Ha Jin and Conrad

For Ha Jin, writing in Chinese for the people of China would be a difficult task for many reasons. Not only does the communist party censer everything they wouldn’t approve of his writing anyways. In Ha Jin’s short stories he talks about capitalism and communism. He identifies the ignorance and stupidity of the communist party. In the “Cowboy Chicken” story he shows the Chinese to be trained in the communism ways, and what should be known as common sense isn’t known to the Chinese because they are so absorbed in the culture of communism. In the story “Alive” we see this man who abides by every communist rule and law in the beginning and seems to do fine at first. In the end he ends up breaking free from this and making some of his own decisions. This shows us how many Chinese were taught to do what they were told and not to question authority. They were not taught how to think and act for themselves, but to do what is best for the party. This would cause conflict if written in Chinese for Chinese citizens, because he would not be able to get published because of the content of his stories.

Postcolonial literature may have changed if Conrad would have written in his native language, because Conrad was writing to a targeted audience. He knew that it was more beneficial for him to write in English. If he would have written in any other language than he would not have gotten the outcome that he wanted. He wanted to show the world what he had seen and been through and he was able to do that in English. If he had written in Polish or any other language his stories and the points he was trying to make may have been hindered therefore changing postcolonial literature.

P.S. If anyone would like to go to that restaurant after class this coming Tuesday for extra credit let me or Heather know. We’re trying to get 8 people at least to go so that way it’s only $5 each.