amnesia and the