In the Pond
Encyclopedia
In the Pond is a 1998 novel by Ha Jin
Ha Jin
Jīn Xuěfēi is a contemporary Chinese-American writer and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin . Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin.-Early life:...

, who has also written Under the Red Flag, Ocean of Words
Ocean of Words
Ocean of Words is a short story collection by Ha Jin. It received the 1997 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award....

, and Waiting
Waiting (novel)
Waiting is a novel by award-winning author Ha Jin. The book is based on a true story that Jin heard from his wife when they were visiting her family at an army hospital in China. At the hospital was an army doctor who had waited eighteen years to get a divorce so he could marry his longtime friend,...

. He has been praised for his works relating to Chinese life and culture.

The novel centers around the character Shao Bin, a Chinese man working at fertilizer plant, and his epic struggle to obtain a decent apartment for his young family. Continually passed over by the plant's corrupt leaders, Bin decides to fight back against his communist superiors. Conflict espouses when Bin's struggle is met with counterattacks and opposition he could never have imagined.

Themes

Focusing on the oppressive nature of post Mao China, a communist society filled with a hierarchy of corruption, and ultimately in an antithetical fashion to Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

's novel The Jungle
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...

, Ha Jin uses his literary work to convey a central political statement against the injustice of Chinese socialism. Jin stresses the themes of standing up for one’s self and not letting the powerful and corrupt destroy one’s dreams. There is also a universal and humanitarian theme of lending a helping hand to aid ones fellow man.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK