3 Comparing Characters in Three Short Stories
Introduction
The Bridegroom is a collection of 12 short stories written by Chinese American writer Ha Jin. The collection depicts the life of contemporary China. Almost all the stories in the collection are set in the last half of the 20th century in the city of Muji in China. The stories have been set after the Cultural Revolution and China’s movement towards capitalism. All these stories have been set on the background of the great cultural and economic changes in China. The cultural and economic transition was a significant phenomenon in China. Ha Jin reflects the common man’s life in the background of the transition phase. The life of the common man is depicted in these short stories. We can see the characters, constantly struggling for making their living and, at the time, struggling with the government bureaucracy. During their struggle they are victimized and thus face injustice by the society, the political power and the capitalist waves. The stories are about the conflict between individual matter and political interferences. The stories can be analyzed on different parameters. Black humor, Revenge, victimization, sexual crime, political interference in personal life, injustice, and the human complexities are some of the themes of these twelve stories. The paper focuses on the three characters of the three short stories from this collection. First character is Huang Baowen from the short story ‘The Bridegroom’ which is the title story; second character is Chiu from story ‘Saboteur’ while the third character is Hongwen from the story ‘After Cowboy Chicken Came to the Town’. The common theme taken with the reference of the life of these three characters is the victimization in the contemporary China. The characters are seen as being the victims either by the social, cultural, political system, victims of bureaucracy or they are the victims of the newly capitalist culture emerging in the communist land of China. For example Huang Baowen is the victim of the conventional norms of heterosexuality. Chiu is the victim of the bureaucracy prevailed in China which is powerful and cruel. It makes the life of a common man miserable. While Hongwen in the story ‘After Cowboy Chicken Came to the Town’ is the victim of the newly emerged capitalism in China. Overall, common Chinese man is shown of being a victim in the changing scenario and the influence of Westernization in China.
The victimization in the story Bridegroom is the culmination of Westernization and the changing definition of sexuality in modern China and their impacts on the individual life. Bridegroom is the story, where the human being has to live constantly under the social burden. This social pressure became more miserable for the human being to endure if the life of the person is unusual; he/she is regarded as the abnormal human being with a mental disease. Cheng is a character in The Bridegroom who is constantly struggling to understand and sympathize the unusual sexual orientation of his son-in-law Huang Baowen . Though the narrator and the protagonist of the story is Cheng, the problematic and complex character is Baowen. Cheng is a typical linear character but Baowen is non-linear character. Cheng is the narrator of this title story. He is struggling for the betterment of his daughter Beina, and his daughter’s welfare is associated with Baowen as he is Beina’s husband. though he is not her biological father. After the death of Beina’s real father, Cheng takes the responsibility of her upbringing. He loved her as if his own child. In China the young girls must marry and have a child to live a normal and socially accepted life. Beina is a simple naïve girl After the marriage of Beina and Huang, Cheng encounters with a shocking reality of Beina and Huang’s life. Their married life cannot be a successful one under the norms of Chinese culture. It was because of the sexual orientation of Huang. Huang is homosexual and takes interest in having sex with the men. Homosexuality is a crime in China. Homosexuality is common in Western culture and the Westerners are familiar with the term. But it is shocking concept in the conservative culture like Chinese. Though sexual orientation is a very personal matter and should be kept in privacy, Huang has to suffer a lot. The sexual orientation decides the social status of the individual. It is because of the political rules prevalent in China. Homosexuality is the crime according to Chinese Law. The social burden is there to such extend that sometimes they are responsible for spoiling the life of the other person for maintaining the social status. This is reflected through the character of Huang Baomen. To hide his sexual orientation, he marries Beina and naturally it spoils the entire life of Biena, who is innocent. Thus he is already the victim of his sexual orientation and the social norms. With him he victimizes his innocent wife also. Because of the social bondage, the innocent people also have to be the victim of the social norms. It is regarded that the homosexuality is the culmination of the encounter of Chinese culture with the Western culture. It is supposed to be the mental and moral disease like an addiction. In real sense, homosexuality is not a crime. But Asian societies have not yet accepted homosexuality.
‘Homosexuality isn’t an illness, so how can it have a cure? Don’t tell anyone I said this’
“Then why torture Baowen like that?”
“The police sent him here and we couldn’t refuse.” (Jin 527)
The above dialogues reflect the government interference in the private life of the person. The person with unusual sexual orientation is regarded as a criminal and he is punished for the crime. Along with Beina and her husband and her foster father Cheng are the equal sufferer. Cheng’s condition has become very odd as he has to face the society, the people around him. He has to face humiliation and he is helpless. In the end he suggests Beina to divorce her unusual husband who made her life a havoc. He thus cannot digest the life of his daughter with such a man. Beina is also trapped in the cultural and social norms and these norms do not allow her to leave her husband instead of knowing everything about him. Thus all of these three characters are the victims of inner and outer forces.
Chinu Muguang: Victim of Bureaucracy
The theme of victimization is also reflected in another short story “Saboteur.” In Saboteur also the protagonist Chiu Muguang is also the victim of the autocratic political and legal system. He is the victim of the communism and the Cultural Revolution happening in contemporary China. For no specific reason, he was arrested by the police and he has to spend several nights in the jail. He is also shown as the victim of bureaucracy. Despite his disease and illness the police authority does not release him. Like Beina in The Bridegroom, he is not meek and destiny oriented. He is rebel and his rebellious nature creates hatred in his mind about the entire political system which has made him a victim.
“At the tilt of the chief’s head, two guards stepped forward and grabbed the criminal by the arms. Mr.Chiu meanwhile went on saying, ‘I shall report you to the provincial Administration. You’ll have to pay for this! You are worse than the Japanese military police.’
They dragged him out of the room. (Jin 108)
Both of the stories, The Bridegroom and Saboteur describe the helplessness of the common man in the unjust political and social environment. The only difference here is the approach and the response of the character to the situation they are facing.
Hongwen : Victim of the Western Capitalism
The Cultural Revolution is not easy for the people to digest. The society does not completely accept social and cultural changes so easily, may be it relates to moral, or ethical. The conflict always arises before accepting the alien cultural norms. This is what Ha Jin shows in his short story After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town. There is a clash between Western individualism and Chinese Collectivism the same clash is shown in the story. The main character of this story is Hongwen who is the narrator of the story. He is a young employee at Cowboy Chicken dressed himself in a typical McDonald style uniform. He is frustrated by his job. His ambition however is bringing more money than his father. He is earning more but still he is not happy with the capitalist culture at his workplace. He wanted to get a salaried job. ‘I want a job that pays a salary.’ (Jin 198) When he and his colleagues come to know that their American boss pays the American-educated Chinese manager an attractive salary in dollars, they are furious because of this injustice.
“The figure on the check astounded us: $1683.75. For good moment nobody said a word, never having imagined that Peter received an American salary, being paid dollars instead of yuan” (218)
The boss Mr. Shapiro is hypocrite and manipulative. He always appeared himself as a good hearted person in front of the customer but while treating to his employees, he is ruthless and rude. It is the story of the Chinese man who is struggling to maintain his identity in the boom of American capitalism on Chinese land. The protagonist here is again seen as the victim of capitalism and globalization. The Chinese employees working there
Conclusion:
The simple but unique style of telling the story makes Jin a successful short story writer. Each and every character of his short stories are the representative of the modern China which is trying to adopt the changing culture and newly formed system, by adapting them. Sometimes the system changes their entire life and also the life of the people around them. After studying the characters in all three short stories, we understand that everyone is the victim of some or other thing happening around them. They want to accept the capitalism and the Western culture but at the same time they cannot forget their cultural roots. Sometimes they get victimized by the cultural shocks which are completely new to Chinese culture, for example, the homosexuality in The Bridegroom and the buffet party or American way of Business in After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town.
References:
Ha, Jin. The Bridegroom – Lifelong Learning Academy . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <https://thelifelonglearningacademy.com/wp./11/The-Bridegroom.pdf>.
Ha, Jin. Saboteur”. L.G. Kirszner and R.L. Mandell, eds. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 6thth ed. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. Print.
Jin, Ha. The Bridegroom Stories. New York: Pantheon Book, 2000. 198, 218. Print.
