Baowen From Homosexuality example essay topic

942 words
When a reader first reads the title of Ha Jin's story, ! SSThe Bridegroom, !" one may imagine the wedding bells, church and the wonderful husband and wife to be. The story should be about happiness and love. But one can not stop wondering why it is called! SSThe Bridegroom? !" From the title, the reader can already feel the humor flowing out a little.

However, after reading the entire story from the first page to the last, one can be surprised by the plot and its witty view on life.! SSThe Bridegroom!" was about a society realizing the influence and affect of homosexuality. During the Communist periods, people were busy working and earning a living for their family. A day was only involved in going to work, getting off work, going home, sleep, and then wait for the new day to begin again. One could never imagine anything besides the assemble line. Their life was the factory and the factory was everything.

But suddenly, they found out their best manager, Baowen had been diagnosed by a disease called homosexuality. The entire factory's attention quickly turned towards the direction of Baowen. With Baowen's confusion with homosexuality on mind and his daughter's future at sake, the narrator begins on a humorous, self-discovery journey. Throughout the story, there were many humorous events that completed the narrator's characteristics. The narrator was a distressed man who often worried about everything, but at the same time he wanted the best for his daughter.

He wanted his daughter to get married. But when his daughter got married to the most handsome man in the factory, he suspected the son-in! Law's motives. When he was sick of BaoWen and his recent indecent activity, he still continued to help him. Within the periods of BaoWen being in the hospital, he often comforted his daughter and explained that nothing was the matter. The conversations frequently stayed in the direction of him blaming himself for Baowen's mistakes.

As time went on, he continued to buy medicine and do research to cure Baowen from homosexuality. By the end, he helped his son-in-law by convincing himself and everybody that homosexuality is only a disease. In the beginning, the narrator was afraid that his daughter, Beina, may not get married. He was! SS afraid she! |d become an old maid!" (Jin, 231).

But suddenly, Baowen, one of the most handsome men out of the factory proposed to her. It was basically! SSa fool always lands in the arms of fortune!" (Jin, 231). To the narrator, it was too good to be true. Questions raced to his mind, why choose his Beina?

What was his motive? Is he going to cheat on her? Why would anybody like Beina, she was short and fat. Although he was worried and had a suspicious feeling about the marriage, he was relieved. He was happy that somebody was willing to take his daughter in. This was the first step to her happiness.

After Baowen's indecent activity, the narrator was frustrated by the idea of! SS people of the same sex having a sexual relationship!" (Jin, 233). Why had Baowen married Beina to begin with? Why did Baowen ruin Beina this way? He was! SS sick of him, but he belonged to [his] family, at least in name, and [he] was obligated to help him.

If he didn! |t help him, Baowen would be! SS marked forever as an enemy of society, no longer redeemable. Even his children might suffer. [He] had to help him!" (Jin, 235). This was a part of him already. His decision with helping Baowen gave the reader a sense of loyalty and duty.

For the future of his daughter's happiness, he was willing to sacrifice anything even if it means helping a person who has sexual disorders. As he tried to beg the doctor to cure his son-in-law, he was told that homosexuality was not a disease; therefore there was not a cure. The moment he heard that, his heart sank. It was impossible.! SS Everybody thought homosexuality was a disease except for Doctor Mai, whose opinion [he] dared not mention to others!" (Jin, 244). It was not normal for people to have sexual relationship with the same sex.

Why would they do that? Homosexuality has to be a disease; it was just that the doctors have not figured out the cure yet. Questions raced to his mind again.! SS If homosexuality is a natural thing, then why are there men and women?

Why can! |t two men get married and make a baby? Why didn! |t nature give men another hole? !" (Jin, 231) His questions bring on comical yet serious reactions because readers have already understood that homosexuality is not a disease. Even though the doctor stated that there was no cure for homosexuality, the narrator decided to deny the fact that this even has happened to him and his daughter. Nevertheless, he still has the duty of comforting and protecting his daughter. Although the narrator's actions might have been humorous, it made him into who he was.

From wondering if anybody would want his daughter to covering for his homosexual son-in-law, he was a father who cared and was willing to do anything for his daughter.