A Study Guide for Ha Jin's "Waiting"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Ha Jin's "Waiting," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jun 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535842242

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Waiting

Ha Jin

1999

Introduction

Waiting (1999) is a novel written in English by Ha Jin, a Chinese author who as of 2006 was teaching creative writing at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. The book is based on a true story that Jin heard from his wife when they were visiting her family at an army hospital in China. At the hospital was an army doctor who had waited eighteen years to get a divorce so he could marry his long-time friend, a nurse. But now his second marriage was not working. Jin thought that this situation would make a good plot for a novel, and he began working on Waiting in 1994.

The plot revolves around the fortunes of three people: Lin Kong, the army doctor; his wife Shuyu, whom he has never loved; and his girlfriend at the hospital where he works, the nurse Manna Wu. Beginning in 1963 and stretching over a twenty-year period, Waiting is set against the background of a changing Chinese society. It contrasts city and country life and shows the restrictions on individual freedoms that are a routine part of life under communism. But Waiting is primarily a novel of character. It presents an in-depth portrait of a decent but deeply flawed man, Lin Kong, whose life is spoiled by his inability to experience strong emotions and to love wholeheartedly.

Despite Faulkner's roots in the South, he readily condemns many aspects of its history and heritage in Absalom, Absalom!. He reveals the unsavory side of southern morals and ethics, including slavery. The novel explores the relationship between modern humanity and the past, examining how past events affect modern decisions and to what extent modern people are responsible for the past.

Author Biography

Ha Jin was born on February 21, 1956, in a small rural town in Liaoning province, China, the son of Danlin and Yuanfen Jin. His father was an army officer. In 1969, when Jin was fourteen, he volunteered to serve in the Chinese Army, stationed at the northeastern border between China and the Soviet Union. The minimum age for enlistment was sixteen, but Jin lied about his age because he wanted to leave home. This was during the time of upheaval in China known as the Cultural Revolution; the schools were closed so there was nothing for Jin to do in his hometown. He found army life quite exciting at first, since tensions between China and the Soviet Union were high and there were rumors of an impending Russian attack.

Jin remained in the army until 1975. After leaving the army, he wanted to go to college, but they were still closed. So he worked for three years as a telegrapher at a railroad company in Jiamusi, in northeast China. During this time, he began to learn English, listening to an English study program on the radio.

In 1977, when colleges reopened, Jin passed the entrance exam and enrolled at Heilongjiang University in Harbin. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1981 and then studied American literature at Shandong University, where he received a Master of Arts