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Prompt: Analyzing the Unique Value of the Situation Crafted by Kim Lan in 'The Wife Collector'
Sample Essay: Analyzing the Unique Value of Kim Lan's Crafted Situation in 'The Wife Collector'
Essay Submission
When it comes to the art of short stories, three fundamental elements are often considered: the story's direction, its characters, and the narrative style. In many short stories, the creative manipulation of situations plays a pivotal role. Placed within these situations, characters reveal profound emotions and personalities. Through this, the story's themes are vividly portrayed. Revolving around these situations, the plot elements also become compelling.
Kim Lan's 'The Wife Collector' falls into this category of literary works.
The situation in 'The Wife Collector' is evident from its title. A farmer picks up a wife. Yet, what allure does he possess? He is not only poor and unattractive but also a migrant. Nevertheless, with just a few smooth words, he manages to bring a wife home.
The intrigue of the story's situation is foremost. Like a paradox, it surprises everyone in the neighborhood, including Mrs. Tu, Trang's mother, and even Trang himself, as the one who picked up a wife.
The people in the neighborhood are quite strange: They stand at the door threshold, gazing and gossiping...' When they understand that Trang has brought a wife home, they are even more surprised. Some laugh uproariously, while others worry for him 'Oh dear! This world still brings back debts. Can they even afford to live through this?'
Mrs. Tu understands her son's situation better than anyone, so she finds it hard to believe that Trang has a wife. Seeing a woman standing at the head of her son's bed, she wonders to herself: 'Why is there a woman in there? Why did she greet me with a bow? Who is she?' Mrs. Tu is utterly perplexed. Poor as her son is, who would want to marry him and manage a wife and children in such dire poverty? Trang himself also finds it strange. Looking at his wife sitting in the middle of the house, he 'still seems doubtful as if it wasn't true. It turns out he already has a wife.'
It's indeed a peculiar situation. Yet, once understood, it doesn't seem so surprising. The reason is understandable but also profoundly sad, pitiful even! This, Mrs. Tu, nearing the end of her life, must truly grasp the depths of poverty: 'The old lady bows her head silently. She understands now. The heart of a poor mother comprehends so many hardships, feeling both resentment and pity for her child's fate. Oh, people arrange marriages for their children when times are prosperous, hoping they'll have a better future. But as for me... In the corners of the old lady's eyes, tears trickle down... Wondering if they can afford to live through this hunger and thirst?'
Mrs. Tu's heart was filled with myriad emotions: joy mixed with worry, happiness intertwined with sorrow. She was joyful because, after all, her son had a wife, something that, as a mother, she hadn't dared to hope for: 'Well then, if fate has brought them together, I'm also happy...' But she was also worried and embarrassed because 'it's only when people face difficulties, such as hunger and hardship, that they turn to my son. And only now does he have a wife...'
So, the story's situation vividly portrayed the deep emotions and characters of the individuals. Mrs. Tu, having experienced much in life, had a more complex psychological development. Trang, on the other hand, worried less and rejoiced more. Initially, he was 'startled,' but then immediately shrugged it off. On the way home with his wife, seeing people curious, 'he was pleased with their curiosity, feeling self-satisfied.' His joy overshadowed his worries to the point where he couldn't understand why his wife was sad and his mother was crying: 'So frustrating, crying for no reason at all.'
Suddenly 'picking up' a wife brought Trang an overwhelming and abrupt happiness. Until the next morning, he still felt 'as if he were walking out of a dream.' Along with the joy, a sense of duty and responsibility towards his home arose within him. He felt a strange affection for everyone and everything in his house, garden, and courtyard, 'a sudden source of joy and excitement overflowing within.' Now he finally felt like a proper person.
Most sorrowful was the state of mind of Trang's 'picked up' wife. Marriage is a sacred matter, a commitment of one's life to the man one loves. Yet, does she even know who Trang is, whether he is good or bad? Just a casual call and a few bowls of rice porridge were enough for her to follow him home immediately. That act pushed the woman to a point where she no longer felt shame, lost all sense of self-respect, feeling no better than trash, something that can be 'picked up' on the roadside or in the market...
The author of 'The Wife Collector' ingeniously crafted a truly unique story situation. It's a situation that is both very real and laden with profound symbolic meanings.
Condemning the atrocities committed by the Japanese and French imperialists, which led to the terrible famine in the spring of 1945, has been the subject of a series of literary works after the August Revolution of 1945. With 'The Wife Collector,' Kim Lan addressed this topic in a way that is both personal and profoundly moving, forcing readers to ponder painfully. Today's young generation probably cannot imagine the cheapness of human life at times, not even as valuable as an animal. The Tí character in 'The Headless People' by Ngo Tat To is still far more esteemed. Just a few bowls of rice porridge, and a wife is acquired, diminishing one's humanity to that of garbage. The concise and penetrating conclusion of 'The Wife Collector' is deeply poignant and thought-provoking!
But the theme of 'The Wife Collector' doesn't end there. The story's situation places the characters on the brink of death. A sense of death permeates the work with the acrid smell of burning straw from the dead bodies inside houses seeping through, and the sound of mournful cries from the neighborhood drifting in intermittently... Yet, through the emotions of the characters, especially Trang and Mrs. Tu, one sees the working people's faith in life, their hope for the future, their longing for a family to love and share joys and sorrows with, to have responsibilities to each other and to life...
That is the optimistic nature of the working people. An optimism with no clear basis, 'Some are born to riches, some to poverty,' yet enduringly present in people who live fully in labor and struggle for survival. That optimistic belief finally encountered the light of revolution with the fluttering Viet Minh flag heralding the great transformation of the nation that was about to come.
