Interwoven Threads

As I re-read the four assigned short stories in Ha Jin’s The Bridegroom, I noticed a series of repeated elements within each tale, as well as linking some of the narratives together.  These appear to be intentional details not needed to describe the scenes, but included deliberately to enhance the depth and complexity of the writing.  The numbers beside each reference below indicate the page on which it is found.

“Saboteur”

Tying germs, hands, foods, and illness together, Jin gives us abundant clues before exposing the final sickness of the plan.

Food and eating references:

3 Bride & groom eating

4 Tea thrown on feet

6 Kitchen sounds in jail; “Egg of a tortoise” name-calling

9 Dinner in jail;Thou ghts of tea back home

10 Crops harvested; Flesh tasted non-human to insects; 
         Bites of pests

11 Eatery nearby; Metaphor “ordered more than they 
         could eat”

12     Eating again

15 Drinking tea; eating soups

There are mentions of hands, fingers, thumbs, and palms too numerous to mention.

Germs as “bugs,” methods of spreading disease, and illness references:

6 Burped on palm in jail meeting

8 Metaphor “tremble when you sneeze”

9 Accordion coughing in the background

10 Listed fleas, ticks, mosquitos, cockroaches, bedbugs 
         (all carry diseases)

11 Caterpillars, ladybugs; Hospitalized friend gets letter
         from Mao

13 Fenjin sneezed

“Alive”

Water often symbolizes birth and rebirth.  Living water is moving, flowing, as from a spring, rather than stagnant, while death is often shown a skeletons or bones.

Water references:

19 Watering plants; Rain water; Thunder shower; 
         Trolley bus compared to boat sailing            
         through harbor; Ice-cabinets; 
         Soaked with dew

22 Well; Rain; Well spouting

23 Ditch of yellow water

24 Room swaying like boat in storm; Puddle

25 Jets of muddy water; Sinking deep into sea; 
         Water from canteen

26 Brook; flooded crater

27 Bathhouses

29 Wash basins

30 Waterworks

32 Washing her face; Wet towel; Tears

33 Chili water

34 Waterworks; Hot water bottle

35     Icicle; Torpedo boat toy

36 Snow; Water to boil

37 Tropical fish in tank; Tears

38 Tears; Snow

39 River; Sun flooded in

Skeletal references:  (see also “Cowboy Chicken” for a link between these two)

22 Skeletons of cranes

23 Can’t squeeze fat out of a skeleton

27 No longer a skeletal man

“A Tiger-Fighter is Hard to Find”

Hands commonly represent a pledge of faith, sincerity, support, justice, and/or strength.  In this episode, these qualities are shams--just the opposite of reality.

Hand references:

54 Single-handedly; Task on your hands; Punched

55 Handsome; Letter in hand

56 Handsome; With his bare hands

57 Both hands; Left palm; Right fist

58 Fist

59 Punching (twice); Fists

60 Bare-handed

61 Punch

62 Wiggled fingers at hero

66 Bare-handed; Fingers

67 Hand; Fist; Punching; Slapping

69 Scarred hands

“After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town”

A capitalist US protein-food chain restaurant comes to socialist protein-poor China where comrades are so thin they are skeletal.  C.C. (Cowboy Chicken) vs. C.C. (Communist China).

Animal references beyond chicken (* = Animal represented in Chinese Zodiac Years):

186 “Dogs*” as perjorative (twice)

188 Milk; Beef

190 Lizard; Fox

193 Camel; Horse*; Ox*

195 Dogskin; Catlike; Wolves; Bulldog

197 Alligators

199 Owlish; Bunny lanterns; Year of rabbit*

200 Crocodile’s mouth

202 Ass

204 Ant

207 Monkey*-like man

208 Cock* (as in rooster)

210 Dogs*

211 Birds; Fish; Clouds like turtles

215 Ducks; Loon; Waterfowl

216 Cats; Dogs*

          (Sheep--in the form of mutton fed to the caged animal
          --and tiger, two other Chinese zodiac animals, 

          are featured in “Tiger-Fighter)

References to skeletons, bones, or the opposite--gaining weight:

186 Bones; Rib

188 Came back from US robust; “Over 50 pounds of 
          American flesh”

189 Gains weight; Chinese are too thin--skeletal

198 High-protein food

213 Bone of contention

Other Common Threads Between Stories

Muji City is setting for all four tales.

White, as representing non-Oriental others, specifically Americans, is referenced in:

“Tiger-Fighter”

55 Tiger is from Ever White Mountain

57 Hero drinks White Flame liquor for courage

60 Frost and snow would change landscape (also 61)

62 Red blood on white sock

66 Grasshopper with white wings

69 Grimy white towel

70 Yard is white; Snowman 
         (wearing orange scarf may symbolize changing season,
  setting sun, energy, health, warmth, vibrancy)

“Cowboy Chicken”

187 White Devil nickname for Shapiro

193 Snow fell on buffet day

205 White feast dinner after funeral

Number Four is frequently used as imagery for four points of the compass, four elements of nature, or Revelation’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who wreak destruction on humanity.  More specific to China, four is considered unlucky since the pronunciation of the number and the word for death are similar.  It is also widely known that Buddism is based on Four Noble Truths:  

Suffering (including sickness, death, and   
          unpleasantness)

Origin of Suffering (sin and mental states leading 
          to evil actions, such as desire, hatred, ignorance and 
          misconception of the nature of things)

Cessation of Suffering (“Nirvana”)

Path to Cessation of Suffering (how to achieve a 
          state of Nirvana)

“Saboteur”

15 Ate at four other restaurants to spread disease

“Alive”

18 Son has been engaged four years

22 Four brick houses at the mine

31 Four-year-old boy

34 Four dishes from half-pound of pork

“Tiger-Fighter”

56 Four thugs attacked hero; four miles outside the 
         city to film

57 Four long canine teeth on the tiger

66 Four Seas Garden is prize meal

“Cowboy Chicken”

185 Four pieces of chicken customer wants refund for

187 Four tourbillions (whirlwind marks) on Peter’s head

190     Four girls working at Cowboy Chicken Shapiro dates

191 Four Seas Garden restaurant site of date

195 Four o’clock when Peter discovers buffet results

199 Four years ago bride moved away from China

207 Four students came with professor

210 Four brothers were menacing; Peter built house 
           four miles out of town

216 Four mile commute to work for Peter

Apples

Apples are often symbols of temptation from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (even though the fruit is not named in Genesis), as well as the epitome of American culture.

Can you think of places where apples are mentioned in these four stories?  Here are some hints:

Apple tree shaking

Apple-faced girl

Adam’s apple

Red Jade apples

Apple pie