Analyzing the Realistic Values in the Novel 'The Wife Picker'

Prompt: Analyze the realistic values in the novel 'The Wife Picker' by Kim Lân

Sample Essay: Analyzing the Realistic Values in Kim Lân's Novel 'The Wife Picker'

I. Outline: Analyzing the Realistic Values in Kim Lân's Novel 'The Wife Picker' (Standard)
 

1. Introduction

- Theme of peasant life before the revolution.
- Brief overview of Kim Lân and the realistic values in 'The Wife Picker'.
 

2. Body:

a. Kim Lân vividly portrays the dire circumstances of the peasants during the famine of 1944-1945 through three characters: Tràng, Thị, and Old Lady Tứ.

- Tràng, a young man, carefree yet living in poverty, drifts through life like a dry twig under a gloomy sky, toiling daily pulling carts.
- Thị, a woman, tortured by hunger to the point of deformity, swollen from lack of food, eventually trades a lifetime of being a wife for 4 bowls of gruel.

b. The Village Community:

- The tragic horror of famine and its haunting aftermath, with people scattered, carrying each other, appearing ghostly pale, 'wandering aimlessly like specters,' 'chaotic throughout the marketplace,' scenes of 'corpses falling like ripe grain,' and an atmosphere 'permeated with the damp stench of garbage and the putrid odor of human corpses.'
- The grim, dark, and chilling landscape, 'the shadow of the hungry moving silently like ghosts,' accompanied by 'the cries of vultures over the rice fields outside the marketplace echoing horrifically.'
=> The famine has turned a village into a place where death looms, enveloping all space and time, rendering people unable to escape, drifting, suffocating, and desperate.

c. Portrait of Tràng's Family Life:

- 'The meal during the famine looked truly pathetic, with a torn bowl containing a handful of tangled vegetables, a plate of salt to eat with porridge.'
- The image of rice bran porridge, which Old Lady Tứ called 'wedding soup' to celebrate a marriage. The bitter taste, choking sensation in Tràng's throat, symbolizes the misery of those dreadful years, where people were so destitute they had to eat animal feed to cling to life.
- On Tràng and Thị's wedding night, 'the sound of someone sobbing outside the village seeped into the room intermittently,' dark and surreal, accentuating the harsh reality of the peasants during the famine.
 

3. Conclusion:

Express your impressions.
 

II. Sample Essay: Analyzing the Realistic Values in Kim Lân's Novel 'The Wife Picker'
 

1. Analyzing the Realistic Values in Kim Lân's Novel 'The Wife Picker', Sample 1 (Standard):

Writing about the theme of peasants before the revolution in Vietnamese literature, there have been numerous outstanding works and writers, each presenting a unique perspective. For instance, Nguyễn Công Hoan depicts the pain and suffering of peasants through tearful short stories such as 'Physical Education Spirit' or 'The Endurance of Iron.' Or Ngô Tất Tố portrays the agony and pity of people under the harsh poll tax in 'The Snuffed-out Light.' Similarly, Nam Cao's chilling realism exposes the tragic life of Chí Phèo in 'Chí Phèo.' Then comes Kim Lân, an author with very few works, yet one of the top 10 representative authors of Vietnamese realistic literature with two works, 'The Village' and 'The Wife Picker.' Kim Lân's success lies in the difference in writing style and thinking. He uses realism to highlight the good qualities of humanity, developing humanitarian thoughts and opening up a new escape route for his characters—Revolution—something that previous writers on this topic had not explored. In 'The Wife Picker,' the realistic portrayal under Kim Lân's pen, while gentle, is deeply haunting and eerie.

The backdrop in 'The Wife Picker' is a particularly poignant period in the nation's history. Kim Lân vividly reflects the dire plight of peasants during the famine of 1944-1945 through three main characters: Tràng, Thị, and Old Lady Tứ. The first peasant to emerge is Tràng, a young man, carefree, but living in abject poverty. His life is as precarious as a dry twig under a gloomy sky, toiling daily pulling carts. The hunger and suffering of those years make even a strong young man like him frail and exhausted—'Tràng bows his head, steps slow and sluggish,' utterly exhausted. As for Thị, a woman, tortured by hunger to the point of deformity, swollen from lack of food, eventually trading a lifetime of being a wife for 4 bowls of gruel. Thị was on the brink of death, so she had to accept the title of 'picked wife,' akin to a discarded straw or garbage thrown somewhere outside the market. Finally, there's Old Lady Tứ, a pitiful woman, old and frail, who should ideally be at home caring for her grandchildren, but she still worries incessantly about finding a wife for her only son. Despite her age and weakness, she tirelessly labors, with a bleak future and a glimmer of hope that if they survive this famine, the future will be better.

An analysis of the realistic values in the story 'Husband and Wife A Phủ' reveals the precariousness of people's lives during the famine

It's the famine through the fate of three main characters, but it's even more terrifying when one looks outside, where the people of the refugee camp are counting each step to the cemetery. It can be said that no writer has ever depicted such a horrific and haunting famine tragedy, with people scattered, carrying each other, appearing ghostly pale, 'wandering aimlessly like specters,' 'chaotic throughout the marketplace,' scenes of 'corpses falling like ripe grain,' and an atmosphere 'permeated with the damp stench of garbage and the putrid odor of human corpses.' The grim, dark, and chilling landscape, 'the shadow of the hungry moving silently like ghosts,' accompanied by 'the cries of vultures over the rice fields outside the marketplace echoing horrifically,' like the haunting beckoning of death. It can be said that the famine has turned a village into a place where death looms, enveloping all space and time, rendering people unable to escape, drifting, suffocating, and desperate. Kim Lân's portrayal of reality emerges so cruelly that people here seem to have seen their own death and are slowly awaiting it—'hardly anyone can believe they can survive' including the three people resisting—Tràng, Thị, and Old Lady Tứ. Because even though Chí Phèo lived at the bottom of society, there were times when he believed in happiness with Thị Nở, but Tràng's mother and the people outside even doubted the possibility of survival, let alone family happiness. That refugee camp seems to have stepped one foot into the cemetery, life and death are just a thin veil, incredibly fragile, just a slight move, and several people fall, miserable and pitiful.

The tragedy of the famine is also evident in Tràng's family life, 'the meal during the famine looked truly pathetic, with a torn bowl containing a handful of tangled vegetables, a plate of salt to eat with porridge.' If it weren't for the famine, perhaps no one could stomach that 'silver' meal, yet the entire Tràng family enjoyed it happily. But the most impressive and valuable reflection of reality is still the image of rice bran porridge, which Old Lady Tứ called 'wedding soup' to celebrate a marriage. The bitter taste, choking sensation in Tràng's throat, symbolizes the misery of those dreadful years, where people were so destitute they had to eat animal feed to cling to life. And there were countless other scenes of miserable and desperate life, not even rice bran to eat and then waiting for death to come. And hauntingly, on Tràng and Thị's wedding night, 'the sound of someone sobbing outside the village seeped into the room intermittently,' dark and surreal, accentuating the harsh reality of peasants during the famine.