The novel "The Red sorghum" reflects the tragedies of the era in the personal history of individuals.
Introduction
Characters
Plot Summary
Review
Conclusion
Introduction
The novel "The Red sorghum," also famous as a film depicting the poignant life of a woman born in a poor rural area, is a work by the Nobel Prize-winning Chinese author, Mo Yan. The author's real name is Guan Moye, with "Mo Yan" being his pen name, meaning "don't speak," indicating his preference for communication through writing. Mo Yan is considered one of the most prominent contemporary literary figures in China, known for his poignant yet straightforward portrayal of the lives of the Chinese people.
The original title of the novel is said to be "The Red Cornfield Family," but due to the popularity of the film adaptation of the first part, "The Red Cornfield," which was introduced to South Korea, the title of the novel was also changed to "The Red Cornfield." It caused a significant social impact when first published in China in 1986.
Set against the backdrop of the major events of the 1930s, such as the Sino-Japanese War, the novel skillfully depicts the complex and subtle relationship between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party, as well as the social conditions and struggles of the Chinese people at the time. It also vividly portrays the brutal scenes of war, sometimes leaving a profound impact on readers. At the same time, the breathtakingly beautiful descriptions of nature in the novel are so remarkable that they evoke admiration for the author's skill.
Characters
- Protagonist: Weizan'ao, a warlord leader from Shandong Province, China.
- His wife, Daifenglun, who operates a family factory specializing in making high-proof liquor.
- Ru Luohan, a loyal employee working in the factory.
- Various military figures such as Reng, leading the Nationalist Party forces, and Zhang, leading the Communist Party forces, active in the Shandong Province area.
Plot Summary
This novel's distinctive feature is its shifting perspective between past and present. For convenience, let's summarize the plot in chronological order.
Daifenglun, at the age of sixteen, is married off to a wealthy man known as Shan Yuanlang in a neighboring village. However, he is a patient suffering from severe leprosy. Daifenglun's parents marry her off to him without her consent to obtain money from the wealthy household. On her way to the marriage, Daifenglun encounters bandits but is helped by Weizan'ao, a sedan chair carrier, who safely escorts her to her destination. This incident fosters mutual affection between Daifenglun and Weizan'ao.
After marrying Shan Yuanlang, Daifenglun returns to her parents' home for three days, following the custom of the time. On the way back, she and Weizan'ao share a moment of love in a cornfield. Subsequently, before Daifenglun's return, Weizan'ao murders Shan Yuanlang and his father and disappears.
Upon returning to her in-laws' home three days later, Daifenglun learns of the tragedy but is cleared of suspicion during the investigation and is soon released. The incident is eventually left unresolved.
Daifenglun takes over her deceased husband's liquor distillery and manages it successfully with the help of a loyal worker named Ru Luohan.
Meanwhile, Daifenglun is pregnant with Weizan'ao's child. One day, Weizan'ao appears and clumsily gets a job at Daifenglun's distillery. Daifenglun runs the distillery, earns a lot of money, and becomes wealthy. However, a gang leader named Eclipsed Wood kidnaps her and demands ransom. Weizan'ao intervenes, pays the ransom, rescues her, and later kills Eclipsed Wood, thus becoming the new leader of the gang.
One day, Weizan'ao brings in a concubine named Lunar Hui, disrupting Daifenglun's household. Weizan'ao mediates between the two women, eventually providing Lunar Hui with a house in a neighboring village, where they live together. However, one day, Japanese soldiers raid Lunar Hui's village, raping her and killing her young daughter. Devastated, Lunar Hui dies soon after, prompting Weizan'ao to join the anti-Japanese resistance.
During the resistance, Weizan'ao operates independently, neither aligning with the Nationalist Party nor the Communist Party, both of which are active in the region. One day, acting on information from Ru Luohan, Weizan'ao and his son, Weiguan, ambush a vehicle carrying a high-ranking Japanese officer. Although they successfully kill the Japanese commander, they lose most of their men in the process. Additionally, Daifenglun is killed by Japanese gunfire during the attack.
Following Daifenglun's death, the Japanese launch a massive retaliation, surrounding the village and massacring the residents. Weizan'ao and Weiguan narrowly escape death and hide, planning revenge while scavenging for food and regrouping.
Meanwhile, a figure named Ulanzetsu, the cavalry commander of the iron plate conference led by a person named Black Eyes, recognizes Weizan'ao and suggests to Black Eyes, the commander, to recruit him as a deputy commander. As time passes, Weizan'ao, who has established himself, prepares to hold a grand funeral for his wife. However, on the day of the funeral, suddenly the Red Army's detachment launches an attack. They intended to seize the weapons of the iron plate conference. A bloody battle ensues between the two groups, with life and death at stake. Soon after, a detachment from the Nationalist Army arrives, and Weizan'ao and others are all taken prisoner.
However, at that moment, as the Japanese army advances, the Nationalist Army engages in combat, and with the combined efforts of the captive iron plate conference and the Communist Party detachment, the story comes to a conclusion.
The first thing that strikes me is the admiration for the author Moyen's skill in describing landscapes. Scenes like the burning of the cornfields or the sunrise and sunset, even the overall view of the village, vividly depict the rural scenery of China. However, juxtaposed with such breathtakingly beautiful nature is the grim and pitiful sight of how people live. This stark contrast leads one to ponder whether the author purposely portrayed nature so beautifully to accentuate the miserable lives of the people.
The title of the novel, "Corn", also symbolizes the Chinese people. By depicting scenes of people dying in the battle of the cornfields alongside corn kernels flying, the novel reinforces this symbolism. Particularly towards the end, the narrator expresses a negative view towards the breeding of corn varieties. Unlike the traditional red corn, the improved variety, black corn, boasts superior productivity but lacks the unique characteristics of red corn. This seems to symbolize the unique culture, personality, and characteristics of the Chinese people. The portrayal of nature mirroring human attributes is a scene not commonly found in Western literature, which adds to the mysterious and intriguing atmosphere of the novel.
In the midst of a chaotic era, the protagonist Weizan'ao, along with Communist leader Zhang and Nationalist leader Rong, are all leaders of the people leading their respective forces. Among them, apart from the cunning and self-serving Zhang and Rong, Weizan'ao stands out as somewhat of a hero. However, the narrator, Weizan'ao's grandson, believes that the true hero is his grandmother, Daifenglun.
The heroic quality lies dormant until one encounters some external temptation, upon which heroic acts are revealed.
Reading this passage, I couldn't help but agree with the notion that turbulent times breed heroes. It's the saying that the era creates heroes, and indeed, if it weren't for chaotic times, there wouldn't have been the plethora of heroes we commonly associate with periods like the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history. If it weren't for the Japanese occupation era, our independence activists wouldn't have emerged either. They might have just lived as ordinary neighbors, leading unremarkable lives.
Daifenglun took over the management of a distillery at the age of sixteen and led it splendidly. Moreover, she calmly and confidently confronted the challenges life threw at her from time to time. According to the narrator, Daifenglun possessed heroic qualities, which manifested themselves in times of crisis. It's a passage that prompts one to contemplate what it means to be a hero.
Author Moyen also exposes the beastly side of humanity through this novel. The title of Chapter 3, 'The Path of Dogs', is strikingly direct, and its content depicts packs of dogs swarming in the ruined village attacked by the Japanese army, feeding on the corpses of people. Weizan'ao and others try to defend the bodies of their neighbors from the dogs. They end up eating the dogs, and there's a chilling expression indicating that eating the flesh of dogs is no different from eating human flesh.
The narrator discovers human and dog bones intertwined in the shattered family tomb hit by lightning. When he tries to remove the dog bones, the village elder simply tells him to leave them be, saying that during the war, humans were no better than dogs, or perhaps even worse.
Through such scenes, author Moyen seems to be criticizing the inhuman actions of people.
Finishing Thoughts
The theme of anti-Japanese resistance, familiar to us in Korea, allowed for even deeper emotional immersion while reading. Despite the substantial content, I didn't feel burdened by it. The characters in the novel seem to have clearly defined trajectories in life, to the point where they can be categorized as either heroes or non-heroes. However, in reality, there's a cyclical nature where heroes become non-heroes and non-heroes become heroes. The author freely navigated through the inherent unpredictability of human nature, making it seem like a natural aspect of life.
