Jia (Home): A Novel by Ba Jin

BA JIN’S NOVEL JIA
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Ba Jin’s Novel Jia
The famous novel Jia was written by a Chinese author and a political activist, Ba Jin. The semi-autobiographical novel chronicles intergenerational conflict between modernists and traditionalists in the city of Chengdu. The story featured in the novel involves the journey of a young girl who leaves in an oppressive life in North Korea but is determined to seek freedom in China. The main theme of the story is to show the plight of the girl as she tries to survive and lead a good life. She is sold as a slave, work odd jobs to make ends meet, travel using fake documents for fear of punishment from authorities, becomes vulnerable to soldiers among other ordeals she encountered. The author portrays her terrible life to tell the story of society and how good people watch on as others are mistreated by others and the authorities. Though the story is saddening, it ends with a ray of hope when Jia is bought by a businessman who doesn’t mistreat her and helps her start a settled life.
The style of writing is blend of narrative and descriptive. Jia narrates her life from the prison camp to living with a rich businessman who bought her. The entire novel is a chronological account of her life described in first person to make the reader personalize her story. The novel is also very descriptive. Narrative style of writing also necessitates the author to be descriptive to give the reader a vivid picture of the events in her life and or the environment. The author desc...