The world of art in Vi Hong's novels

Bright colors are like musical notes that embellish the lives of the people of Viet Bac. It becomes a source of motivation to help them overcome the harsh challenges of the mountains and forests to build rich and beautiful villages.

2.2.1.2. Social context.

The social context includes the lives of different classes of people and the relationships between individuals and generations. Sometimes it is local customs and laws, sometimes it is the changes and disturbances of human life in the events of history, of the times, of the country. However, the way in which human life and society enter the field of view of this or that writer largely depends on their sense of reality.

In Vi Hong's novels, the social space of the mountainous region appears with both dark and light tones, both suffocating, cramped, and melancholy, and also colorful and bustling with sounds.

a. The social space is stuffy and dark.

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Under the rule of feudal colonialists and mountain lords, the lives of the poor were extremely miserable.

The place Thin Toc in the novel Falling Rock Valley was originally a rich and fertile land. The peaceful life of the people here suddenly changed due to the appearance of " a Western outpost in a remote and mysterious valley ". That appearance seemed to predict bad things that would happen. Indeed, after a while, " the Westerners robbed the fields to build outposts and training grounds ". The lives of the people here depended only on their fields to feed their families, but: " they robbed more and more fields to build a bigger outpost ". They forced the people to lose their fields and become poor.

Reading the novel Flat Land, readers cannot forget a painful scene. That is the scene of young men and women coming to help harvest the fields where " Dang's mother and son spent a whole month cutting down trees, and months of sowing rice to get a grain of rice ". Yet, General Nhu thought: "This is a communist field, you are communists " and so he

brought soldiers to burn and destroy: " The soldiers used their guns to push each person away... The soldiers tried their best to pile firewood and torches into the two rice huts. They lit the fire, the fire met the dry torches, and under the midday sun, it burned as fast as oil ". Pleading was not successful, indignant, more than twenty young men stood in a fence around to put out the fire. Each time they whipped the fire, they cursed: " You are cruel, brutal, you must die ". Unable to do anything, Tong Nhu pulled out his gun and shot a young man to death, and Dang was pressed against his forehead by him, blood flowing everywhere, Dang fainted. He loudly declared: " Whoever dares to harvest this half-harvested rice field, I will shoot him to death like that guy. The remaining rice belongs to me, to the Western officer of Nam Cap garrison ". They blatantly robbed, killed innocent people, pushed them to the brink of death, with no way out.

Robbing fields and invading land was not enough, they also tried to exploit natural resources to get rich: " The Northern Tin Company was established. The small town of Thin Toc suddenly became crowded, crowded with all kinds of people, all classes of people... They did all kinds of jobs: working as coolies, as creditors, doing business, running shops, restaurants ...". No longer a peaceful and quiet space, Thin Toc ( Drake Valley ) became stuffy and suffocating. Losing their land, in order to survive, people were forced to work as coolies for the French colonialists. They exploited the people extremely cruelly. The coolies in the Thin Toc mine had to: " carry rocks every day... fresh blood oozed from their toes and hands because of the water to eat ". The work was so hard but they paid extremely cheap wages: " people from the highlands paid thirty-four cents a day... people from the lowlands were only paid twenty-five cents by their owners ". Even so, the people still had to work, they "carried rocks until their heads were bald ". Not only that, they were also brutally beaten, creating terrible obsessions that people still remember after several decades. When Mr. Doi was 98 years old, " in his dreams, Doi saw himself suddenly becoming a decrepit old man, and suddenly he saw the warden beating him ."

The French colonialists invaded, they exploited the labor of the people until they died. Bo Lot is an example: “ O Pong forced Bo Lot to cut horse grass every day. After a few days, when he had scraped his pipe and could no longer even smoke, Bo Lot lay there groaning, tears and snot running like catfish or catfish slime. But O Pong

Thinking that Lot's father was pretending, he beat him and pushed him to cut horse grass. The next day, Lot's father really died . Not only that, they captured many beautiful girls to satisfy their animalistic desires: " O Pong had up to twenty wives. The beautiful young wives were from all ethnic groups, but most of them were poor and beautiful girls from the lowlands ." The lives of the Muong people were terribly disrupted by " up to eight casinos, more than a dozen opium dens and brothels, and there were many opium dens ." Thin Toc suddenly became an urbanized area with tempting games, causing countless families to break up and many fates to change.

Along with the colonialists were the feudal lackeys, who helped harm many innocent people, especially those who participated in revolutionary activities. Chau Doan Pang in Thang Nam Biet Noi was a cruel and brutal lackey. Before the revolution, Chau Doan Pang killed many revolutionaries, including Mr. Hoang and Hoang's father. Because of greed, " he killed people to get gold and silver or to report to the Westerners to receive rewards ". Although he was a reactionary, he was good at covering up, so after the revolution, he still lived a decent life in the village. Not only that, he was still made an official and continued to harm innocent people. Innocent people like Hoang were always threatened, they even plotted to kill him because they feared that such wise people would be a disaster for ignorant and dirty people like him: " The evil old man discussed how to kill Hoang with a poisonous plant! People said that Hoang was the son of the peacock and the cuckoo. That is, he was both handsome and talented beyond his years. If Hoang were to live, they would become ignorant and stupid . Because of jealousy, they thought: “ If we let the cuckoos spread their feathers and dance the celestial dance, who will look at the cuckoos and quails and who will even turn their eyes ?” It is truly terrifying when a society whose leaders are ignorant and incompetent wants to kill all the wise people with the sole purpose of leaving no one better than themselves. That is why the village only has people like Mrs. Teo or Thim’s family left: “ Studying almost all the time from childhood until becoming a girl, but not knowing a single word! Write the numbers

"twenty-one becomes twelve !", "counting too loudly makes a big mistake ." The already dark village became even darker.

Like Chau Doan Pang, Doac in the novel Entering the Cave has crushed talented people, robbed countless generations of girls, and made countless people suffer. Even his wife and daughters were turned into objects sacrificed to his path to fame. Cruelty and meanness are the nature of people like Doac. Those people have contributed to making society dark and suffocating, and people have fallen into extreme poverty, no less than under the yoke of French colonialism.

The names of the “landlords”, the people who hold power in the mountainous areas, are ignorant, mean, greedy, selfish and extremely cruel, and have appeared again and again in Vi Hong’s works. Besides Chau Doan Pang in Thang nam biet noi , Doac in Entering the cave , there are also Chap Cha in the novel “ Real husband, fake wife” , La Dam Dong in Doa day … are all people like that.

Not only the cruel, greedy and ignorant colonial lords made the lives of the poor people miserable, but also the backward customs also contributed to making society suffocating and dark, causing many poor people to suffer. Those were the customs of chicken ghosts, forced marriages, superstitions... Dang Trong Vai Dang was a victim of those customs. Because of the reputation of having chicken ghosts, Dang's whole family had to leave the village and wander everywhere in poverty. Dang's father also had to jump into Ru Rang to die, Dang's mother was also so miserable that she was absent-minded like a mad person. As for Dang, she was forced to marry Tong Nhu and was finally tied to a raft and set adrift on the river. How much bitterness came to Dang's life just because of that custom. Sharing the same fate were Thu La and Mi Trang ( Bioc Loong flower season ), they could not find their happiness, even had to seek death like Thu Luong. It is also the superstitious customs that caused Quynh The (Doa day ) - a beautiful girl like a fairy - to die unjustly. And there are countless young men and women who, because of the superstitious custom of forcing marriage, had to seek the clear river water to entrust themselves to the river god and the dragon. If they do not seek death, they will have to carry the pain for the rest of their lives like Mrs. Xiem and Miss Thu.

Drilling in River of Tears or Hoang in Talking Years ... Their lives after those forced marriage customs were an ocean of suffering and a river of tears.

In the mountainous society before the revolution, Western officials, landowners and ancient customs were the causes of the stifling darkness of society, and countless lives fell into tragedy. When the revolution succeeded, the light of culture came to people, thinking that their lives would change, and society would be better. But no, in the new society, there appeared narrow-minded, selfish, cruel, ruthless people in power and corrupt, degenerate intellectuals. These people also contributed to making society terrifying for the poor. To advance in their positions and satisfy their desires, they continuously set traps to deceive honest and simple people, pushing them to death or to a dead end.

Ba in the novel The Man in the Tube is such a person. “ Cheating teachers, betraying friends ” are heinous crimes that Ba cleverly committed, then climbed to the top of the ladder of fame.

Hi in the novel The Reverse Guy is a PhD - a lecturer at a university who is incompetent and cowardly. Hi cannot advance by his own talent but by deception. To get love, Hi deceived Di, to get a research topic on Khau Mooc peak, Hi deceived his father-in-law. To his superiors, Hi is sycophantic and obsequious, but when given the opportunity, he immediately betrays and takes the position he dreamed of by a very despicable way.

Principal Duong is also such a person. He is degenerate, incompetent, treacherous, greedy, selfish and extremely cruel. As long as society has intellectuals like that, there will still be pain. Perhaps that is what Vi Hong wants to convey to the next generation, along with the desire to destroy evil, destroy the incompetent and treacherous people, and build a better life.

Besides the corrupt intellectuals, the people in power in Vi Hong's works are also extremely cruel and inhumane. They cause so much suffering to the innocent people. Doac, Oac ( Into

hang ), Chap Cha ( Real husband, fake wife ), Tong Voi, Tong Nhu ( Vai Dang )... are such vile and despicable people.

Doac would not hesitate to use any means to deceive women to satisfy his lust, deceive the villagers for money, harm others to advance in his career, kill people, and even his own relatives. Following Doac was Oac - Doac's son, he was " more talented than Doac's father, more brazen and more perverted ". He was a thief, but whenever anyone suspected him, he would immediately put them in prison. If they were girls, he would let Oac play with them. Women and girls were afraid, honest people " frowned, gritted their teeth, and were angry ". Doac and Oac were the direct cause of all the suffering of honest people in Pac Nam land.

Taking advantage of power to seize women and girls, harming innocent people is the nature of those in power in Vi Hong's novels. Chap Cha ( Real Husband, Fake Wife) seized Thu Lu, stole Rang Xao's wife, deceived Thieo Si, and not only that, he also wanted To Ngan - Rang Xao's younger sister. From vice president, he wanted to climb to the position of president. Without hesitation, he killed Thieo Si, then blamed the old president. Chap Cha's evil deeds made the village extremely scared and resentful.

With a delicate and skillful descriptive style, with deep sympathy for the lives of the ethnic minorities in the mountains, Vi Hong has sketched out the dark and gloomy social space of the mountains under the domination of colonialists and feudalists, of backward customs and even the treacherous and brutal tricks of those disguised as intellectuals and those in positions of power who bully and harm innocent people. Those life paintings are a voice denouncing the crimes of colonialists and feudalists, criticizing backward customs and deeply sympathizing with the poor and miserable lives of the people, at the same time reviving a dark, suffocating society with no way out.

b. Bright social space:

* Space of unique and attractive customs and practices

Vi Hong is very sensitive to the familiar yet unique scenes and customs of his homeland. From these unique scenes, Vi Hong both truly reflects the material and spiritual life of his people and also expresses the broader social life.

Like other ethnic groups, the Tay ethnic group has many beautiful customs and practices with strange appeal. These are the Long Tong festival (going down to the fields festival) of Muong Khoang Dong, the new rice celebration night of Din Phieng village, the 49th birthday celebration of Muong Nam Thoong and Nam Cap, the fateful swallow release ceremony of Muong Na Lan, the oath-taking ceremony under the moon, the death anniversary ceremony, the grave-lying ceremony...

Muong Khoang Dong ( Bioc Loong flower season ) is a large land, where there is a famous prosperous and peaceful life. The reason for such a prosperous life is because the people here are hard-working. They clear the fields to grow crops, bring water to the fields. Once a year, they go together to " go to the fields " to sow and harvest. But not every year there is a festival, but " usually every 3 or 4 years there is a big organization lasting 3 days ". That festival has attracted many people, especially young men and women: " People from other Muongs in the East, West, South, North flock to. As many white clouds as blue clouds in the sky, there are as many young men and women on the ground ". Young men and women come to the Long Tong festival: " Faces bright as mirrors, eyes sparkling like nightingale eyes, lips red like Ma flower petals, like ripe jujubes ". Looking at the beautiful faces like flowers, tourists seem not to want to leave.

In that festival, boys and girls throw cones and brilliant circles into the sky: “ The cones go in search of the brilliant five-colored circles like a small, shining disc that seems to be lost in the clouds ”. And so on, “ the cones quickly slip out of the whirlpools of the jade arms and find their way to the hands of the boys... The remaining cones whirl as if giving birth to storms or tempests, suddenly breaking free from the strong arms and finding their way to the chests of the people they love to send and land on ”. Thus, they come to the Long Tong festival to find their lovers. They throw cones to each other and send their love.

in those colorful cones. Those cones were thrown very high, “ the love cones of the brothers and sisters at the beginning competed to fly up to greet the high, windy blue sky or to kiss and cling to the clouds filled with love at the back of the sky ”. But then it fell right on the boy or girl they had feelings for. The cones were bridges connecting love so that after that festival they would find each other, fall in love and build happiness together. That is why the festival not only brings the joyful and exciting atmosphere of the field trip but is also a place for dating and falling in love.

Besides the game of throwing con, Long Tong festival, there are many other games: "There is a chess board, each chess piece has a beautiful girl sitting at its feet. Someone holds a chair for the girls every time the chess piece moves... In another corner of the field, middle-aged women holding big sugar canes are beating the mac cau balls" . But perhaps the most fun is the duck catching game: " People release dozens of ducks into the vast abyss. Whoever catches it gets the whole duck to take home to slaughter or raise, depending on their wishes. Whoever catches a duck is rewarded with an amount of money equal to another duck. Thus, catching one becomes two. Whoever is skillful and talented can catch all ten ducks ". There are many people coming to cheer, children and adults cheering, making the atmosphere bustling. In the Long Tong festival of Khoang Dong village, there is also a ceremony to invite Nang Hai (Moon Lady). Before entering the festival, there is a gliding competition between two people who have long been good at gliding. Their sweet, sometimes deep, sometimes high, enchanted many souls. Closing the book, we seem to still feel the echoes of the joyful and bustling festival, and the thrill of witnessing the throwing of balls, catching ducks, and the soft, melodious sounds of their gliding.

The beauty of ethnic minorities is radiated from the vibrant atmosphere of the cultural space - the space of the festival. Readers seem to live with the strange customs of ethnic minorities. The festival night to celebrate the new rice of Din Phieng village (Dat Bang ) has many people singing and dancing. Singing and dancing. The dance and singing combined with the sound of gongs, drums, flutes and clapping of the cheering people create a bustling atmosphere.

The world of art in Vi Hong's novels - 9

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