Red Sorghum (Novel) Literary Elements

Fiction

China at a time when it was at war with Japan

The narrator is in the third person. The narrator is an unnamed grandson of Commander Yu. The view of the narrator is negative towards the war and its effects.

The tone is critical whereas the mood is melancholy. This is because the book describes a war between Japan and China and its adverse effects to the citizens of both countries.

The protagonists are the innocent civilians who were being adversely affected by the on-going war between Japan and China. The antagonists are the war lords that drive on the war, killing innocent civilians and confiscating their property.

The major conflict is the war between Japan and China that caused untold suffering to the people of the two countries.

The climax is arrived at the end of the war.

In the book, Father foreshadowed that Commander Yu would join the Iron Soldiers that were led by the soldier Black eye.

Black eye told Commander Yu regarding his dead wife, ‘A woman like that winding up dead as soon as you get your hands on her.’ Black Eye understated the relationship between the commander and his wife.

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The description of Wang Wenyi’s wound. The narrator describes it as, ‘A dark-blue substance was flowing on his cheek. Father reached out to touch it, hot and sticky, it smelled a lot like the mud of the Black River Water.'

The narrator says that he had learned to love Northeast Gaomi Township with all his heart and to hate it with unbridled fury. The narrator loves and hates the township in equal measure which is paradoxical.

A parallel is drawn between the narrator’s hometown at times of peace and in times of war. During times of peace, it was a beautiful landscape with hardworking decent people and during the war times the place was filled with dead bodies.

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The narrator personifies the moon as he says, ‘A bright round moon climbed in the sky above …’ The moon has been given ability to climb by the narrator.