Waiting By Jin Character Analysis

Jin provides small comparisons between Shuyu and Manna in Waiting. He likens Shuyu's eyes to tadpoles but notes that Manna’s pupils were “radiant like a bird” (Jin 51). He compares the way that Shuyu’s bound feet were an embarrassment to Lin to the way that Lin received pleasure from Manna’s feet when he touched them, a nod to Lin desiring traits of New China (Jin 43). Shuyu’s hands were callused and aged from working and taking care of Lin’s parents while Manna’s hands were “warm and smooth” (Jin 51). On one of Lin’s annual trips back to Goose Village, he flipped over “a dozen mildewed books he had left to be sunned on a stack of firewood” remarking that Shuyu doesn’t know how to take care of them (Jin 3). Later, while in Muji City, Lin and Manna cover his books, some of which were foreign novels that were banned. The two events demonstrate the differences between Shuyu and Manna in respect to their value of Lin’s intelligence, a trait in men that was as commendable as physical strength during the revolution, but it also shows that Lin would rather conceal his books than to …show more content…
Ha Jin provides detailed accounts of how characters are affected by political action as well as the individual and the psychosomatic consequences of the cultural revolution. The contrast between the settings and the characters in Waiting by Ha Jin portray significant symbolism between Old and New China and emphasizes the impact of Communism in relationships and daily lives. The rural setting of Goose Village along with Shuyu, Lin’s wife, deliver symbolism of Old China while the city setting of Muji City along with Manna, Lin’s love interest, provide symbolism of New China. Characters in the book are required to forgo their own individuality and aspirations in order to follow the Party and become what the party wants them to