Effective Use of Fantasy Elements to Create Villains

In the process of character building, mountain authors often have quite unique ways of depicting the psychological life of the characters. The characters appear quite clearly and leave an impression on the readers thanks to their thoughts and psychological developments. Sometimes the character's inner thoughts are revealed through the author's narration. The author has transformed into the character, understood the character's thoughts and expressed that inner life in a subtle and profound way. The desires to live and to love of Pham, of Dau ( the bandit ); the characters Lay, Lin, Di in the novelOn the top of the stormy pass .

Through the description of the character's psychology, Ho Ham appears as a cunning and intelligent person. " Remembering the first time, when crossing May Pass, he could not help but be surprised. Originally a geomancer, the "river shape, mountain shape" of this land made him boil with plans and calculations" [24, p. 11].

In Doan Huu Nam's novels, the art of describing the inner thoughts of the characters is often very easy to see. He is a very subtle writer in the process of describing the emotional states and psychological changes of the characters. Depending on each character as well as expressing different emotional states, the writer uses different ways of describing. Sometimes the writer uses the method of going deep into the psychology of the characters, especially those with unfortunate fates, especially ethnic women in the highlands. They are oppressed by the pressure of the old customs of some backward customs. They always desire a free, happy life, not being dependent, not being pressured by the customary laws and having their own dreams... Through his pen, Doan Huu Nam has described the psychological developments of these people in a realistic way, consistent with the psychology - personality of the people in the highlands.

Trieu Ta San, who proclaimed himself "king" and became the leader of a notorious bandit ringleader.

reputation, causing trouble, struggling all over the area. San is a Dao person, educated, knowledgeable, wise, shrewd, the intention of domination is always present. As an ethnic person

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Native, he understands the Dao people to the core: grasping customs, understanding life, fluent in the language, knowing the way, understanding human feelings. He is proud and complacent about what he has. He suffers because he has not satisfied his role as a hegemon. He is a raging man who gathers, attracts, suppresses, and commits savage crimes to achieve his personal goals. He is a man whose animal side is more evident than his human side when he needs to satisfy his trivial desires. He is also a cunning man who knows how to forget his animal side to plot great things. Trieu Ta San is built in accordance with the realistic background, circumstances, and artistic space of the work, and at the same time is very close to everyday life. This is a typical character that makes up the weight of the novel Tho Phi . The author's deep understanding of culture - history - people combined with the great effort in building the character Trieu Ta San is an important and decisive factor for the work and the world of characters in Tho Phi.

The Chau Party Secretary Long is described in a realistic style with interwoven sections of appearance, personality, and inner life. He is a man with a body "strong and sturdy like a lim or tau tree" , with a talent for singing and playing music that makes many girls fall in love, with a resilient yet profound and thoughtful personality, with a rich inner life, knowing the pain of others, and not losing faith in the goodness of people. Through that, the image of Long emerges as a well-rounded person, a brave soldier, always steadfast in the face of storms, a key factor in the victory of the revolution. It is just a pity that these sections, although complete, have not been paid much attention by the author, so the colors are still a bit pale and not bold.

It seems that all of Doan Huu Nam's efforts were put into the character Trieu Ta San. This person was created by Doan Huu Nam using two biographical and mystical methods. Readers are provided with a complete background of Trieu Ta San from when he was a drop of red blood in his mother's womb until he was

born, to adulthood, to being a bandit until the end of days. You

Reading also knows about a Trieu Ta San who was raised by a tiger, trained in the tiger's hypnosis, has the ability to summon wind and rain, control the underworld soldiers... These two writing styles blend together to create a portrait of a bandit king who is both real and unreal, both strange and clear, both dark and scary, and has a long, naive and foolish look... This is the character that Doan Huu Nam describes most successfully.

However, it is worth mentioning that the author of Tho Thiep has not paid due attention to the language and personality of the characters, meaning that the elements of events, plot, and characters have not been developed according to the character's emotions and thoughts, and the internal monologue for the character to perceive himself and other characters is still limited.

3.2.3. Effective use of fantasy elements to build villainous characters

In his novels, Doan Huu Nam not only incorporates folk legends into his works to accentuate the national color, but the magical element is also used very successfully, contributing significantly to clearly expressing the writer's artistic intention. Researching Doan Huu Nam's novels, many authors also pay attention to the magical and strange elements that the author uses. Suong Nguyet Minh pointed out the strange "jungle" space setting in the novel Tho Phi : " both gloomy, wild, old, worn out, and sparkling, bright, and magically beautiful ..."[4]. That is a special magical space suitable for the world of the bandits. Some authors also affirmed: " The strange and strange elements used in Tho Phi prove to be very suitable to describe a mysterious mountainous space that has long been considered "a sacred ghost and a poisonous water "[4]. Commenting on the novel On the Peak of the Stormy Pass , Pham Duy Nghia also said: “ The use of strangeness is consciously used by Doan Huu Nam, not intuitively or randomly”, “in his artistic world, everything is strange: strange nature creates strange creatures… Strange birth phenomena… Strange diseases …”[4]. However, in character building, especially villains, the element of fantasy and strangeness is used by Doan Huu Nam most successfully.

The element of fantasy appears in literary works as a unique artistic technique, which has a great effect in creating the world of images of the work. It helps the writer exploit different layers of real life or can launch his pen into areas that are considered " sensitive" at times such as religion, sex... to create attraction and fascination for readers. Addison believes that writing in the fantasy trend is to create a kind of pleasure of fear in the reader's mind and satisfy the reader's imagination with the strangeness and unusual nature of the people described in it.

When creating the villain, writer Doan Huu Nam paid special attention to describing the very strange birth of the character. The presence of each character in this world seems to have predicted their personality and fate. That is Chau Po, Trieu Ta San in Tho bandit or Lu Ta in the novel On the top of the stormy pass …

Unlike other creatures who were born after nine months and ten days, Chau Po ( the Bandit ) stubbornly waited until the old and new years changed – when his relatives were restless – to emerge from his mother’s womb. Other newborn babies cried when they were born, but Chau Po smiled as soon as he was born, “ the contemptuous smile of a child born in an unusual way, at an unusual time ”[25]. Such an unusual birth made Chau Po completely different from other children. He had the sharp fangs of a clever animal.

The birth of Trieu Ta San ( the Bandit ) was also very strange: " The day San was about to be born, San's mother accidentally crawled through the haunted forest. Hundreds of hungry ghosts surrounded her and played around. A group of hunters discovered her and brought her home to Chau Doan, but she was still at the prison gate " [25, p. 29]. To escape the hell of the devils, the mother struggled with her last remaining strength to drag herself to

the kingdom of tigers to entrust the child to life. San was born

“ In the kingdom of tigers, being saved by a tiger and fed by its blood, mixed with its blood is the blood of a tiger ” [25, p. 29]. And it is the tiger blood that makes him have the instinct of a ferocious beast, not only having sex with six women like “ a pack of tigers in mating season ” but he also “ always craves raw meat, especially two-legged carnivores that can talk and think ” [25, p. 30]. San has a crazy desire to become king at any cost, despite the fact that heaven and earth are not favorable. On the day of the coronation of King Dao - Trieu Ta San, after he finished praying: “ The sky is full of darkness, black clouds are gathering, in an instant the sun is submerged in a death-colored umbrella. The forest and mountains are as silent as before a funeral, the poisonous air rises up, causing flocks of birds to fly out of their nests and scream, and groups of monkeys and apes to rush out of their caves and howl at the sky. ”[25, p. 48]. This phenomenon seems to foretell an unusual danger that is about to happen. Especially the detail of recreating the scene of the coronation ceremony: “ At the beginning of the ceremony, the basin of water for washing the hands of the teacher and the person receiving the ceremony turned into a basin of blood. During the ceremony, the live chicken, after being cut, had its head in one place and its body in another, still flying around the cave ” [25, p. 49]. When cutting open the goat’s belly for the ceremony, “ a gallbladder as big as a gac fruit stuck to the liver and spleen ” [25, p. 58]. These unusual and strange details are a prediction of a deadly future awaiting the character ahead.

The most haunting fantasy element in the reader is the reincarnation of Lu Ta ( On the top of the stormy pass ). Lu Ta's birth is like a law of cause and effect. " He stayed in his mother's womb for nine, ten, then more than ten months" and "right when the lightning flashed brightly and struck the poplar tree at the top of the village, his mother was startled and released him ." [24, p. 21] As soon as he was born, he found this world very familiar. As soon as he could talk, he " babbled to everyone about who gave birth to him! Where his house was! What was his father like? How did he have to say goodbye to his previous life! " [24, p. 21] His previous life began

started from an unusual marriage between a snoring woman

and her alcoholic husband. Old Van, because of his alcoholism, accidentally killed his innocent son and then lived in a terrifying obsession, when “ every night its spirit still lingered. It was everywhere, sometimes creeping into his sleep, sometimes flickering in the sunlight, sometimes imprinted on the mottled wall …”. Then on moonlit nights, “ the son’s image sometimes appeared and sometimes disappeared, his innocent laughter broke out in the rustling sound of the tattered banana leaves, in the sound of the wind passing through the gable wall ”… hovering and hovering then disappearing when “ the black clouds rolled in, the abyss expanded into a pitch-black hole ” [24, p. 133]. Suffering and regret caused that miserable man to open his arms to take Lu Ta in when his parents died in a storm, hoping to atone for his mistakes. The strange appearance of the boy Lu, like a debt from a previous life, kept haunting the life of the old man Van. He thought that God had blessed him with the boy to atone for his past mistakes that had tormented him all his life, but unfortunately, Lu Ta returned from his previous life to torment the father who had accidentally killed him: “ The boy was like a demon possessed. His body was short and heavy. His two legs were long and skinny like two toothpicks stuck into a potato. His two forearms were covered with hair that reached down to his knees, just like an ape’s. His short, hairy face was proof of his resemblance ” [24, p.134]. In particular, his face was like a legacy that forever haunted the fateful image when the old man threw the pestle, causing his son to roll over and die: “ The two nostrils protruded up like two tunnel doors. On the contrary, the flat bridge of his nose was sunken as if someone had hit it with a pestle. ” [24, p. 134]. It was like a demon haunting his painful life until his death.

Obviously, the use of fantastic details to describe the unusual birth of the villains helps the writer explain the inhuman actions of the characters later. These characters are like monsters that resemble humans, deformed from the animal version - the beast in human form. Chau Po is a bloodthirsty, crazy person who fights against

revolution. Trieu Ta San with his fanatical ambition to become king and establish an autonomous region to rule over a mountainous region - a cannibal who knows no shame. Lu Ta is a ruthless henchman who kills people only to satisfy his carnal instincts. It is the fantasy element that gives readers a deep feeling about the type of villain - the local tyrants and bandits - who represent the dark forces of the mountainous region. The use of fantasy details to describe the villain is a deliberate explanation by Doan Huu Nam for the instinctive nature of the character.

The fantasy element can be strange, mysterious, both real and illusory, one of its characteristics is the imagination, fiction that can stir the aesthetic interest of the reader. But it cannot be simply understood that fantasy is just the supernatural, the impossible, the unrealistic, but more importantly, those things must create a "confusion effect" for those who face it, creating surprise, unusual feelings for the recipient. The birth of bloodthirsty bandits, ruthless killers like Lu Ta, Trieu Ta San or Chau Po has reached that level.

A researcher was right when he said that " what makes Doan Huu Nam's book unique, in the vastness of the past and present revolutionary prose, is that he deliberately made his artistic world strange with strange, sometimes fantastic details and images " [25]. Obviously, compared to the works of To Hoai (with A Phu's Wife ), Nguyen Ngoc (with Dat nuoc dung len, Rung xa nu ) or Ma Van Khang (with Dong bac trang hoa xoe )... all writing about the reality of the struggle against counter-revolutionary forces of ethnic minorities in the mountains, Doan Huu Nam's novel has something new. The use of fantasy elements has helped the writer successfully and impressively build vivid and attractive artistic images, especially the villains, which were quite unfamiliar to literature written about the revolutionary mountains before. This can be considered what makes this Lao Cai writer's novel new and unique in the art of character building, and at the same time

is the author Doan Huu Nam's own contribution to contemporary literature about ethnic groups and mountainous areas.

3.3. Artistic language

Artistic language is mainly used in literary works with the function of building artistic images that affect the reader's emotions, expressing beauty, and arousing and nurturing the reader's aesthetic emotions.

Artistic language plays a particularly important role because it is the only material element in a literary work. Through language, readers can discover many things in the work: the world of images, thoughts, concepts... that the writer conveys in his work. Besides, artistic language contains the whole world that the writer creates from the scenery, people to the plot, structure, theme... In that close relationship, artistic language becomes a way of existence, a way of expressing the content, at the same time it also directly and clearly expresses the style and talent of the writer.

Artistic language is perfected thanks to the writer's talent. Unlike cultural language, artistic language bears the mark and color of each author, reflecting the unique and unrepeatable features of each writer. When writers use artistic language, each person has the ability to express a unique tone and way of handling, creating a creative personality and a unique style.

In his novels, Doan Huu Nam has created a unique style by using rich art of comparison with rich language of images, interspersed with many idioms and folk proverbs in the way of speaking of the mountain people. In particular, the author has been very successful with philosophical but romantic and ethereal writing.

3.3.1. Common use of comparison and figurative language

Although not an ethnic minority, Doan Huu Nam has spent many years living with ethnic minorities in the highlands. At the same time