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Prompt: Exploring the Depth of Artistic Expression in 'The Wife Picker' Short Story
Sample Essay: Exploring the Depth of Artistic Expression in 'The Wife Picker' Short Story
Assignment Submission
Since the beginning of 1940, the Japanese fascists invaded Indochina. The Vietnamese people found themselves in a double-edged situation. The French intensified their exploitation and plunder, hoarding food while continuing the war. The Japanese forced the people in the North to uproot their rice fields. Floods and dike breaches led to consecutive crop failures. By the spring of 1945, the entire nation faced a horrendous famine unprecedented in history, with over two million people dying of starvation in the Red River Delta alone. They died on the roads seeking food aid, perished miserably by the roots of trees, on the roadside, in marketplaces... In such dire circumstances, the Viet Minh Front called for the destruction of Japanese rice storehouses to save the starving poor and launched the August 1945 revolution. This pain deeply moved artists and manifested in numerous works by artists such as Nam Cao, To Huu, To Hoai, Nguyen Dinh Thi... With genuine talent and a compassionate heart for the plight of impoverished peasants, Kim Lan contributed a short story of profound ideological depth and remarkable artistic value: 'The Wife Picker'.
The plot of 'The Wife Picker' is extremely straightforward. The work is constructed along the character's psychological development. Firstly, Kim Lan portrays Trang, a rough peasant bringing his wife home. Next, the author prompts Trang to recall how he 'picked up' his wife, and finally explores the emotions of everyone in the family, especially Trang and Granny Tu, towards the addition of a new member to the family. The plot is simple, yet 'The Wife Picker' carries profound ideological content.
Through the short story 'The Wife Picker', the author vividly reflects the dire plight of our people during the horrendous famine of 1945, under the feudal colonial yoke and their revolutionary sentiments.
From the very first page, the writer paints a bleak picture: Something that disrupts the once peaceful life of the settlement. Hunger makes people sit dejectedly under the shadows of the streets without any desire to move. More widely, it turns many into ashen figures sprawled all over the market stalls. Hanging over this settlement is a suffocating atmosphere: People drop like flies. Not a single morning passes without encountering a few corpses lying twisted by the roadside. The air still reeks of damp rot from garbage and the foul odor of human corpses. Plus, the smell of burning straw from houses where the dead lie catches the breeze. People hear the sound of someone crying, whimpering intermittently, and the mournful cries of crows...
Moreover, from the story of Trang naturally 'picking up' a wife; (the woman easily follows him home to become his wife primarily because of extreme hunger; four bowls of rice cakes substitute for a traditional wedding feast), to Granny Tu's cooking a feast of rice husk for the new daughter-in-law... all speak of the horror of this famine. Everyone in the settlement is threatened by the dire famine, living in an atmosphere of constant anxiety.
Life has been pushed to the brink by hunger, seemingly with no way out. But 'every cloud has a silver lining'. At the end of the story, the writer has the 'wife picker' inform her mother-in-law and an important message: In the Thái Nguyên and Bắc Giang areas, people no longer pay taxes. They also seize Japanese rice and distribute it to the hungry. Hearing this, Trang thinks of the Viet Minh, and in his mind, he still sees the hungry crowds and the red flags fluttering...
In this dark situation, Trang, in a broader sense, the suffering masses always look towards the revolution, because only the revolution (symbolized by the red flag) can save them from death.
In the story 'The Wife Picker', Kim Lan has portrayed a deeply touching and humane perspective, discovering the resilience of working-class people: even in extremely dire circumstances, they strive for family life, seek to support each other, and maintain hope for the future.
Trang's marriage causes Granny Tu to worry, pondering whether: 'can they support each other through this hunger and thirst'. Thinking about their family's dire situation, Granny feels sorry for herself. She is very aware that marrying off her son should have been like this or like that, but 'the difficult situation requires difficult solutions', so all that remains is to feel sorry for herself, feel sorry for her fate, and then feel sorry for her offspring. She understands very well why people 'must follow their children. The old lady looks at the woman with compassion, and says to Trang's couple: 'You two are getting married now, too much pity'... then choked up and couldn't say anymore, tears streaming down. The fact that her child 'picked up' a wife is both a worry and a joy for the old lady, joy because her poor son has found a wife. Concerned about hunger and impending death. In any case, she is more joyful. The joy makes the bloated face of the old lady brighten... The old lady talks only about happy things, only about happiness afterwards. The old lady tries to hide her worries to encourage her son and daughter-in-law: 'You two may say that you are doing business, and maybe heaven will bless you... know how it is, who is rich for three generations, who is poor for three generations? Even if it does happen, your children will come later'... Thus, the feelings (especially hope) of Granny Tu have been portrayed truthfully, contributing to the attractiveness of the work.
With a wife, Trang's family members arrange the house more neatly and think that if they tidy up the house, their lives might change, and they might be more successful. With a wife, Trang feels a strange affection for his home, feels sudden joy and comfort flooding his heart... and as soon as Trang brings the woman home, the dark, gloomy faces of the settlement suddenly light up. There is something strange and refreshing blowing into their hungry, thirsty, and dark lives.
Clearly, despite hunger and the looming threat of death, in the grim atmosphere, from Trang to Granny Tu, to the people of this settlement, they still look towards the future, still crave family life. This significantly contributes to the profound human value of the short story 'The Wife Picker'.
This significant success can perhaps be explained by the writer's meticulous understanding of farmers. But fundamentally, credit must be given to the empathy of a pen that is born of the fields. According to Nguyên Hồng's expression, Kim Lan is a writer who once returned to the 'land', to the 'people', to the 'simple purity' of rural life.
Nevertheless, ultimately, these noble and correct ideas will never endure in the readers' minds if the writer does not create a sharp and vivid expression. With 'The Wife Picker', Kim Lan has demonstrated mastery in the art of short story writing.
Firstly, the author ingeniously crafted a unique and compelling story situation: Trang, a rough and unattractive cart puller whom no one desires, suddenly 'picks up' a wife very easily and quickly, right in the middle of the street market, thanks to a few bowls of rice cakes with crab soup.
In the current context of hunger and thirst, Trang having a wife is truly a mixed blessing: joyful and sad at the same time. At this moment, Trang struggles to support himself and his elderly mother, let alone another mouth to feed. But for Trang, being unattractive and unable to find a wife, then suddenly getting one easily cannot be seen as anything other than fortunate. This dramatic situation surprises the people in the settlement, even Trang and his mother. Everyone worries about the future of Trang and his wife: 'Oh my! This world still brings in debts of life. How can they support each other through this?'
The happiness of the newlywed couple, of Granny Tu's family, had to unfold amidst the grim atmosphere of death. The writer vividly depicts the hardship through the first meal welcoming the new daughter-in-law: Three people eating a bitter rice porridge, sitting without daring to look at each other.
In summary, Kim Lan has created a meaningful situation that highlights the ideological value of the work. It seems that every detail revolves around that situation, within a tight structure.
Furthermore, Kim Lan demonstrates a keen ability to discover and portray character psychology. This is most evident in the characters of Granny Tu and Trang. Kim Lan has utilized various techniques to depict the psychology of these two characters. At times, he expresses their emotions through external manifestations (through gestures, words, facial expressions... of the characters), sometimes the author directly describes the profound meanings within the characters' inner thoughts. For example, the character Trang at the beginning of the work, when he brings his wife home on a gloomy afternoon. The astonishment, the excitement of a rustic farmer, now suddenly 'picking up' a wife, is described by the author through gestures and facial expressions: He grins to himself and his eyes sparkle, his face full of self-satisfaction. Trang and his wife walk together shyly in front of the curious eyes of the settlement's people. Trang wants to say something affectionate and intimate, but he stumbles awkwardly and doesn't know what to say. Because of embarrassment, they hesitate, so the conversation between Trang and his new wife is scattered, all awkward and inconclusive... Additionally, the writer directly portrays the inner development of the character: Trang seems to forget all the dismal and dark living conditions, forgets the terrifying hunger and thirst threatening them, forgets the days gone by. In his heart now, there is only the bond between him and the woman by his side. Something new, strange, never seen in that poor man before, it embraces, envelops, and embraces every inch of his being as if there were hands caressing his back.
The writer's keen discovery and nuanced portrayal of psychology make some characters in the story vivid and appealing to readers.
In addition, one cannot overlook the simple, rustic narrative style and language carefully selected for the story, often very close to colloquial speech and with significant shaping value. This contributes to the story's considerable evocative power (the weary faces, the crowded streets, the stumbling steps, the hunched figures, the hurried pace, the staggering movements...).
Furthermore, the title of the story, Wife-Picking, also encapsulates many meanings. 'Picking' a wife expresses the cheapness of human dignity. It turns out that the famine of 1945 turned people into something like straw or rubbish that could be 'picked up' on the roadside. This title has been chosen (similarly to Nam Cao's short story title Two Eyes) to fit the theme of the story, making it difficult for readers to find another title to replace it.
With profound ideological content of humanistic value, with outstanding storytelling art, the work Wife-Picking deserves to be ranked among the best short stories on rural themes.
Together with some short stories written before the Revolution and during the resistance against the French, the short story Wife-Picking contributes to affirming the worthy position of the writer Kim Lan in the development of modern Vietnamese literature.
