SHORT STORIES

Short Stories: The bridegroom by Ha Jin and Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

Short Stories: The bridegroom by Ha Jin and Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

Introduction

In this paper we are going to analyse two stories, one is “The Bridegroom” written by Ha Jin and the other is “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway.

Story one: The Bridegroom

The Story

The reason for Baowen's disappearance becomes clear when Cheng receives a call from Maio, the chief of public security of Muji, informing him that Baowen has been arrested for improper activity. Cheng goes downtown to the social security office, where he learns that the young man has been detained on a charge of homosexuality. He does not know how serious the charge is, and Maio explains that homosexuality is a crime if intercourse has occurred and a social disease if it has not. Cheng is greatly relieved when Baowen tells he did not act on his desires the previous night. Cheng pleads Baowen's case before the factory manager and the Communist Party secretary, citing insanity as the young man's defense. The men agree to support Baowen. The secretary is especially eager to keep the young man out of jail. The factory manager offers mitigating stories, comparing Baowen's conduct to the behavior of emperors in the Han Dynasty.

Themes and Meanings

If Cheng tried to keep Beina and Baowen together simply because he was afraid that his daughter might suffer, the reader might consider his obsession understandable and perhaps even comical. However, even a cursory reading of the story reveals that his anxiety is not only personal but has deep social and political roots. The story is set in 1976, shortly after the death of China's Chairman Mao Zedong and the arrest of his wife, Jiang Qing, for her role in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The old regime is crumbling, and Cheng, a product of the repressive government, will soon become an anachronism. Ha Jin uses contrasting imagery to depict the shift from a staid, agrarian society to a liberal, industrialized new world order. For example, Cheng bicycles across the countryside, overtaking a horse cart loaded with sheaves of wheat, and rides seamlessly into a city filled with further buildings and level cement paths.

Style and Technique

First, after Baowen has been arrested, Ha Jin allows Cheng to interrupt his train of thought to meditate on a sparrow, the most common of birds. Second, ...