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