Waiting Ha Jin Analysis

In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers are swept into a tragic storyline with revenge, luck and thwarted love. They are challenged with many powerful obstacles in their relationship including their families not approving of each other, Romeo being exiled from Verona and Juliet being engaged to Paris to marry. These obstacles ultimately result in death of the Romeo and Juliet and the death of their relationship. Similarly, in Waiting, Ha Jin explores the many obstacles that stifle and eventually will end the many relations in the novel. In Ha Jin’s novel, Waiting, he illustrates thwarted love to show how when there are many obstacles in a relationship, in fact there is no real relationship at all.
Ha Jin shows that …show more content…
Lin is finally realizing what has made Manna experience so much pain, which was waiting for Lin for so many years, the narrator says, “Perhaps it was the suffering and despondency she had experienced in the long waiting hat had dissolved her gentle nature, worn away her hopes, ruined her health, poisoned her heart, and doomed her” (296). The narrator is expressing Lin’s thoughts as he is thinking about what happened to Manna. Manna is suffering a great deal from this relationship because she has had to wait such a long time. Her emotions are painful, and suffering from depressing and sadness. Throughout their relationship, Manna only turned worse, with her health decreasing, not looking like it would become better any time soon. Manna is obviously hurt by waiting when she thought they would be married years ago. It shows how such harsh feelings can sever a relationship so much. Furthermore, Ha Jin shows how so many obstacles can result in a flunking relationship. Right after Lin and Manna were married, Lin started to get weaker and weaker from everything they had been doing, he realized he was too old for a young women like Manna as the narrator says, “Indeed his eyes had sunk deeper and seemed larger. His face was pallid, and more white hair appeared at his temples and crown. The gray strands gave him a sense of finality” (248). Once Manna and Lin were finally married, Lin was already considered old, and he was going down hill fast. His relationship with Manna caused him so much stress, and hardship he started seeing changes in himself and not good changes. His relations with Manna only made him older, and he could tell with the white hairs appearing on his head, and he knew exactly what was giving him all this change and trouble. His emotions and love for