COMPLETED RADISH READING RESPONSE

 

YEAR 10 INDEPENDENT READING RESPONSE

 

Your name:  Noah Nishihara

Author:        Mo Yan

Title:            Radish (The Transparent Carrot)

 

 

1.         In one or two paragraphs, summarize the plot.

 

2.         Write about one character in two or three paragraphs. Describe the character. Why did you like or dislike this character? How did the author make you admire or dislike the character? How does the author use the character to develop ideas in the narrative?

 

3.         Choose one event in the story. Write two or more paragraphs in which you describe what happens and explain why it is important to the narrative. Explain how the event develops the story’s ideas.

 

4.         In two paragraphs, explain how the author keeps you interested in the book as a whole. Explain the effect of two of his or her techniques. Use specific examples in your explanation.

 

5.         Write a paragraph or two about what you learn about yourself and others from this narrative.

 

6.         Would you recommend this book to other readers? Why/why not?

 

Achievement Standards

1.3 Develop and justify your own interpretations of texts.   This means - you identify and judge the effectiveness of techniques the novelist uses to depict ideas.

 

 

Response toRadish

Mo Yan’s Radish, written in the 1980s, is set in China in the late 1950s, and focuses on a ‘black boy’ who is surrounded by jealousy and violence. The boy, referred to as ‘Hei-hai’ (Black Boy) throughout the book, proves his toughness and also presents readers with dreams and imagination surpassing that capable of all the adult characters in the story.

In the beginning, Hei-hai and the (stone) mason (whose name is not revealed) set out from their village to widen a flood gate. After smashing rocks for the first day, Hei-hai is sent to the forge, where the only job is pumping bellows. He becomes used to the heat of the forge and decides to stay there, despite the smoke and dust. The two blacksmiths, one young, one old, work with him. The young blacksmith grows jealous of the relationship between the mason from Hei-hai’s village and a woman with a crimson bandana (Juzi). The old blacksmith leaves one night without warning. Some days later, the young blacksmith fights with the mason but the result is disastrous for everyone. Juzi loses her right eye due to a lodged stone. The two characters do not return, and the blacksmith becomes depressed. Hei-hai is ordered by him to steal radishes but is caught by an old man and a brigade commander in the fields. He loses all his possessions and simultaneously overcomes all human characteristics; he slips into the field like a fish does into water.

I liked the character. The characterization of Hei-hai makes most readers admire him. His search for that golden radish amidst all the problems that occur in the workplace gives him an aura of ‘specialness’. Hei-hai is a boy aged around ten. He is usually barefoot and stripped to the waist, wearing only shorts. The overall impression readers receive is that he is skinny and has been mistreated. His head is large but his neck is skinny. We as readers feel pity for him. All the adults call him by various names and do not give him any special treatment. As the main character in this story, he shows us his inner sensitivity through his thoughts and imagination.

During his work of pumping bellows at the blacksmith’s forge, his skin becomes the colour of coal. His eyes become even larger on his face than before. The brightness of his eyes is caused by his face being dark. He does not talk at all in this book. The mason tells Juzi that he is very intelligent, and ‘at the age of four or five had been a real chatterbox, his crisp voice, like a bean in a bamboo tube, hardly ever stopped.’ Over time, he must have lost his language. Hei-hai cannot say anything anymore. It reminds us of the author’s name Mo Yan. He has lost not only his speech, but also does not consume much food, does not wear enough clothes and is not affected even slightly by the horrible living conditions. He does not show any form of pain, hunger or feeling. It seems as though he cannot express anything. Having crossed out nearly all of his human characteristics, the author then goes on to give an account of all the things Hei-hai sees and imagines. It is the descriptive passages that reflect his sensitivity the most. The way the author has laid the foundation for the story’s main ideas relating to suffering and sensitivity is through the characterization of Hei-hai.

There is little that any reader could disagree with in terms of Hei-hai. I like him for his toughness. He lives in an old village in China’s north. His step mother is unreliable and uses violence after becoming drunk to release stress. Furthermore, in the cast of characters, there is no one who can see what he sees. For example, the transparent radish is only seen by him. It appears as though he has overcome everything, and this brings him into our eyes as a special character.

My admiration for Hei-hai became most apparent when he begins pumping the bellows. The mysterious people working in the forge, the dust and smoke would make anyone want to run away. Yet he stays and ignores the attempts of kind-hearted people who try to get him to perform ‘easier’ jobs. During my first read, it was definitely the ‘portrayal of the superhuman ability to suffer’ that instilled admiration in me.

The character’s appearancealso causes most people feel pity and admiration. By the middle of the book, ‘his hair had grown wild and was now two inches long, every strand standing up like the spines of a hedgehog.’ When the coordinator of the work, Director Liu lectured to all of the workers, Hei-hai stood with his back facing him, showing his scars ‘like mirrors and lightning bolts’. He is always focused on the inner world he perceives. Throughout the beginning of the book, he suffers for no reason. When he encounters that transparent radish, meaning suddenly enters his life.

A large part of the narrative is occupied by descriptions of other people around him. Nevertheless, Hei-hai is the character that stands out. His actions represent his talk and emotion. Mo Yan portrays a character who does not know pain or suffering, but at times needs to ‘force the tears back down’ using the everyday life at the worksite. What Hei-hai does know is the natural world, which the author describes continuously throughout the book, even when tragic events ensue, showing that nothing stops or changes nature. It goes on regardless of anything. The author only describes the natural world seen by Hei-hai. However, the book is all about exploring things we cannot see. Our focus seems to be on the radish, but in the end, the boy seems to be more important.

The climax of this book could be the fight between the blacksmith and the mason, but it is the appearance of the special radish that makes this book significant. It happened during an evening when the old blacksmith seemed to have realised that he was no longer needed. He had taught the young blacksmith all he needed to know on that day.

The young blacksmith orders Hei-hai to dig up sweet potatoes and pick radishes from the north field. Juzi and the mason come looking for Hei-hai. They wait for him and end up sharing their meal. The young blacksmith bakes the sweet potatoes while Juzi washes the radishes. When Juzi returns, she lays out the radishes on a dry rock. One drops onto the ground, where iron filings coat it up. The mason picks it up and places it on the anvil. When the time comes for them to enjoy their meal, the mason and woman sits against the western wall of the bridge opening. The old blacksmith sits on his bed on the north side. The young blacksmith sits behind Hei-hai, who is working the bellows. Their remaining gas lamp is knocked out by a cricket. The bridge is cast into darkness. Mo Yan describes their eating: ‘Then one bite cold, one bite hot, one bite devoured, one bite savoured- chomp, slurp- beads of sweat on nose tips.’ The cold and devoured must refer to the radish. The old blacksmith does not eat anything. Shortly after, he begins to sing a melancholy song. The mason and Juzi are completely enveloped in his song and mood. However, the young blacksmith is disturbed by their actions, and soon becomes deaf to the song. No one notices ‘a fire being kindled in his gut’ or the ‘flames flying up to his throat and bursting from his nose and mouth.’ He feels ‘as if he is crouching on a taut spring, that if he lets go he will shoot into the air to crash against the floodgate’s steel and concrete surface.’

The others, listening to the song, do not notice Hei-hai trying to split his gaze into two. (One eye for the blue tongue of fire, and the other on the yellow) He looks away, after failing, and ‘For the first time, his mouth opens wide, and he releases a sigh of emotion.’ This is not heard due to the song in the background.

The reason for this is the transparent radish. The only visible light is a soft blue-green colour, possibly from the forge fire. ‘In shape and size it was like a pear, though it had a long tail, every fibre of which was a strand of golden wool.’ A swirling silvery liquid can be seen inside. Just as Hei-hai reaches out for it, the young blacksmith races up and kicks a water bucket, wetting the bed of the old blacksmith. He shouts at Hei-hai, and is about to take a bite of the radish, when Hei-hai somehow, ‘with a rare show of speed’, makes the radish fall on the ground. In the end, Hei-hai sees an arc like a golden rainbow before fainting.

This event proves the ability of Hei-hai to see things others cannot. ‘What makes you think you can eat a radish?’ says the young blacksmith. To them, a radish is just something to be eaten. Also, the colour is wonderfully described. ‘Golden rays spread out from its beautiful curves, some long, some short- the long rays like beards of wheat, the short like eyelashes- and all were gold in colour.’ We do not see colour in the exact same way as someone else might. It is something we remember for ourselves. Similarly, this is an event intended for and noticed by Hei-hai. It is a short moment, almost non-existent. As a consequence of it ending abruptly, this event gives us the opportunity to think about what might have happened if Hei-hai had picked it off the anvil. Would there have been disappointment? Mo Yan leaves readers to use their own imagination by giving only the bare minimum of a representation.

For example, several days before this event, the old blacksmith sings a line of a song, and then stops, showing that he has swallowed ‘the melody’s last mournful strains.’ This stopped the mason from fighting the young blacksmith in the beginning.

As a result of having us see the boy’s dreams shatter, we will further acknowledge how greatly different the perspective of adults are from children. The adults ignore the lives of children. ‘I’ll beat the shit out of you,’ they say. Drawing our attention onto the boy, through his perception of natural surroundings and the society around him is the aim of this book. Yet, the real idea is the existence of a multitude of possibilities in our world. Hei-hai’s fate was decided by others; he had to do his best to survive. Thus, this event proves that we can never completely decide our own fate. When Juzi pulls him away from the forge, he bites her. Why? In order to choose his path of life for himself. Because of this action, we notice that he always hesitates before obeying orders. That short period of time gives him the opportunity to think and decide for himself. On occasion, he may have been ordered something he doesn’t want to do. He still carries out the order, even at great physical cost. Lose words is all we can do as readers.

We could interpret the golden radish as representing worlds without any of the features of 1950s-1970s China. It may represent 1980s China, when real change happens and life is better for most people.

Descriptive passages are situated in between major events. They describe both Hei-hai and the scene he is looking at. ‘As the boy’s thoughts wandered, the purple and green leaves turned into autumn well water, and then the jute became water, while sparrows skimming the tips of the jute plants were transformed into green kingfishers snapping up tiny shrimp from the water’s surface.’ Hei-hai may see the world differently to the way we see it. ‘Now wading, he sloshed after his bucket… felt to him as if a school of tiny fish had encircled his legs, and began nibbling gently.’ As he stands somewhere, he forgets what he is doing, and transitions into another world, more often from the past. Mo Yan takes us into his thoughts seamlessly. ‘The sound of grasshoppers rubbing legs against forewings was like a train crossing an iron bridge.’ Then he goes onto the topic of trains, ‘the train had just stood up in his dream when he was awakened by a swat from his stepmother’s hearth broom. Apparently the swat doesn’t hurt; instead, the sound intrigues him, ‘like someone far away clubbing a jute sack filled with cotton.’ Afterwards, there is no better way to show us the courage and determination he has than to get him dropping into the river in order to retrieve a bucket. Two shouts of his name bring Hei-hai back into the story. These

‘Hei-hai!’

‘Hei-hai!’

-passages are seen in various other scenes, where they may reinforce the fact that there are people who still care for his wellbeing and existence. Descriptive passages after disturbing events only reflect it slightly. Therefore, no matter what the mood of the previous passage may have been, the descriptions are always neutral.

Personification of ducks and other things work to remind readers that elements of nature are living, and that we live right next to them. ‘In the early morning hours, the mist covered the valley; the river sobbed beneath it. Early rising ducks on the riverbank stared mournfully at the rolling mist … waddled impatiently… quacking its displeasure… the ducks saw an old man following the river westward.’ ‘A drake passed a meaningful look to the female next to it: Remember? It was him that time. The bucket bounced into a willow tree… The female replied, Too bad it didn’t kill him… [Hei-hai] could hear ducks quack-quacking noisily on the opposite bank.’ He watches ‘the sun cleave the mist like a knife through bean curd.’ All of this follows his encounter of that radish, and is perfectly logical. When he goes to steal radishes for the second time, ‘He could see the radishes through the jute stalks. Great numbers of red eyes looked back at him from the field, and the tassels were transformed into black hair that fluttered like bird feathers.’ By writing about nature in this way, Mo Yan succeeds in bringing it to life in our minds and imagination. This is done in a simple and concise manner, ensuring that our interest is maintained. ‘Voices swept over the tips of jute plants like gliding swallows; the house swallows skimming after grey moths flew off in fright, and did not land for a long while.’ ‘The jute leaves were like a flock of golden sparrows in an aerial dance.’ ‘Their voices grew softer, like fish blowing bubbles on the surface.’ An even more widely used technique, similes take his descriptions to a new level. It enables us to gain more material to work with in our brains. In other words, the digestion of words by the readers is aided. There is a certain ‘Chinese-feel’ to his similes and they combine well with the plot in portraying the nature and lifestyle of that time and place.

I have realised that authors must have something original and different to other authors. Mo Yan explores and reveals things embedded in our lives. In order to truly improve ourselves, we must return to our own heart, he tells us. We must find the key, it may be a secret or it may be nature, or anything. In the end, as Hei-hai ‘slips into the jute field’, he probably truly becomes himself. He finds his self. At some point in our lives, we will have to ‘return to nature’ in order to find something special such as the golden transparent radish. In our lives, there will be many things we seek for, but many of those will never be found.

This story shows how it is better to not think about others (Hei-hai’s ignorance); to not imagine what others are like rather than thinking about others (the young blacksmith’s actions). His jealousy and discriminatory behaviour could be seen in almost all of the characters. Chinese literature translated into English or even English texts depicting Chinese life normally include many characters which treat children harshly or do things unfairly. From these characters, we may be able to gain an insight into life in the past. The workings of society, the history, and the traditional customs all have something to reveal. In this book, Hei-hai merely adapted to his environment. He found a way to live on by finding a hope. This hope came in the form of the transparent radish. Many of the readers of this book do not live under such harsh circumstances and therefore will not truly relate to this boy in a direct way. Radishes and the many other nouns used in the book are all closely related to Chinese life. Consequently, it is easier to develop one’s own understanding of what this account attempts to depict.

This story is based on Mo Yan’s personal experience. He thinks that this book is: ‘more symbolic and more profoundly meaningful than any other story I’ve written.’ But this account of his personal experience of working the bellows for a blacksmith at a bridge worksite is still ‘fictional and imaginative’. For anyone thinking of reading his books, Radish would be a good book to read first.

Noah Nishihara Home Group T09