Within every novel, the author uses their voice to send specific messages to the reader. These conscious and subconscious decisions give authors their own unique and distinct style. Mo Yan definitely had a voice of his own and knew how to use it. When reading Mo’s Red Sorghum, readers will begin to pick up on his subtle techniques. Mo’s heritage bleeds through in his work with the strong influence that folk culture has had on him. He creatively weaves past and present tense within his nonlinear narrative. Using color symbolism, Mo conveys themes and ideas without having to flat out explain them. Mo knows how to concisely impact his readers.
Having grown up surrounded by folk culture— at it’s core, the passing of stories, skills, and arts from …show more content…
Mo takes advantage of his use of the nonlinear narrative to uniquely tell of certain characters pasts. With the event of Grandma’s death, Mo uses the switching of present tense to past tense to tell Grandma’s life story through her memories. “A glossy green path, bordered by tiny white flowers, appears in her mind” (70), the reader witnesses Grandma’s life flash before their eyes as it flashed before her’s. Every so often the tense switches back. As Grandma loses more and more life, the present tense passages become shorter and shorter as she quickly becomes the past, until that final moment where Grandma finally becomes liberated from the Earth and accepts Heaven: “She is at peace. With genuine devotion she exclaims: ‘Heaven! My Heaven… ‘“ (74). By writing her death in the present tense, the readers are put into the moment. Mo also puts the reader into Grandma’s thoughts and state of mind by putting the point of view from her perspective: “Is this death? Will I never again see this sky, this earth, this sorghum, this son, this lover who has led his troops into battle” (72). This gives readers insight into what final fleeting and racing thoughts might go through one’s mind when dying. Mo expertly uses these techniques to craft a commentary on death, to subtly change the way the readers are
Having grown up surrounded by folk culture— at it’s core, the passing of stories, skills, and arts from …show more content…
Mo takes advantage of his use of the nonlinear narrative to uniquely tell of certain characters pasts. With the event of Grandma’s death, Mo uses the switching of present tense to past tense to tell Grandma’s life story through her memories. “A glossy green path, bordered by tiny white flowers, appears in her mind” (70), the reader witnesses Grandma’s life flash before their eyes as it flashed before her’s. Every so often the tense switches back. As Grandma loses more and more life, the present tense passages become shorter and shorter as she quickly becomes the past, until that final moment where Grandma finally becomes liberated from the Earth and accepts Heaven: “She is at peace. With genuine devotion she exclaims: ‘Heaven! My Heaven… ‘“ (74). By writing her death in the present tense, the readers are put into the moment. Mo also puts the reader into Grandma’s thoughts and state of mind by putting the point of view from her perspective: “Is this death? Will I never again see this sky, this earth, this sorghum, this son, this lover who has led his troops into battle” (72). This gives readers insight into what final fleeting and racing thoughts might go through one’s mind when dying. Mo expertly uses these techniques to craft a commentary on death, to subtly change the way the readers are