Realism and Humanity Values in The Wife Collector

2 Essays on Realism and Humanity Values in The Wife Collector by Kim Lân

1. Realism and Humanity Values in The Wife Collector by Kim Lân, Sample 1:

Kim Lân once confided, 'The significance of the story: amidst the suffocating hunger, in any desperate situation, the peasant residents still aspire to rise above death, misery to find joy, to hope' (Revolution, resistance and literary life - New Literature Publishing House, 1985)

With such an intention, Kim Lân chose the horrific famine of the Year of the Rooster as the backdrop for the story, which was indeed strategic. The Wife Collector is primarily a story about hunger. Just a few words 'Hunger poured in...' are enough to evoke horrifying memories for the Vietnamese people about a national disaster that wiped out nearly a tenth of the population in our country. True to Kim Lân's meaning, that danger 'poured in', meaning it was as strong as a torrent. The writer's description creates a haunting impression through two types of images: hungry people and hungry spaces. He described the faces of hungry people as 'hollow and dark' but the most terrifying thing is that he compared people to ghosts twice: 'Families from the regions of Nam Định, carrying each other, leading each other up, were as gray as ghosts', and 'the shadows of hungry people moved silently like ghosts'. Such comparisons reflect Kim Lân's special perception of that terrifying era: it was the era when the boundary between human and ghost, between life and death, was as fragile as a hair. The realm of the dead merged with the realm of the living, the mortal world lost its mouth of hell. In the space of this chaotic world where the living and the dead intermingle, the sound of the hoe 'screaming at each stroke' along with the 'stinky smell of human corpses' intensify the feeling of hair-raising horror. Indeed, hunger revealed its devastating power to destroy life to a horrifying extent. In such a context, Kim Lân placed a love story there, which is truly ironic. Just like the 'mockery' trick of cinema, Kim Lân created a truly ironic 'overlay'. When the stomachs were not yet full, the most miraculous product of human thought, love, could not escape distortion. Oh, what a story that brings tears of laughter: four servings of steamed cakes on that day made up a love story, a pot of rice husks on that hungry day could make up a wedding feast... Kim Lân's pen did not avoid but pursued reality to the bottom, creating a special, rough, gloomy 'background' for the story, and it must be said, it is somewhat cruel.

Essay Analyzing Realism and Humanity Values in The Wife Collector by Kim Lân

But the writer's main concern in The Wife Collector is not to create a indictment, but to focus on something else, something more important. From the darkness of the circumstances, Kim Lân wants to illuminate a special poetic essence of the human soul. The dark aspect of the sad reality painting serves as a lever for the bright aspect of human compassion, emanating the special radiance of an earnestly touching humanitarianism.

In literature, emphasis is placed on the heart rather than talent. However, if the talent does not reach a certain level, how can that heart be revealed? The Wife Collector is the same: Kim Lân's earnest heart moves readers first through the talent of storytelling and then through the talent of leading the story. The talent of storytelling here is boldness, hence the unique story situation. Even the title The Wife Collector contains such a situation. In an interview, Kim Lân enthusiastically explained: 'Collecting means picking up, picking up hesitantly. In the famine of 1945, it seemed difficult for laborers to escape death. Its darkness covered the village. In that context, the value of a person became extremely cheap, one could get a wife just by selling a few servings of steamed cakes at the market - it's true, 'picking up a wife as I said in the story' (Literature newspaper issue 19, May 8, 1993 - page 5). So the sacred (wife) has become cheap (collected). But the story situation also has another thread: the subject of that 'collecting' action is Tràng, a poor, ugly young man, a migrant who was hungry and thirsty at the time, suddenly gets a wife, even gets followed by a wife, it's really strange. So strange that it created a series of astonishments for the village, Granny Tứ, and Tràng himself: 'Until now he still seems to doubt as if it's not like that. Did he already have a wife?'. This situation evokes a subtle state of the human soul: an indescribable state of hesitation - everything is uncertain, like having and not having. Is this joy or sadness? A smile or tears?... The special nature of this mood has made Kim Lân's short story pen bear the semblance of poetry.

Creating a story isn't enough. The art of storytelling is like the skill of igniting a firecracker. It may have fire to ignite, hit the fuse right, but if the firecracker has many deaf grains, it still fizzles out as usual. Therefore, the art of storytelling must be accompanied by the skill of leading the story to create depth and allure. Kim Lân's storytelling skill is demonstrated through the successful use of the rural language, with prose that closely aligns with the essence of real life, making each word seem to spring from the very source of life. But most importantly, it's in the realism of psychological portrayal. It must be said that the story situation above is truly advantageous for Kim Lân in eliciting an extremely subtle psychological flow in each character. Particularly noteworthy are two cases: Granny Tứ and Tràng. These are two types of psychological reactions to similar situations, yet each unique. First is Tràng, a humble status but a groom who can be considered fortunate. True happiness always causes a great psychological shock. The shock to Tràng creates a three-stage psychological flow. It starts with astonishment. Happiness intoxication in Tràng turns into a new and wonderful feeling. That feeling engulfs his entire being: diving into spirituality (He floated in a daze like someone in a dream) while also emanating, materializing into flesh-and-blood sensations (Something new, strange, never seen in that poor man before, it enveloped, caressed every inch of Tràng's flesh, as if a gentle hand was stroking his back). With realistic prose, passages like these have reached a 'divine pen' status because the writer's state seems to merge with the character's state (also known as the ability to 'embody' in prose, the ability to 'channel spirits' in poetry). Then that astonishment of happiness quickly turns into a concrete, heartfelt joy. It's the joy of family happiness - a simple yet grand joy unmatched by anything else. No wonder a celebrity like Tsecnưepxki once dreamed: 'I'm willing to sacrifice my career if I know that in some warm little room, there's a woman waiting for me to come home for dinner.' Kim Lân's poor young man has truly achieved such joy: 'Suddenly he felt an inexplicable love for his strange house. He had a family. He would have children with his wife there. The house was like a warm nest sheltering from rain and sun. A sudden source of joy, elation overflowed in his heart.' A truly touching, mixed emotion of reality and dream. This is where Tràng of Kim Lân is luckier than Nam Cao's Chí Phèo: happiness is firmly in Tràng's hands, while Thị Nở, within Chí Phèo's reach, has already been snatched away by the dark underworld. Kim Lân has a very valuable detail: 'He eagerly ran out into the yard, wanting to do something to contribute to the renovation of the house.' Compared to the 'awe-inspiring' demeanor at the beginning of the work, Tràng's 'eager' action is an important turning point, a transformation that changes both fate and character: from suffering to happiness, from disillusionment to loving life, from naivety to consciousness. Thus Kim Lân felt that there were enough conditions to place Tràng's thoughts with a deep sense of duty: 'Now he sees himself as a person, he sees himself having a duty to care for his future wife and children.' Tràng has truly 'revived his soul' - that is the great value of happiness. The girl Kiều of old 'eagerly roamed the garden path alone at night' was bold but still wavering, lonely. Tràng's eagerness is truly strong, confident!

Commenting on The Wife Collector, it's unclear why a very important sentence by Kim Lân is overlooked. That is the closing sentence of the story: 'In Tràng's mind, he still sees the hungry crowd and the red flags fluttering...'. A closing sentence like that, containing the weight of art, will merge into the closed structure of critical realism literature. This added detail creates an open structure that truly transcends the scope of literature from 1930-1945 to step into the realm of new literature. Thanks to this, the short story closes, but new fates are still being opened. That 'red flag' is like a sign of a life change. The character Tràng continues to move towards faith, towards life. The 'red flag' hints at a complete settlement for Tràng's fate, similar to Pha, Dậu, Chí Phèo... This detail is not a fanciful dream, a fairy tale fantasy, but has a solid foundation from the reality of life.

The psychological process of Granny Tứ is somewhat more complex than that of the character Tràng. If in the son, joy dominates, the psyche develops in a straightforward manner suitable for a young groom brimming with happiness, then in the mother, the psyche moves in a convoluted manner, fitting with the hidden troubles in the deep personal realm of an elderly person who has experienced and is generous.

Similar to her son, Granny Tứ's initial psychological state is astonishment. Her son's astonishment is before something seemingly incomprehensible. The girl appearing in her house initially seems like a strange phenomenon. Granny Tứ's state of astonishment is deepened by a series of questioning doubts: 'Why is there a woman inside? What woman stands at the head of my son's bed like that? Why greet me with a smile? Not Đục's children. Who is this? Then again: 'Oh my, what is this?'. A mother's heart with an adult son is naturally sensitive to this, so why does Kim Lân leave the mother character confused for so long? A bit excessive, a bit of a 'drama' in Kim Lân's pen? No, the inner pain of the writer: The very entanglement of circumstances has erased that sensitivity in the mother.

If in Tràng, astonishment leads straight to joy, in Granny Tứ, the psychological movement is more complex. After understanding everything, the old lady 'bows in silence'. Only the kind-hearted mother's love can be so forgiving: 'Can they sustain each other through this hunger?'. In the words 'they', the mother shifts from son to daughter-in-law. In the words 'bowing down', the mother accepts her child's happiness through life experience, through the price paid by generations of hard work, through a profound awareness of circumstances, in stark contrast to her son's acceptance of happiness through need, through a spiritual aspiration.

Then love sinks back into worry, creating a continuous state of restless mind. The author delves into the mother's thoughts: thinking about her incomplete motherhood, about the old man, about her youngest daughter, about her own life's misery, about her child's future... to ultimately converge all worries, love into a simple sentence 'You guys getting married now, it's too pitiful'. Amidst the sadness and worry, the mother's joy still tries to shine: Touchingly, Kim Lân lets that miraculous light shine from... a bowl of rice porridge. Listen to the mother say: 'here's the tea - the old lady scoops out a bowl - Here's the tea, it's so delicious for breakfast'. This 'delicious' word needs to be felt in a special way. It's not about material emotion (emotion about the taste of rice porridge) but about spiritual emotion: in the mother, faith in her child's happiness turns bitterness into sweetness. Choosing the image of rice porridge, Kim Lân wants to prove the human quality: in any situation, relationships and hope cannot be destroyed. People still want to live and the human quality is shown in the way they live in relationships and hope. But Kim Lân is not a romantic writer. Granny Tứ's joy still remains a pitiful joy, because reality is still bitter with 'bitter and astringent' rice porridge.

The writer's success lies in understanding and analyzing the quite subtle states of people in special circumstances. And rising above circumstances is a spiritual beauty of the poor. That transcending circumstance creates a unique and touching humanitarian content of the work. Kim Lân's message is a humanitarian one. In the famous novel War and Peace, Russian writer Nikolai Ostrovsky let the character Paven Coocsaghin reflect: 'Know how to live even when life becomes unbearable'. The Wife Collector is a hymn to human relationships among the poor, who have 'learned to live' right in the midst of that turbulent era.

Kim Lân's message has been transformed into a remarkable short story with unique story development and narration, especially the delicate psychological descriptions, making the work emotionally resonant and captivating.

2. Realistic and humanitarian values in The Wife Collector by Kim Lân, model 2:

The countryside and farmers have always been familiar topics in both ancient and modern short stories. Regardless of how we classify the novel literature genre, we cannot overlook the genre of rural novels. With that theme, many writers have become famous and have produced valuable works. For example, before the August Revolution, there were works like Turn Off the Light by Ngô Tất Tố, Chí Phèo by Nam Cao, and Con Trâu by Trần Tiêu... These works were written with simple content but carried quite profound thoughts. Among the writers who wrote about the countryside, there was one who wrote later and wrote less, but when the work was just released, it was favored and welcomed by everyone. That's the short story The Wife Collector by writer Kim Lân. With The Wife Collector, Kim Lân wrote very truthfully and extremely cleverly, leaving a deep impression on readers. Usually, a work can only stand firm when the writer has new content, a new way of speaking. The work The Wife Collector by Kim Lân is no exception.

First of all, just the title The Wife Collector alone carries meaning, attracting readers' attention in a very special way before enjoying the work. Because throughout history, people say they can find this and that, but no one ever says they can find a wife. Moreover, getting married is one of the three most difficult things in a man's life: 'buying a buffalo, getting married, building a house'. Because marrying, getting married is mostly organized in this and that way, very solemn. So for Tràng to naturally pick up a wife is indeed surprising and interesting. And with that content, only the unique title The Wife Collector speaks correctly and closely to the story's development. Also with that unique title, Kim Lân has expressed the identity of the peasant working class in the forty-five years of famine to the point where a wife can be picked up as easily as picking up a straw or a blade of grass.

An important factor contributing to the success of that work is the art of storytelling. Reading through the pages of Kim Lân's short story The Wife Collector, an incredibly rich imagination unfolds in our minds. A picture of farmers during the years of rampant hunger in a quarter of the country is vividly portrayed. The starving working people, pitifully weakened, appear before our eyes. And what greater pain is there than witnessing the scene where 'Hunger has flooded in,' with children sitting dejectedly without a whimper. Thus, children suffer, adults drift from one place to another. A stalk of vegetable to ease hunger is not enough, not to mention grains of rice or wheat... Therefore, the corners of the walls, the marketplaces with hungry people lying 'helpless like fallen trees,' become even more repulsive and agonizing when there's 'the foul smell of dead bodies.'

The realistic and humanitarian values in The Wife Collector by Kim Lân

Kim Lân has vividly depicted reality in such a unique way, but in terms of character development and psychological evolution, it's even more unique. The character Tràng emerges through the text with all the authenticity of a hungry farmer: 'The shirt squeezed onto his shoulders, seeming tired, the burden of the afternoon weighing heavily on his broad back.' Oh, the word 'his,' the familiar pronoun we've come to know from Nam Cao's Chí Phèo, now appears before us: 'He sat crying, crying and cursing, whom did he curse? He cursed life, cursed heaven, cursed the village of Vũ Đại, cursed the parents who gave birth to him...' The word 'he' remains the same, frightening, isn't it? Hatred? Scorn? No! Both writers Kim Lân and Nam Cao evoke the word 'he' with all the pain, sympathy, and reverence. Anyone who has read The Wife Collector, how can they not be moved and forget a character - Granny Tứ - Tràng's mother.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the story of his son - Tràng - picking up a wife brings about a truly rich and complex emotional state for the old lady. In the unfortunate days of hunger, she understands. She's very aware of arranging a wife, a husband for her son 'must be done this way, that way.' But oh, 'when it rains, it pours.' No matter how much one understands the worries, it's just a zero. Therefore, Granny Tứ can only think 'pitiful, fate' alone. She pities her son and then her daughter-in-law. Looking at her, one can feel the fullness of her compassion. Oh dear! Does anyone understand her? Love, sympathy, enduring circumstances not only for oneself - hunger and thirst - have made Granny's heart think of nothing else, her words full of emotion 'You guys getting married at this time'... so touching! How can it be so vivid, so profound? Despite the deadly hunger, that underlying foundation of warmth and love emerges, perhaps the age-old tradition of the nation 'Love others as if loving oneself,' 'Good deeds repaid in kind' are conveyed by Kim Lân through these moving pages.

Tràng having a wife is both joy and worry for Granny Tứ. What parent wouldn't be overjoyed when their children, having passed through adolescence, are now grown and married... Yet worry persists because the current situation, with just the two of them, is difficult enough with the rampant famine making another mouth to feed even more challenging. Nevertheless, joy predominates with 'Granny's plump face glowing,' 'she talks only of happy things, of the future ahead,' she tries to hide her worries to let her daughter-in-law be happy. However, she still 'chokes' on her words. She still believes in her son, in a brighter future. A confident statement from Granny, 'You guys try your best to manage, maybe things will get better... no one's wealthy for three generations, no one's poor for three lifetimes.' Indeed, it's a completely objective trust, based on experience, hardships will surely lead to happiness. If we were to say it like Ho Chi Minh in his poem, it wouldn't be much different: After rain comes sunshine, after suffering comes joy, such is life's truth. Because in reality, that's how it is, the image of the red flag flying alongside the crowd seizing the rice warehouse at the end of the story also comes to Tràng's mind, opening up new destinies for characters under a revolutionary sky with victories echoing like August Revolution, and later, Dien Bien Phu.

With a unique storytelling approach, and the subtle psychological development of characters, Kim Lân has achieved remarkable success with the short story The Wife Collector. Perhaps with the characters, the story's plot passing through their destinies is the beginning of revolutionary awareness, revolutionary enlightenment. Even with just a few mentions of the 'red flag,' 'Viet Minh,' Kim Lân has successfully ensured his characters' fates don't end in darkness like Sister Dậu - Brother Pha in Nam Cao's Chí Phèo, or Double-Lucky Tư Bền... before.

In sympathy with Kim Lân, feeling compassion for the people in The Wife Collector, let's sing along with Tố Hữu's song, which is a tradition of the Vietnamese people for generations:

What's darker in this world
Than people living to love each other.