Non-Conformity In Ha Jin's Taking A Husband

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There are consequences to people who decide to write their own rules. The preceding are examples of individuals who had to obey the social norms of their surroundings. These characters chose not to endure the further challenges as a result of non-conformity.

Hong Chen in Ha Jin’s short story “Taking a Husband” is troubled by the task of selecting a spouse. The family’s fall from affluence and greed resolved her to pick a husband based on potential prosperity. “After her father died of bone cancer, life was hard for the Chens. Two years after his death, the Chens were forced to move out of the compound inhabited by the cadres’ families” (Jin, 2007, p. 355). Hong decided to pick one of the suitors that were candidates for a higher official position. Material wealth is a powerful incentive to forfeit happiness and love during tough times.

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“The narrator is not expected to speak politically or philosophically to his understanding and endorsement of "social responsibility"; instead, he merely grovels, reinforcing the whites' comfortable belief--or illusion?--that he is a mere puppet that has simply uttered the wrong word.” (Johnson, 2001. p. NA). His ignorance of townspeople’s final hoax emboldened the words his grandfather spoke to him before his death about not being a traitor and forgetting his true reality.

In conclusion the characters described in the two stories are from different countries and time periods but they both face the same dilemma. Each example demonstrates the compromises they made in order to get ahead. Hong gave up on love for wealth. The invisible man gave away his honor for a college scholarship. Everyone in life is forced to make tough decisions when challenged. One cannot blame these people for selling out given the circumstances. Select few would choose to endure the pain not to betray their

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