“Saboteur” by Ha Jin there are multiple ironic events that happen throughout the story. The name of the story is ironic because the word Saboteur is used for one who intentionally obstructs something. In the beginning of the story, Mr. Chiu who is a communist is arrested for confronting a police officer who purposefully throws a bowl of tea on him and his wife's sandals; it is then that he becomes a saboteur to the public. “... You’re a saboteur, you know that? You’re disrupting public order” (Jin 309).
“The Bridegroom”, a short story by Ha Jin explains how the head of security at a factory is stunned, first when an employee proposes marriage to his adopted daughter, and again when his newly son in law is put in jail for the "wrongdoing" of homosexuality. The short story sets in Muji City in China in the mid 1990s. Cheng, the narrator, has some degree of sympathy, but ultimately he's unaware and un-accepting. The narrator believed that homosexuality is a disease or illness instead of a quality
this story is one that reveals itself as utterly unfamiliar to its reader, yet succeeds in drawing together its meanings and reasoning for the behaviour and practices of the characters concerned. These words also epitomize the writing style that Ha Jin commands so well. His tendency to describe a situation, emotion, or even in detailing an object, is rooted in a simplicity that stays to the point. However this simplicity is deceiving. When taken in as a whole, these straightforward descriptions
In Ha Jin’s novel Waiting, we are introduced to the protagonist Lin Kong a doctor in the ostensibly progressive communist Chinese Army. Lin Kong is agonizingly bound to Shuyu, the peasant wife his parents had arranged for him to marry due to this arrangement, Lin struggles with the cultural appropriations afflicted upon him within his family and love life as models of old are challenged with the new. His arranged marriage has bequeathed him to believe that his relationship with Shuyu is empty considering
English 1123 24 October, 2010 Literary Analysis on “Saboteur”by Ha Jin If you ever wanted to get revenge on people who have wronged you, then you may be able to relate to Mr. Chiu, the main character in the short story “Saboteur” by Ha Jin. Mr. Chiu’s revenge is ironic as the conflicts he finds himself in throughout the story. The setting is in Muji, China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The leader of the communist party at the time is Chairman Mao and ruled based
SAMPLE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT ON SETTING (30%) Outline of Essay Title - The Importance of Settings in Ha Jin’s “Saboteur” Introduction - Ha Jin brings out the historical setting, consisting of political, social and cultural, geographical and physical elements as all are important in this story and how they influence the story line (thesis statement) Analysis - political, social and cultural elements as well as geographical and physical elements in the essay are discussed
Ha Jin’s short story “Saboteur” tells of a man who seems discontent, idealistic, and gravely ill. In Muji, Mr. Chui, is accused of sabotage and taken by force to jail after a run in with railroad authorities. His crime is for speaking out against police officers assaulting him and his bride during lunch in the city square. The reader is lead to believe this is a simple case of excessive force by the police, therefore the abuse of power is the catalyst of this short story, but the real story is about
Ha Jin’s short story “Arrival” is him leaving China and coming to the United States to study abroad. He was told, in 1977, that he was to major in the language English. After he got his undergraduate degree, he got admitted to the graduate program at Brandeis University. Since he is from China, he had to leave his wife and child behind. Ha Jin was having to overcome multiple barriers when getting and arriving to America. Ha Jin was dealing with culture differences, language barriers, and not
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’
And eventually, you get puzzled in between all the deep answers, trying to figure out which one is the part of the puzzle, and which one is not. The reason that I attached this poem, The Past, by Ha Jin is because I found it very interesting and I also felt like this poem somehow related to Ha Jin, personally. I may be wrong but, as if he is declaring that his past is part of him, like a shadow, and he will adjust it however he desires by ‘cutting, stitching and making good shoes with it’, just