READERS GUIDE

The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your group’s reading of Ha Jin’s debut collection of short fiction, Ocean of Words.

Introduction

The central characters in the stories of Ocean of Words are men serving in the People’s Army on the northern border with Russia in the 1970s, as China and Russia are poised for war. Whether dealing with personal crises or guarding Russian prisoners, mediating conflicts with local villagers or trying to find a little solitude, Ha Jin’s soldiers are always clearly drawn, giving us a very real glimpse into what is, for most Americans, an unimaginable world.

Reminiscent of Chekhov and of Hemingway in their luminous realism, these stories compose an unforgettable volume, often poignant, often funny, always true to life.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Ha Jin has said, "I do believe in universals. I believe literature works on similarities, not differences" [Atlanta Journal]. The characters in these stories are soldiers and officers in a world to which American readers have had almost no access. How does Ha Jin manage to make you intimate with, and sympathetic to, their concerns and dilemmas? What is universal about these characters, and what, if anything, do you find difficult to identify with?

2. In the story "Dragon Head," the militia sings a song based on a quotation from Mao Tse-tung: "A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained, and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another" [p. 53]. The activities Mao mentioned are ones we would associate with leisure and with culture, both of which are highly prized in American life. Would you consider a class revolution, such as the one Mao tried to create, at all possible in the United States? Can you imagine Americans engaging in the political study sessions and self-criticisms that characters are involved with in Ha Jin’s work? What do people do for fun and relaxation in these stories, since activities like reading and painting solely for personal pleasure are forbidden?

3. What techniques does Ha Jin use to reveal the inner lives of his characters? How does his use of narrative voice and point of view create a sense of variety and affect your response to various stories?

4. Though it is always purely speculative to identify a work of fiction as autobiographical, would you say that Ocean of Words has the feeling of something that actually happened to its author? What do you find most moving about this story? Why has Ha Jin positioned it as the final story of the collection?

About this Author

Ha Jin was born in 1956 in Liaoning Province in northern China. For six years, beginning at age 14, he served in the People’s Liberation Army. After his army service ended, he taught himself English while working the night shift as a railroad telegrapher. In 1977, when colleges reopened after the Cultural Revolution, he passed the entrance exams and was assigned to study English, although this was his last choice for a major. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Chinese universities, and came to the United States in 1985 to do graduate work at Brandeis University, supporting himself as a busboy in a Chinese restaurant and as a night watchman in a factory. After the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 he decided that, as a writer, he could not return to China. In 1993 he earned a Ph.D. in English from Brandeis. He has published two collections of poetry, Between Silences (1990) and Facing Shadows (1996), and two collections of short fiction, Ocean of Words (1996), which received the PEN/ Hemingway award, and Under the Red Flag (1997), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award. A novella, In the Pond, appeared in 1998. His novel Waiting won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1999. Ha Jin is a professor of English and writing at Emory University in Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and son.