Top 10 best essays analyzing the mood and actions of Me on the night of saving A Phu in “A Phu couple” (grade 12)

With the short story A Phu couple, writer To Hoai has been very successful in choosing and reflecting the life of the mountainous people in a true and profound way. To Hoai’s step forward was to direct people to the light of the revolution after having freed himself from the grip of the harsh and brutal feudalism. They voluntarily and voluntarily attached their lives to the revolution and returned to liberate others. The evolution of the mood and actions of the character Mi on the night of liberating A Phu from Hong Ngai is a vivid, convincing and humane proof.

To Hoai has built a suitable and meaningful space to create favorable conditions for the character to act. It made for a “long and sad” winter night when A Phu was tied to the stake of fate and was in a near-death state. Every night, as usual, I get up early to warm up the fire, talk, and share my feelings with the fire. Through the light of the kitchen fire, seeing A Fu’s eyes glaring, he knew he was still alive. It’s still the same these few nights, I still casually blow fire to my hands “if A Phu is a corpse standing there, that’s okay”. I am indifferent to others, cold to the fate of fellow human beings, indifferent to human suffering.

Because, the story of a person tied up is a familiar, very normal thing for this family. I myself have been a victim of that cruel and inhuman reality. I am soaked in the suffering of that torture. Moreover, the pain of my life is too great, like a heavy mountain. I no longer have the ability to care and pay attention to other people. I fell back into a state of coldness, indifference, indifference.

Then, another late night came, I got up to blow the fire and warm my hand. The fire flickered and lit up, “I squinted my eyes and saw that A Phu’s eyes had just opened, a stream of sparkling tears crawled down the darkened cheeks.” These are rare tears of a brave, energetic and special man who has never cried. It is a stream of tears of sorrow, sending many messages, It both expresses despair, and urgently begs and pleads for help. And indeed, A Phu’s tears provoked the pain of the previous year, when Mi was tied “many times crying, tears running down her mouth, down her neck, unable to wipe them”. It reminds me of a tragic story about the death of a thin woman in the past. It awakens in me very new thoughts and perceptions that I have never had before.

Now, through the tears of others, I recognize more clearly the cruelty and violence committed by the family members of the great family of ruler Pa Tra. I recognize more clearly the cruelty and violence committed by the family members of the great family of governor Pa Tra. With all the pain and sympathy, pity for the victims who are suffering outside, I conclude: They are cruel. I also see that death is near in the people of A Phu “at this rate, only tomorrow night will the other person die, die painfully, starve, die of cold, have to die”. I want to save A Phu, free the unfortunate, but then I’m obsessed with death in lieu of people “who knows, A Phu could not have escaped, then Pa Tra’s father and son will say that I untie him, I I had to tie it instead, I had to die on that stake.” Thinking like that, I became scared, shivering…

And then, the love of people woke up, I forgot myself again (like in the past I forgot myself to save my father from the debt crisis at the governor’s house). She bravely: “draws a small knife to cut rice, cut knots of rattan ropes”, freeing A Phu from the scythe of death. This is a sacred moment, a beautiful moment of my life (twice shining in my life: obeying to save my father, spontaneously saving A Phu). That beautiful act emerges from compassion and love for fellow human beings. As the high promotion of “skills to show sympathy”, in Me awakens the sense of not only living for myself but also for others. This is truly a noble and humane man.

When A Phu was liberated, leaving only Me and the darkness, she “stands still in the dark”. Between the thin line between life and death, I woke up to realize that I was in an extremely difficult situation. I urged A Phu to “go now…”, and I was also quick to “run away”. Because I know that “here, you will die”. I rushed away, caught up with A Phu, said in a hurry, “A Phu let me go” and was agreed by A Phu: “come with me”. My move simply shows one thing that I want to live, to exist, to be myself even though I don’t know what life will be like in the future, or more simply, can I escape from Hong Ngai or not. .

Now, I courageously overcome the mysterious force of theocracy (the ghost of the governor), forgetting the power of power (the domination of the father and son of the governor, Pa Tra). She forcefully broke herself out of the “prison”, of miserable humiliation. The two help each other through the darkness, trying to cross the line between life and death. They are facing forward. On the other side is the world of freedom, of a bright, glorious tomorrow. Although there are many hardships and challenges, freedom, love and happiness will come, the bright horizon of life, the rose light of dawn. Phien Sa, a new land, new life. Here, their efforts and wishes were not spared. Both became elites of the revolution and quickly spearheaded the guerrilla movement.

To Hoai did not paint or idealize the character in this situation. The writer lets the character act naturally and tries to understand and explain it. The character Mi lives and acts with her own vitality. She dares to accept adversity, overcome it to win and assert herself. Because of that, I lived a life of poverty, but my body and body were not exhausted, hunched down like a poor doomed sister-in-law. I was despised and despised all my life, but I did not let my fate disappear like the dead bride-to-be in the past. I’m still Me, “crossing extremes to Thai hybrids”. I exist, dare to face adversity and triumph, master my life. That was the greatest success of writer To Hoai when he built the image of a new man, a man of the revolutionary era, enlightened to lead them to the future with their own inherent strength.

To Hoai is a great writer, a great author of Vietnamese literature with a wealth of massive works covering many different genres from short stories, novels, long stories, memoirs, essays, plays. For more than 60 years of writing and working hard and fighting, To Hoai deserves to be honored as one of the typical authors who have made great contributions to the breakthrough and development of literature. modern. For To Hoai, “Writing is a process of struggling to speak the truth. If it’s true, it’s not trivial, even if you have to break the idols in the hearts of readers”, so he is a very respectful person who writes everything he likes to explore, discover, like to write true things in his life. in fact, what he had experienced, known. It is because of that meticulous and diligent composing style that adapting to the conditions of each different land also becomes easier for To Hoai, and also forms in the author’s soul trends. new creations.

Typically, the topic of the Northwest and the people here, it must be said that it is not easy for a lowland author to write such mountainous-style words. But with To Hoai, it is different, besides Hanoi, the dear land that has gone deep into flesh and blood, perhaps the Northwest is the land that he is most passionate about, saying as Che Lan Vien is, “When we live, it is only the land where Stay/When I go, the land has turned into a soul”. We can clearly see that in To Hoai’s collection of Tales of the Northwest, especially in the work A Phu Couple, it must be said that To Hoai has a very special affection for the northern mountainous peoples, cherishing respect, love and deep understanding. Perhaps because of these warm feelings, the way To Hoai describes the inner self of the character Mi on the night of rescuing A Phu and rescuing her life also became profound and impressive.

Vietnamese literature before the revolution and after the revolution of Vietnam so far, it can be said that one of the most popular topics is the topic of poor peasants under the feudal colonial regime. For example, Nam Cao with Lao Hac, Chi Pheo, Nguyen Cong Hoan with Gymnastics 1, 2, Kim Lan with Village, Wife picked up, Ngo Tat To with Lights out,… But when it comes to To Hoai, people are different. I can see another color in this ancient topic, which is the fate of the people on the high mountains of the Northwest under the domination of theocracy and power, specifically the image of women. Me is a daughter of a farmer family with a long-standing debt to the governor Pa Tra from the time of her parents, and then she ended up having to be a concubine for the son of that family, A Su. Despite being the wife of the richest man in the region, her life was a series of tragic and miserable days. I have no happiness, I have to live days like hell, I want to eat leaves and die, but I can’t die, because she dies and the debt of her father will be paid. By the time my father passed away, I was no longer eager to die because “after being in suffering for a long time, I am used to suffering. Now I think I am also a buffalo, I am also a horse. The horse only knows how to eat grass and go to work.” I live under the title of a debtor daughter-in-law, but in fact, I am a lifelong slave for the governor of Pa Tra, having to work all year round and work hard without a day off. To the point that I feel like I’m no longer human because “The horse and buffalo work sometimes, at night, they can stand scratching their feet, chewing grass, the women and girls of this family bury themselves all night and all day”, bitterly to the extreme. My life is like a turtle in a corner, silent and cramped, inert in the thick roof, inanimate, not interested in this life anymore.

I thought that the soul that was hardened because of that suffering had completely died, but my life was revived once again, reliving the emotions of a young, beautiful and talented girl. flute. That spring love night, I heard someone’s flute playing calling for you, which revived in my heart the distant memories of when I was a girl, with the intoxicating sound of the flute “there are so many people who love it”. Every day and night, playing the flute followed My from one mountain to another”. The smell of the flute echoed in the dark night, making me sobbing, then I cried, my tears flowed in rows, I don’t know how long it’s been since I cried like that. I feel sorry, I am resentful, angry for my life full of unhappiness, I feel bitter, I feel angry, I want to rise up to protest, I don’t want to live a human life like a working machine. say this one more day. I want to live like a human, to know pain, to be tired, to be loved, to have joy like everyone else out there. What does that prove? Proving that my thought-dead soul has come back to life, passionately, intensely by the flute – the sound of life, awakening my soul and heart which is still beautiful and longing for my life after months years are buried, hardened by suffering, bitterness. I started to rise up, I worked but since I became a bride I didn’t dare to do it, I couldn’t do it, I drank wine “boasted every bowl”, drank like never before, drank until drunk, then took it Leaves make trumpets to blow, to return to the distant days, the happiest days of my life.

Then, a few jars of wine, with the sound of leaf trumpets, how can I make up for the lack in my heart over the years, the intense longing for life in my heart. I want to go out, I want to wear nice clothes, play the flute, dance, because I’m very aware that “I’m still young”, I don’t want to bury my youth in a room. there’s a window as small as a prison. I want to live like a decent person, but it’s so sad, so bitter and humiliating, in the midst of a strong desire to live, my love for life is exposed. Then A Su was like a murderer, he wanted to kill my soul again, he didn’t want me to be a human, to enjoy life, he tied me to the house post with a basket of hemp ropes, then left to play, to Me with regret, extreme pain. Then I remember that there was once a woman tied to death in this house, I was shocked, scared, never had I ever wanted life like now “I’m so scared, I’m stirring. See if I’m alive or dead. Wrists, head, and calves were tied by ropes, and the pain cut into pieces of flesh. That fear, that physical pain proves that I’m still alive, both mentally and physically, the will to survive in my heart has become strong again, no longer calloused and confused. It marked a big turning point in my life, from wanting to eat leaves to die, to fearing death and a strong desire to survive. This is the premise for me to rescue A Phu and my own life from the stalemate and oppression of power and theocracy.

When facing A Phu, a young man was beaten and tied and stood in the middle of the yard near the fire that I used to warm up, but I “still calmly blew the fire and raised my hand. If A Fu is a dead corpse, so be it.” But perhaps few people know that outside the indifference, regardless of life and death, there have been great changes in my heart, I am no longer a confused woman, indifferent to suffering and pain. My body and spirit started from that spring love night, when I heard the flute playing, when I felt pain, and I was afraid of death. I sympathize and pity for the fate of A Phu like my own life, people who do not have the right to decide the fate of life, to know that despite being trampled and oppressed, then died at the hands of gangs. cruel domination. Especially when I see the man’s tears “sparkling tears crawling down the dark gray cheeks”, I remember my scarred life, I’m angry, I’m angry at home ruler of Pa Tra, cruel people, they forced “people to die, to die of pain, to starve to death, to die of cold, to die”. I feel pity, I feel pity for A Phu, because I am already a daughter-in-law and die here, and A Phu has nothing to do with guilt that I have to suffer like Me. The more I think about it, the more I feel unwilling, painful instead of a human life.

And perhaps the tears of A Phu, the tears of an innocent person, a person who longs for life, like the last drop of water, inspired resistance and compassion in my soul. I’m not those cruel people, I’m not that callous and cruel, I have to save this man, A Phu deserves to live a good life, not die here for losing a child cow. At this moment, I’m not afraid anymore, I’m not afraid of power, god, I become strong, like a hero cutting the ropes for A Phu, I risked my life to let him live, because I look Seeing in that guy is my unhappy life. Saving A Phu is also saving my soul, saving my life. The last scene maybe I understood, I really protested, I rebelled against fate, I wanted to be in control of my fate, I decided to run away with A Phu, because I knew that I would stay if I didn’t. Physical death is also a spiritual death, both painful and humiliating. Only the way out of that demonic place can I live a real life, be a real person. This is the clearest expression of the desire to live, the desire to live, the intense desire for freedom of Me, a person who thought her soul was as inert as stone. At the same time, it affirms the strong potential vitality, even if it is trampled by the suffering, despair, and cruelty of the ruling class until it is almost a ash of red coal, there is only a spring breeze, a flute sound, a feeling of sympathy for human beings in the same situation can also flare up more intensely than ever.

A Phu couple is one of the best works of To Hoai, as well as Vietnamese literature when writing about ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous region. With a heart of love and respect, To Hoai thoroughly exploited the life and fate of people who were subjected to the cruel domination of theocracy and power under the feudal colonial regime. through the talent of describing the inner character of the character meticulously and subtly. At the same time, he also revealed the precious beauties in that character’s soul, such as intense latent vitality, burning desire for freedom, resistance, strong rise in small people, seem to have resigned themselves to fate.

To Hoai is a famous realist writer from before the August Revolution. He is a person with rich knowledge of the customs and habits of many different regions of our country. “The A Phu couple” is one of three works printed in the collection of stories Northwest – the work won the first prize of the Vietnam Arts and Culture Association from 1954 to 1955. It was the result of a trip with the army to the Northwest. 1952. In the short story, To Hoai not only succeeded in building the plot, but also succeeded in portraying the mood of the character Me. This is clearly shown in the untied scene.

I was originally a young, beautiful and talented highland girl, but because of a long-standing debt, I was arrested as a bride to defraud Thong Ly Pa Tra’s family. Therefore, I had to give up my youth and live a tormented life both physically and mentally. I used to want to die with fingers in my hand but I can’t die. If I die, my father will suffer and will not be able to pay the debt to the Thong Ly family. I had to accept to return to Thong Li’s house to be a daughter-in-law to clear debts, live a life of slavery, shame, and misfortune.

It seemed that the pain and torment of body and soul had made Me indifferent and emotionless, but I surprised the reader when she untied A Phu. The act of untying was really a sudden and sudden action. It was surprising and sudden that when I saw A Phu tied up, I had an indifferent attitude, not moved at all. Faced with a person standing on the brink of death, I still calmly “blow the fire, raise my hand.” I even thought to myself that A Phu if it was “a corpse standing there, that’s all.” I was completely helpless. This is also a normal and reasonable psychological development. It is reasonable because I have been in suffering for a long time and have suffered physical and mental torture. Life at the governor’s house has eroded my soul, I have been paralyzed with all emotions, consciousness, awareness, I have become emotionless, indifferent to my own pain and also to my pain. the pain of others.

Moreover, the scene of tying people, beating people is no longer a stranger in the house of governor Pa Tra. It happens on a regular basis, every day, every hour. The lives of the people at the governor’s house are full of hardship, bitterness and torment. Therefore, they can no longer empathize and care for others. I even hypothesized that if A Phu escaped, I would have to be bound instead of A Phu. I would have considered my own situation if the father and son of the governor knew that A Fu had escaped. I will have to take the place of A Phu and I will “die on that stake”. No one can bravely face death. When life is threatened, few people can think of others or they will only worry about themselves how to survive, how not to be implicated. This is a very normal human reaction. And even after untying A Phu, I still “stand still in the dark”. No one expected that I would cut the ropes to untie A Phu and so would I myself. It was just a momentary act that spontaneously broke out without any thought or thought. That is why it is full of unexpected and sudden elements.

It was sudden and unexpected, but my act of untying A Phu was also an inevitable and logical action. It is inevitable because it matches the character’s psychological development and story structure. In the flickering kitchen fire, I saw “a stream of sparkling tears crawling down the darkened cheeks” of A Phu. It was the tear of a strong, courageous, loyal man. but is close to death – a tear of stagnation and helplessness. At the same time, it clearly shows the strong desire for freedom, life, and passion of the slave who is very close to death. Those tears touched the depths of my soul, melted the cold layer of ice in my heart – I changed, I awakened the love to love myself. Tears always have the power to touch and purify people’s souls, it helps people to be good and live in love.This is not only a concept but has become a philosophy with profound humanitarian meaning of To With love, I will have great changes in feelings and actions.

I remember last spring night I was tied up by A Su standing there, there were many times when tears fell from my mouth and down my neck, unable to wipe it away. I feel sorry for myself. I feel sorry for myself that I have suffered so much bitterness, humiliation, pity for my fate, for my life. Then when I know how to love myself, I love people who have the same situation and fate. This can be said to be an emotional law that is very suitable for human psychology and personality because only when we know how to love ourselves can we love others. I remember the terrible things in the past and I feel sorry for the women in the same situation: “they forced to death the woman who was also in this house the other day”. Those women have the same fate and unhappy, humiliating lives as Me. Therefore, it is understandable that I have pity and sympathy for the women of the Pa Tra governor’s house. To Hoai really proves to be a talented writer when he understands the psychological, personality and emotional movement of the character. It was that love that helped me realize “they are so cruel”. After many months of silence, suffering the torments and bitterness, I realized the cruel and inhuman nature of the ruler Pa Tra. Before, I lived in misery and hardship, but never once did I raise my voice to protest and fight, but now the voice of accusation has been raised. An indignant condemnation and indignation of the insider. A brief accusation but contained many feelings and crimes committed by the father and son. This can be said to be the inevitable result of years of torment.

All of this led to the action of My cutting the rope to untie A Phu. I “untied the knife” untied, I whispered a “go now”. A series of actions takes place in a hasty, drastic, reckless way, full of suspense and fear. But that act of untying was not merely an act of liberation for A Phu, but it was also an act of untying myself for my own life. I have liberated myself from the ideology of theocracy and power – which has confined my life. I liberate A Phu is also liberating myself. The act of untying was the result of the accumulation of years of indignation at the pain that I had to endure at the governor’s house. This is the inevitable action, the culmination of a latent vitality, an intense and beautiful desire for freedom. At the same time, it clearly reflects an age-old law: where there is oppression, there is struggle. It can be said that the act of untying is suitable for the character and qualities of the character My. In Me, there was a latent vitality, a compassion for people, a resistance to the father and son of the governor. All are waiting for the opportunity to be revealed, outburst.

Thank you writer To Hoai for giving readers such a wonderful and wonderful piece of writing!

“The country and the people of the North West miss me so much” (To Hoai) Is a beautiful artistic achievement that To Hoai obtained after an eight-month army trip to liberate the Northwest, The collection of stories “Tales of the Northwest” is a nostalgic, emotional, and profound gratitude that the writer dedicates to the land of the people of the Northwest, which is painful but heroic, filled with tears of regret, but with great quality. As the most unique short story in the collection of stories, “A Phu couple” is a realistic and moving picture of a dark, humiliating life and the strength to rise up to reach the horizon of freedom and happiness in the countryside. ethnic minorities in the Northwest The value of the work is crystallized in the image of the character Mi.

If critical realist writers only see people as helpless victims of circuTaxances, revolutionary writers will always discover the power of resurrection in the souls of destitute people. As an excellent writer in the Vietnamese revolutionary literature, he is not only very successful in describing the gradual death of Me – a girl full of life, but also very delicate when exploring the process of her revival. Me. If there is a situation that paralyzes my vitality, there is also a circuTaxance that helps me revive. And that situation was the winter night when I cut the rope to save A Phu full of twists and turns. A Phu is a poor boy with both parents. Because of beating A Su, A Phu was forced to pay a fine to become a debtor for the governor of Pa Tra, sharing the same status as a buffalo and horse slave with Me. Once accidentally let a tiger pounce on a cow, A Phu was forced to tie up by the governor Pa Tra for several days in a row in the middle of a cold winter.

The winter nights on the high mountains are long and sad, every night I wake up to blow fire to my hands. Several times, every time I wake up to blow fire to my hands, I see A Phu tied up, but I am still indifferent and indifferent. If A Fu is a corpse standing there, that’s okay. I’m still awake, still warm, just staying with the fire. Too familiar with the temporary situation of Pa Tra’s father and son, My soul is numb to emotion. And my soul would probably be forever petrified if I hadn’t caught A Phu’s tears. Like every night, I woke up to blow the fire and warm my hand, the flame flickered and lit up, I squinted my eyes, I suddenly caught a stream of sparkling tears crawling down the desperate cheeks of A Phu – a man who was brave and courageous. have a cold. Tears call for tears: I remember the spring love night I was tied up by A Su, cried many times, tears ran down her mouth but couldn’t be wiped away. Sympathy rose up, how much I love myself, how much I love A Phu. Loving myself, loving A Phu, my heart boils with anger and resentment towards Pa Tra’s father and son. Oh my god, he tied people to death, he forced himself to death, he tied to death the previous woman who was also in this house. They are so cruel, for the first time, after many years of silence, I boldly voiced a strong condemnation of the father and son. I was like a molt, back to being a brave girl, yearning for freedom, boiling with the spirit of resistance. Then I thought of the dangerous situation that was coming to A Phu: at this rate, only tomorrow night the other person would die, die of pain, starve, die of cold, have to die… What would the other person have to die for? A Fu will have to die, die unjustly and without reason. Thinking of that, my heart tightens, my heart aches. A Phu’s call was released or his sobs were choked with sadness. Then I kept thinking back to my life, I thought maybe at some point, maybe A Phu could not have escaped, at that time Pa Tra’s father and son would ask me to untie A Phu, I would have to tie it instead. must die on this stake. Thinking like that, in this situation, how can I not be afraid. Human love is getting stronger and stronger, it’s bigger than self love and helps me overcome all fears, it urges me to act boldly: cut the ropes to save A Phu.

After cutting the rope for A Phu, I suddenly panicked. All I can say is “Go now!” then choked. Standing still in the dark, then Mi ran after her, running to catch up with A Phu. Fear and action followed A Fu into the area suddenly, but thinking about it very logically, it seemed impossible to be otherwise. As a human, everyone is afraid of death, especially when death is near. As a girl, I love life and love to live, I can’t accept bowing my head and waiting to die in this hellish place. Finally, there must be the catalyst for the completion of the human rebellion. That is the act of pushing up and running by A Phu. That action was like a spark that ignited an intense source of life in Me, prompting me to act boldly: to escape from Hong Ngai with A Phu. So, after so many years of being crushed, the latent vitality in my soul burned fiercely in the fateful winter night. That vitality is like an incomparable source of strength that helps me to defeat all the violent forces of power and theocracy. It was that power that rescued A Phu and Mi from the hellish world to the horizon of freedom and happiness.

Reading A Phu Couple, we can’t help but feel sorry for a girl who was trampled, battered, cruel, barbarous, drowned in the life of a horse and buffalo, a lady who kept dying slowly, like a receding turtle. in the dark, like a body without a soul. But what let me touch the reader’s heart most deeply is still a girl with potential for intense vitality, silence, great desire. To Hoai’s mother bravely rose from hardship and suffering to move towards the light of freedom. The most beautiful and humane thing of the work is there.

A Phu couple is a short story in To Hoai’s collection of Tales of the Northwest by To Hoai, which won the first prize in the novel, the Vietnam Arts Association Prize 1954-1955. The work was born from the result of penetrating into the lives of ethnic minorities in the Northwest, about the difficult life of upland people without the light of the Party. Reading A Phu Couple, we cannot forget the detail that I cut the rope to save A Phu – a detail that makes all the work’s value. And just as someone once said, when I cut the rope to save A Phu, I cut the rope to tie my life to the Pa Tra interpreter.

The story of Me, begins with a very evocative image: “Whoever comes back from afar, has to go to the house of the governor of Pa Tra, often see a girl spinning by a rock, next to a horse-drawn train. Invariably, whether spinning hemp, chopping horseradish, cloth, chopping wood or carrying water under the creek, she always lowers her face, with a sad face”, with just those two simple sentences, the essence of the matter. appeared quite clearly. Sentences are also lengthened for readers to understand thoroughly. The location of My appearance said it all, sitting spinning the hemp by the rock, next to the horse train, even as if attached to them.

I was originally a daughter of a poor family – “poor from the egg”; the young girl is rich in love of life, eager to live and has a talent for playing the flute; I was also a caring girl who was a filial child… But, a kind of “heirloom debt” of the poor, she had to “go to prison with hard labor” in the house of governor Pa Tra, in the form of a deceitful bride. the status of mountainous people, has been paid with a lifetime as by the form of usury.

The first time, when he was in “Pa Tra prison”. I am in pain, frustrated, and fiercely opposed. “For several months, I cried every night.” She could not accept being a slave to the rich. But, it all became Nguyen Du’s fate, before embarking on a disgraceful life, once thought of sacrificing life, but also could not escape the torment of 15 years ago, I was even more miserable, because the debt is still here, poured on the godfather’s head.

In the earthly hell of Pa Tra’s house, the most hardships and hardships poured into the head. A few years after my godfather passed away, I don’t even think about death anymore, because “I’m used to suffering. Now I think I’m also a buffalo, a horse (…) that knows how to eat grass and work.” My life is one job after another, every year, every season, every month, I do it again and again: after Tet, I pick opium, every year I wash jute, jute carts, at the end of the season, I break corn… in addition to my misery. That physical exile was also an oppression of the spirit of superstition and theocracy which provided a great support to the ruling class. It is really a “mental opium” as Marx said.

Not only stopping there, in a deeper level of To Hoai’s pen, he also raised a painful truth: oppressed people, if they endure patiently and last until a certain time, will be paralyzed. resistance spirit. “Every day I don’t talk more and more, retreating like a turtle raised in a corner” It’s really not anywhere that life, human personality is so underestimated! Nowhere else would people look down on themselves so desperately. I resigned myself to the status of a turtle in a corner, only knowing how to sit in a closed room, looking out the square window with a dim white moon, “until I die”.

As I said at the beginning, I have a happy youth, a desire to master that personality life, that quality never dies, it is only temporarily suppressed. And the wind to blow up the fire in my heart is a typical situation: spring arrives in the highlands: “Hong Ngai that year, celebrated Tet when the wind blew the grass yellow, the wind and the cold was fierce.” . Even in severe weather, spring also brings upland people a joy to live, being awakened by the vitality of creatures and people: “in the Red Cat villages, floral dresses were brought out. hanging from the cliffs, spreading out like a colorful butterfly. The poppy flower has just bloomed white, changed to au red, crimson, and then to a cool purple color. Children waiting for Tet, playing spinning, laughing on the playground in front of the house…” The strength of To Hoai’s humanitarian pen does not stop at feeling pity for Me, in denouncing the brutality of the ruling class, but also in seeing the inner person of the character. He searched deep into the depths of consciousness and in the depths of the character’s subconscious, showing that there is still a glimmer of light, the warmth of the desire to live, the desire for happiness, like a layer of cold and cold still remains. brew some embers, that layer of coal just needs a fleeting breeze to flare up. To Hoai has added to the humanitarian tradition in the national literature a voice with its own power and regenerating power.

That situation could not affect my soul. In the elements of “outside of spring, it is necessary to mention the sound of the flute: “Beyond the top of the mountain, someone has a flute calling you to play. I heard the sound of the flute echoing back, eager to recover…”. Thus, for Me, the sound of the flute is the most attractive symbol of love, the desire to live. In that atmosphere, I was again stimulated by alcohol: “I sneaked a jar of wine, I kept gulping down each bowl”. That way of drinking seemed to foreshadow a rebellion that I was not even aware of: “Then I was drunk, I sat there and watched everyone dance in the field (…), while I was living back in the day”.

By remembering the past, I overcame my long-standing “timeless” living situation. After that, the desire to live in her arose strongly: “I feel exposed again”. The first reaction that came to my mind was a thought: “If I had a handful of fenugreek leaves in my hand right now, I’d eat it all right away, not thinking about it again…” The thought of death now, is the vehemently opposed to the situation.

Meanwhile, the sound of the flute calling for a lover kept urging and seducing Me. It is a symbol of the life that I have long forgotten, now coming back. The sound of the flute closely follows the character’s mood swings. The sound of the flute has gone from being an event of external reality (floating in the street), to becoming the existence of inner life (throbbing in the head). From the changes in thought, I had a meaningful action “I went to the corner of the house, took a tube of grease, rolled a piece and put it in the lamp for more light. This action means that I have lit a lamp, illuminating the eternal dark life of the past. In the midst of a strong desire for life, it is also a time when it is brutally crushed. A Su walked in, casually took out a basket of ropes, tied Me to a pillar.

During that night, tied to a pillar, I lived in a fierce tension between a burning desire for happiness and cold, brutal reality. When I was first tied up, I was still in a state of fascination with the sound of the flute outside. I forgot that I was tied up, forgot about the physical pain, so much so that in the moment of intense longing for life, I “walked away”. As the harsh reality is that the rope is tight, no matter how strong my desire is, I can’t overcome it. The two symbols of dream and reality appear in two contrasting sounds, the flute calling for a mate earnestly and the horse’s foot stomping on the dry wall.

“I don’t hear the flute anymore, I only hear the sound of horse’s feet hitting the wall (…) I sobbed thinking I’m not as good as a horse”- harsh reality suffocated bright aspirations. That ending shows that, with only spontaneous protests, the character does not free himself; at the same time it also promises future rebellions of the character. After the spring night was tied up, my feelings of confusion were somewhat serious. Before the scene where A Phu was tied up, at first, Mi was a completely emotionless, lifeless person, she still calmly blew fire to warm her hand. A Phu is a dead body standing here, so am I. A Phu’s glazed eyes didn’t remind me of anything. But as mentioned in the above paragraph, the desire to follow the call to freedom is still there in my soul. It is not coincidental that the image of the fire is repeated by the author many times in a passage that describes the psychology of the character quite deeply and subtly.

But, what made me return to my true self? Once, when I woke up, “the fire lit up, I opened my eyes to see A Phu’s eyes: just opened, a stream of sparkling tears crawled down my gray cheeks.” Wow! tear. That drop of pain and suffering made me “suddenly remember” the fact that I was tied up years ago, and tears flowed down my mouth and down my neck, unable to wipe it away; Reminds me of the woman who was tied to death in this house, and A Fu is only going to die tonight. Tet was like that last year, this time, my memory flashed unconsciously. And like a chain reaction, it reconnects three destinies. I no longer live with fire. The fire went away but she did not blow. I fell into fantasy. I think I can die instead of A Fu. She stood up in a sense of accepting her own sacrifice: taking a small knife and cutting it for A Fu. It was the culmination of my life and also the place where humanistic values ​​were concentrated. My actions, although unpredictable, are still in the inner vitality of the character. I volunteered to work in the fields, suffered to pay my father’s debt, tried to die to find liberation, why wouldn’t I dare to die to save an innocent person?

But, My personality has a rationality, a rule that still causes us to be surprised, pleasantly surprised. Just thought about being able to die for A Phu, but when A Phu ran away, Mi stood still in the dark and then ran after her. A tight structure: I saved A Phu, so why not save myself? and “the two of them quietly helped each other down the mountain”.

In fact, the process of Me cutting the ropes and running after A Phu is a process of self-awareness: Awareness in a brutal, cold society. I saved A Phu because she saw that the injustice and absurdity was about to kill an innocent person and the perception of “person” was also to realize and illuminate “myself”, so it could be said that I cut the rope. tied up and saved A Phu, it was also Me who cut the ropes that bound her to the governor of Pa Tra. That is completely true with the theory as well as the practice of the times. The first line of the Communist Party manifesto F. Engels once asserted: “The history of mankind is the history of class struggle, the heavier the oppression and exploitation of the ruling class, the greater the rise of struggle. strong.”

To Hoai is the most creative writer in the Vietnamese literary village. Before the Revolution, the writer was famous for his stories about animals such as “O rat”, “Cricket man phuoc depository”. After the revolution, the writer left many imprints on works written on mountainous topics such as “Tale of the Northwest”, “The West”… In the collection of Tales of the Northwest, the most famous is the story of A Phu couple. The work that leaves an echo in the hearts of readers is not only the natural scenery of the mountains and forests of the Northwest with the spring love night of youth swaying the flute, but also touching the hearts of the readers with its potential and intense vitality. of the character My – the Cat girl who stood up to fight with the ruling class in the mountains, escaped from the humiliating life of slavery to become a free human being.

I appear right from the beginning of the work, haunting readers about a life withered and decayed “only looking down, sad face”. My is not shown by a portrait, but by fate – a sad fate about the life of a bride-to-be to get rid of debt in the governor’s house of Pa Tra.

I am a beautiful young girl who is the fragrant flower of the Northwest mountains. My talent with the flute song captivated so many guys who “played the flute to follow me day and night”. I love labor “knowing how to farm to make corn”. I am rich in self-respect and filial piety to my old father. When I heard that my father would delinquent my debt to the governor, I earnestly begged, “Dad, don’t sell me to the rich”. That is the beauty of the personality and dignity of a girl with a pure and holy beauty like a fragrant flower in the forest. But no wonder the malice of the usury policy of the feudal lords in the mountains is like a cruel rope tightening around my life. Bitterly, the most beautiful spring night of a girl’s life turned into a night of tragedy and humiliation when A Su kidnapped Me to the governor’s house. And a ghost worshiping ceremony the next morning has tied my life since then.

When I first came back to “becoming a bride” to protest against that absurdity, I “was crying every night for months”. Crying is a manifestation of an inhibited psychological state, not resigned, not accepting that harsh truth. I also thought about death when I took a leaf to commit suicide in front of my father, but because I loved my old father, I could not die. I threw a handful of palm leaves on the ground like throwing away my happy youth to return to the governor’s house to accept the life of buffalo and horse. That earthly hell has imprisoned my life. My youth was battered to the point of withering, withering in a room with only a small window like the palm of a hand, “looks out without knowing whether it’s dew or sunshine”. I was enslaved as a tool of labor. To be more precise, to be brutally exploited for labor to become a slave in the governor’s house. My life is buried in work all night and day “after Tet, I go to the mountains to pick opium, in the middle of the year I wash jute carts, at the end of the season I go to the fields to break corn …”. Not only that, I was also oppressed by the phantom power, paralyzed mentally, losing all sense of resistance. Writer To Hoai has repeatedly compared Me with animals (horse, buffalo, turtle). Since then, I have lived in insensitivity, my soul has been sealed by silence and cold, “I don’t speak more and more every day, just retreating like a turtle raised in a corner”. Is there anything more pitiful than that?

But with a humane sense and a loving heart that sympathizes with the human fate, To Hoai has brought readers slow-motion movies about the emergence of a potential, intense vitality that is smoldering in the soul. My people. On the outside, she is a muse who is as confused as a shadow, as if she is dead, but inside she hides a desire to live. That vitality is like a small coal that is buried in a silent and expressionless appearance. Unknowingly, the wind of the spring night of love revived me, awakening a beautiful memory and awakening a vitality, passionate but also tragic desire to live.

Spring in Hong Ngai is full of sounds and colors. It is the laughter of children, the yellow color of the grass and the fierce cold wind, the red color of the flower dresses hanging on the cliffs that spread out like colorful butterflies and certainly cannot be without the “sound” The flute calling you love hovering in the street. Those images and sounds are like a wind blowing away the ashes surrounding my life. Especially through the art of narration and unique description, To Hoai has brought to the reader a stirring soul resurrected behind the frozen corpse. It was the sound of the flute that had an impact on Me, contributing to awakening a cold soul. The sound of the flute is like an invisible string connecting me with the past and present, bringing back a beautiful memory in me. Rather, it awakens the talent in Me. I play the flute well, play the leaves well, there are many people who love to play flute day and night to follow me. The past is beautiful but contrasts with a vastly sad present. I sat and silently mumbled the words of the person playing the flute:

You have a son and daughter

You go to work as a farm

I don’t have a son or daughter

I’m looking for a lover

The sound of the flute made me stronger, I got rid of that lifeless body with an act of “human rebellion”. I look to alcohol, but not for fun, but to relieve sadness. “I gulped down each bowl and got drunk”. I drank it like I swallowed my hatred. That anomaly said it all. Endurance is limited, it’s time to burn. The wine and the flute are the intoxicating substances that awaken the lost part of my life, now I am no longer silent but revived. I’m living in the past and nothing can stop my joy “My heart is suddenly as happy as the New Year’s Eve days ago”. What could be happier than when I found myself again? To Hoai has penetrated into this woman’s mood maze and with deep loving sympathy, the writer has touched the reader’s heart by the changes in Mi’s psychology. The turtle raised in that corner no longer retreated. It broke through that insensitive wall to yearn to find the spring paradise of youth and happiness. I am aware of myself, that is the sense of youth. I feel young. “I am very young. Let’s be young. I want to go out.” Being young means being alive, still wanting to live, still wanting to love. What a tragic feeling: to realize that you are young when your youth has been taken away and to live in this pitiful situation is a tragedy. But even if it’s a tragedy, I’m still happy because I’m still myself with a heart full of desire.

But painfully, along with the feeling of finding myself again is a pity. It hurts to think about reality. I have a husband but that husband is not love, not happy. A Su – that bastard has imprisoned My life and even though they “have no heart for each other, they have to stay together”. That feeling was like a bucket of cold water poured into my face, dissolving all the joy that I had been saving up until now. There’s nothing more painful than marrying someone you don’t love. There is nothing more painful than living with an abuser who sees himself as a toy and is despised like a slave. I think of a handful of fingernail leaves, I wish I had a handful of fingernail leaves in my hand right now. I will eat it to death right away but don’t bother to think about it anymore, remembering the tears just come out. Wanting to die to free the damnation, wanting to die to escape tragedy, this is understandable, but most of all, To Hoai has brought readers the makeover of Me. Wanting to die is an expression of life. When I was revived, it was difficult to accept this bitter reality.

But with no fingers, my mood suddenly turned in another direction. When the sound of the flute calling for your lover outside is calling, when the whole happy paradise of spring behind that small window is passionate, prompting my heart. I can’t sit still anymore. We have to get up! I act in silence. Quietly but intensely. I lit a lamp in a dark room, thick with sadness. The light seems to dispel all the dark darkness that surrounds my life. The lamp lights up my soul, ignites the desire to go beyond the walls of hell to the world outside that is soothing the sound of the flute. To Hoai deeply expressed that burning desire of My in a short but sympathetic paragraph. The short, fast-paced sentence shows the strong rise of the character “I wrapped my hair. I reached for the flower skirt hanging on the inside of the wall.” I act casually, even though I know A Su is present in my room. But I am not afraid, the specter of the theocracy can no longer do anything to me. But painfully, the ruthless cruelty of the ruling class in the mountains has extinguished that desire and rise of My. A Su cruelly tied Me with a basket of jute yarn, My hair fell down, and he rolled my hair up on a pole so that I could not bend my head anymore.

But right now, I’m not living with my body anymore, I’m actually living with my soul. A Shi can bind my body but cannot bind my soul. Because my soul has gone out of the square hole with the other hand to live with the night of youth love. My body lies here, between four silent walls, but my soul is “following the games and the games”. My soul is full of flute sound, full of beautiful memories. Sometimes the sound of the flute penetrates into my soul and makes me glow like a fire in a big wind “I’m walking”. This action shows that I did not know that I was tied (or maybe knew that I was tied but forgot because the vitality of the soul is greater than the pain of the body). But then “my limbs hurt and couldn’t move” brought me back to the bitter reality “I sobbed thinking I was not equal to a horse”. But that life is still smoldering despite pain and humiliation. During the night, I was in a coma when I was awake. When infatuated, he lives in the “vapor of alcohol” with the immense sound of the flute calling for a mate. When he woke up, he was “heartily remembering”. There is a very expensive detail when the writer ends the development of My mood in the spring night of love. That’s the detail: I woke up and remembered the story of the woman who was tied to death by her husband in this house. And I was afraid, afraid of death “I struggled to see if I was alive or dead”. Fear of death is a manifestation of the desire to live. The vitality in that miserable person did not die, but on the contrary, was still as strong as the roaring underground waves in the ocean that seemed like nothing could be extinguished. As the writer Lu Xun said, “A spark today signals a fire tomorrow”. Surely that underground wave will promise to become tomorrow’s tsunami. That was the night to untie A Fu a year later.

Also a victim of the usury policy, A Phu became the buffalo and horse in the Pa Tra family. Two fates but one situation. They are slaves, living in life for the rich. In order to let the tiger take away a cow, A Fu’s life was hung on a death rack. The death penalty is waiting for A Phu every minute and every second. Those were long, sad alpine winter nights. I wake up and live with the fire. I remain silent in my loneliness. Fire is also lonely. Those two lonely people warm each other. Seeing that A Phu was tied up like that, Mi was also calm, strangely calm to the point of callousness. Is it “Living a long life in misery, I’m used to suffering” so I no longer recognize the suffering of others. And if that’s the case, then sadly, I have lost the kindness that every woman has in herself. When and only when A Phu’s tears “crawled down the dark gray cheeks”. It was the sign of death that appeared on the face of that slave, then my heart awakened, and my compassion for people rose. It was “that sparkling tear” that melted the cold ice in my heart. At this time, I can understand the extremes of human life. I love people, I love myself. I think back to the long agonizing days of my life. How is A Phu so similar to me, I was also tied up by A Su standing there, there were “many times when tears fell from my mouth and down my neck, I couldn’t wipe it off”. I suddenly realized that this person is similar to me in terms of situation, but people in the same situation can easily sympathize with each other. It makes me angry when I remember the woman tied to death in this house. The more indignant I am, the more I resent “they are so cruel”. Remembering the past, returning to the present, I suffered bitterly for my identity: “I am a woman’s body, they forced me to return to its ghost house, then I only know how to wait for the day to drop my bones in the house. here it is.”

But I have no right to abandon others. Reason told me to save A Phu. My kind heart prompted me to act. But I suddenly hesitated. I’m torn between my life and those of the same situation. Maybe I can save A Phu, but I will have to die on that stake. But I’m not afraid, because now, compassion is greater than all fears. I’m bold, I’m fierce, I’m rebellious. It is the act of cutting off the rope that partly shows the beauty of My vitality. That is the vitality of the Cat girl who dares to stand up to the evil beasts. Although still spontaneous, it was a foreshadowing sign of the awakening of the slaves who were following the call of the revolution. Who would have thought that when I cut off the ropes for A Phu, I also accidentally cut off the unjust ropes that bind my life. I did an amazing thing but it was inevitable.

The moment I stood still in the dark, I lived in a chaos of hundreds. My heart is confused with the question: follow A Phu or wait here to die? Finally, the call of freedom and latent vitality prompted me to live and I ran after A Phu. The footsteps of those two miserable people through the dark night seemed to overthrow the authority and theocracy of the contemporary feudal lords that had weighed heavily on their souls for so many years. Let’s hear Me say after so many years of silence: “A Phu. Let me go!… I will die here.” It is a saying that expresses the intense desire for life and freedom. And the call to freedom is beckoning them ahead, where they come is Phien Sa, the promised land, and Hong Ngai today is still sad and humiliating days. This is not an instinctive action. Rather, with the awakening of memories, the desire to live freely, made me run after the person I just saved. I liberated A Phu and liberated myself! That bold and unexpected action was the inevitable result of the latent vitality when the weak girl dared to resist both the power and the theocracy.

The writer’s success in portraying the character’s revival is due to the compelling narrative art. How to create animated scenes. The way to portray the character’s inner self has many interesting surprises. Plain and simple language. All have created a profound human value of the work, contributing to bringing readers a strong emotion before the fate of the Northwest mountainous people under the domination of slave owners and Western forts.

A Phu couple has left in the hearts of readers the beauty of humanity, love and deep sympathy for the lives of the poor. Through the character of Mi, the writer has shown the beauty of a strong latent vitality of mountainous women in particular and Vietnamese women in general. That latent vitality helps the writer affirm the strength of the Vietnamese human soul and the eternal truth: where there is unjust oppression, there is a struggle to fight it, even if it is the revolt. spontaneously like Me. This is the struggle going up from spontaneity to self-awareness in the light of the revolution. That is the shining human value of the work.

A Phu couple has left in the hearts of readers the beauty of humanity, love and deep sympathy for the lives of the poor. Through the character of Mi, the writer has shown the beauty of a strong latent vitality of mountainous women in particular and Vietnamese women in general. That latent vitality helps the writer affirm the strength of the Vietnamese human soul and the eternal truth: where there is unjust oppression, there is a struggle to fight it, even if it is the revolt. spontaneously like Me. This is the struggle going up from spontaneity to self-awareness in the light of the revolution. That is the shining human value of the work.

To Hoai is the most creative writer in modern Vietnamese literature with nearly 200 books of various genres such as short stories, novels, autobiographies, etc. It is considered as the most unique short story from the collection of Tales of the Northwest. The “A Phu couple” has successfully portrayed the realistic picture of the mountainous people under the domination of the semi-feudal colonialists. At the same time, the author also shows a profound humanitarian value when paving the way for liberation for the fate of two reluctant slaves – Me and A Phu. In particular, the mood change of My on the night of untying for A Phu left the readers with the deepest impressions.

First, we need to summarize the content of the story. “A Phu couple” revolves around the lives of two main characters – Me and A Phu. Those are two young people, rich in vitality, love of life and talent but unfortunately became slaves, took the life of buffalo and horse, oppressed by feudal colonialists, typically here is the dominant family. Pa Tra Ly. Before getting married, I was a beautiful girl, on New Year’s Day “boys come to stand at the top of the wall of my room”, filial piety “I now know how to make corn, I have to work on behalf of my father. Dad, don’t sell me to the rich”, talent “In the past, I played the flute well”. As for A Phu, although he suffered a loss from a young age, “A Phu’s brother, A Phu’s younger brother died, and A Phu’s parents also died. A Phu is left alone” but has more bravery than the person “who refuses to stay in the low fields”. Besides, A Phu is also a strong, talented young man who “knows how to cast plowshares, he knows how to chisel hoes, plows well, and hunts bulls very boldly”, “A Phu is strong, runs as fast as a horse, a girl in the world. village many people love”…. Because of family debt, I became a daughter-in-law to get rid of debt. A Phu became a slave because of the crime of beating A Su. Two honest people have to bury their young lives under the ruler’s sky. On the night of spring love, I woke up to the beautiful past thanks to wine yeast and flute sound. A Fu was forced to stand for many nights because he had lost a cow. Before that situation, I was indifferent and emotionless at first. Gradually, compassion for people arose, I decided to cut the rope to untie A Phu. It can be seen that the mood development of the character Mi has been vividly and talentedly described by To Hoai.

Before the night of untying A Phu, I was an emotionless girl. As we all know, after going back to being a bride to get rid of debts, in fact, being an unpaid child in the governor’s house, I was tormented physically and deprived of my soul. To Hoai has repeatedly compared my image with animals, nothing more, no less “Now I think I am also a buffalo, I am also a horse, a horse that has to be changed from this house to the horse train. In other houses, horses only know how to eat grass and go to work”, “The horse and buffalo work sometimes, at night, they can stand scratching their feet, chewing grass, the women and girls of this family are buried in their work. I work all night and day”, “Every day I don’t talk more and more, retreating like a turtle raised in a corner”… The dullness of emotions has been imprinted on my pretty face the day before, so much so that I no longer care about death. because “Staying in suffering for a long time, I’m used to suffering”. If only I still want to commit suicide, if only I still suffer from the injustice and torment of this life, at least, we still see that I still have a little bit of my ideal to live. Over here, I almost give up, almost give up, almost accept the absurdity and inhumanity of life as a common sense. On the night of spring love, the latent vitality in Me rose but was quickly extinguished by the brutality of A Su “A Su stepped back, grabbed Me, tied my hands with a belt”. Tied up standing all night, but I still hear the smell of alcohol, hear the sound of the flute, still startle when I remember the scary story the day before, “At the house of the governor of Pa Tra, there was a man who tied his wife in the house and went out to play, when he came back to see When the time comes, the wife is dead.” The consciousness of life rose, but it seemed too weak to demand a liberation, a revolution.

Meeting A Phu was brutally punished by the family of the governor Pa Tra – tied to stand in the yard for many nights, but Mi still calmly blew fire, raised her hand “if A Phu is a corpse standing there, that’s okay”. Alas! What more ruthlessness! I went from a cheerful, loving girl to a cold, emotionless person. In front of people in the same situation, I don’t have enough tears to grieve. At that time, there was only Me with the inanimate fire outside.

While untying A Phu, My mood changed from emotionless to empathetic. I vaguely feel guilty, feel sorry for A Phu. I question the slavery that the unfortunate boy had to bear. I remember my life as an inevitable thing, a connection between people who have shared a tragic life, and are low-key people. They have endured for so long, have been trampled in body and soul.

The detail marking Mi’s psychological transformation is A Phu’s tears “The fire flickered bright, I squinted my eyes to see that A Phu’s eyes had just opened, a stream of sparkling tears crawled down two hollows. cheeks have turned dark gray.” The humanity in me awakened, I realized the crime of the enemy, felt pity for the innocent people’s plight “Oh my god, it binds people to death, it forces me to die”, “we will die” it’s cruel”, “maybe only tomorrow night the other person will die, die of pain, starve, die of cold, have to die”, “what does that other person have to die for”…. The emotionless Miss Mi now realizes the absurdity in her damned life.

Since then, inner compassion has grown silently in Me, leading Me to a bold decision: to cut the rope to untie A Phu “I use a small knife to cut rice, cut knots of rattan ropes”. After cutting the rope to untie A Phu, Mi began to realize the reversal of personal consciousness. Life and death are close by, forcing me to really confront the choice. Either become a substitute corpse for A Phu, or risk a rescue “I stood still in the dark”. In the end, latent vitality and longing for freedom won. “Then I also ran out. It’s very dark. But I’m still walking.” My footsteps now have no oppression of the powerful, the theocracy can stop “Here, you will die”. Through the act of running after A Phu, To Hoai demonstrated the most realistic and humanitarian values, expressing the voice to save people from the depths of exile and pain, “The woman criticized her husband. Just saved my life.”

Through three basic psychological processes: before, during and after cutting the rope, To Hoai has shown his talent through the pen depicting the character. From appearance to personality, the portraits of Me and A Phu appear vividly and boldly in the colors of the working people in the Northwest highlands. At the same time, readers can clearly see the resistance, struggle, and escape from the dark life to find freedom and happiness in the next life.

In short, the mood development on the night of untying A Phu was strongly transformative, marking a bold reversal. Thereby, we see the way to liberation, beliefs and ideals of the characters in the work of writer To Hoai in particular and post-revolutionary writers in general.

A Phu couple is the best short story by writer To Hoai in the period of his writing after the August Revolution in 1945. The content tells about the eventful life of a young Mong couple, namely Me and A Phu in the period of writing. colonialism, feudalism.

The character of My is a unique artistic image with a high general meaning, representing the life of suffering, humiliation and the process of self-liberation of the Northwest mountainous people. The passage describes the mood swings of Me on a spring night with realistic and touching details that show the intense vitality and burning desire for love of Me – a beautiful but unhappy girl.

I am an orphan, living with my old father. Because of her beauty, she is noticed by many boys in the area. Her future should have been good and peaceful, but only because of her parents’ inherited debt, she was arrested as a child, even though she paid for the debt to the governor of Pa Tra. My youth was robbed and trampled by A Su, an insolent and violent son.

The period of my life living in the governor’s house was a long series of damnation and humiliation. Although nominally the daughter-in-law of a big mandarin, in reality, I was just a servant and slave, considered cheaper than a buffalo or a horse. Suffering and humiliation robbed Me of her youth, turning her into a patient and resigned person. When I was first arrested, I reacted fiercely, intending to commit suicide by eating leaves, but then pitying my old father, I could not bear to die. My life goes on quietly. Life has no meaning. She lived as if she were dead. Constant suffering has made me indifferent and cold. All emotions in her seemed to have hardened. However, the desire to live in Me has not completely extinguished. In Me, there are always two people who seem to be opposites: The person outside is cold and emotionless and the person inside has a quiet but intense vitality.

The author takes the scene of spring, spring night as the background for the development of my mood. In spring, heaven and earth are jubilant with colors, bustling with sound, very close to the innocent and happy life of my past: On the top of the mountain, the corn fields and rice fields have been harvested, the corn and rice fields have been fully lined up. warehouses. Children who went to pick pumpkins, mischievously, burned the huts to keep the fire warm. In Hong Ngai, it is customary to celebrate Tet when the harvest has just been completed, regardless of day or month. Eat Tet like that so that when the spring rain falls, you go to break a new field. Hong Ngai that year celebrated Tet in the middle of the time when the wind blew on the yellow clover, the wind was very cold. But in the Red Cat villages, the flower dresses were brought out to dry on the cliffs spreading like colorful butterflies… The children waited for Tet, played spinning, laughed loudly on the playground in front of the house. Outside the top of the mountain, someone played the flute and invited you to go out.

The passage describes the spring scene in the Northwest high mountains with vivid and lively images. The colorful colors of the girls’ floral dresses drying on the cliffs signal that Tet is coming. The laughter of children playing spinning on the playground in front of the house. The sound of the flute is playing, inviting your partner to go out. The sound of a dog barking in the distance… The nights of spring love have come.

The jubilant vitality of all things spring has revived my soul. My mood right now is a mixture of many emotions: joy and pain, humiliation to the point of wanting to die and longing to live. Those emotions are rising, swirling, welling up in my heart. While boys, girls and children gathered to play pound, spin, flute, and trumpet on the playground at the top of the village, I was anxious to hear the flute calling for a mate from the top of the mountain. I mumbled a familiar song that she used to sing when she was a girl:

You have a son and daughter

You go to work as a farm

I don’t have a son or daughter

I’m looking for a lover.

After many years of silence in suffering, perhaps this is the first time that the debt-ridden daughter-in-law quietly sings quietly. The bustling spring scene at the beginning of the village and the noisy New Year celebration in the governor’s house had a strong impact on Mi’s soul, reminding her of her childhood not far away. At first, I acted out of habit unconsciously: On New Year’s Day, I also drank alcohol. I sneaked a jar of wine, just gulped down each bowl. Do I drink alcohol but feel regret and bitterness in my heart, or do I deliberately drink so that I get really drunk to forget the suffering? However, that action represents an unusual change taking place in the poor girl’s mood.

Tragedy begins when my sense of self is rising. I was drunk and sat there looking at people dancing in the field, people singing Men wine awakened nostalgia for the past life: I am living in the past. The sound of the flute calling for a lover echoed in My ears. It is the flute of passionate love, of youth full of vitality. It seems that at this moment, I is no longer a daughter-in-law who owes debt to the governor of Pa Tra, but a beautiful girl drinking wine by the fire and playing the flute: I bend the leaf on my lips, blowing leaves is as good as playing the flute. Many beautiful memories of my girlhood come to life in my heart: I play the flute well… there are so many people who love it, playing the flute with me day and night. Reminiscing about the beautiful spring of my girlhood, it shows that the real me is reviving. The desire to live is like a fire burning in my soul.

Mi’s mood development is very complicated: She is torn by the contradiction between the cramped status of the daughter-in-law who gets rid of the debt and the girl’s desire to be free to go out on New Year’s Eve. Will I dare to cut the evil rope that is tightening my fate to come to fun games, with the melodious sound of the flute calling for a lover?! I was so absorbed in the past that I temporarily forgot about the present: When did the wine melt. The people who came back, the people who went out to play, were all gone. I don’t know, I’m still sitting alone in the middle of the house. It wasn’t until later that I got up, but I didn’t go out to play. I slowly walked into the room. My mood bounced back, my heart was suddenly as happy as the previous Tet nights. I realize that I’m still young, I want to go out.

The desire to live like a burning fire in my heart made me even more resentful of my humiliating situation. How many married people still go out on Tet holiday? A Su and Me don’t have feelings for each other but still have to stay together. I want to eat toenail leaves to die right away, but don’t bother to remember. Frustrated, tears welled up in my eyes. The sound of the flute calling for you is still floating in the street:

I threw the pound, you didn’t catch,

I don’t love, the pound fell…

I want to forget the girly days before but I can’t. The sound of the flute kept hovering in my head, making Me anxious to recover. When A Su suddenly entered the room to change into a new dress, he continued to stalk and capture more of his family’s daughter to be taken as his wife; I quietly, casually rolled up a piece of fat and put it in the lamp plate to brighten it, wrapped my hair, reached for the floral skirt, and pulled out a shirt. A Su looked at me, I didn’t say a word. The “rebellious” actions took place while the flute was playing in my head. The sound of the flute calling for a mate seems to give me a new strength, arousing the desire for love and happiness. When I reached for the flower skirt… it was Me that really relived my girlhood with many beautiful dreams.

I have awakened; Past and present are intertwined in my soul. The present is dark and stuffy, but the sound of the flute calling you is still floating in the street, awakening the beautiful past not far away. My unusual actions were brutally suppressed by A Su. After the surprised and angry question: Do you want to go out?, A used to tie Me up with a basket of jute yarn, wrap my hair on a pole so that I could not bend or tilt my head anymore. There is not a single line to describe my reactionary attitude. From beginning to end, I was just silent, silently resigned. However, hidden inside is a completely different Mi, a girl who is passionately living with memories of love. A Su can only bind my body, but cannot bind my soul.

Describing the development of Mi’s mood and actions on the spring night of love, To Hoai seems to have incarnated into the character. In the dark, Mi stood silently as if she didn’t know she was tied. The passionate vapor of alcohol lifts my soul. My ears still hear the sound of the flute taking me to the games, the games. Although I have not yet liberated my body, I have liberated my soul: My heart bounces back to the sound of the flute: I don’t love, the pound has fallen, Who do I love, who do I catch… The ropes hurt bring me back to the painful, humiliating reality.

We walk. But the pain in the limbs could not move. I don’t hear the flute anymore. Only hearing the sound of horse’s feet hitting the wall… I sobbed thinking that I’m not as good as a horse. I’m living with my inner self: It’s late at night… I stop crying, I reminisce about the time when the village boy came to the wall to make a sign, asking his lover to remove the wall to the forest to play. At this moment, reality and the past are intertwined, tearing my soul. The more I remember the old memories, the more I feel sad, miserable, and resentful at the harsh reality: The whole night I had to stand like that. At times, the whole body was tied with ropes, painful. At times passionately remember. Alcohol vapor. Flute sound. The sound of a dog barking in the distance. I’m in a coma, when I’m awake. Until it was dark, I didn’t know when it was morning. I woke up in shock… No sound. I love the miserable women who fall into the mandarin house… The life of a woman married to a rich man in Hong Ngai, a human life only knows how to follow her husband’s horse. I suddenly remembered the story people still tell: In a previous life, at the house of governor Pa Tra, there was a man who tied his wife in the house for three days and went out to play, when he came back, his wife was dead. Remembering that, I was so scared, I struggled to see if I was alive or dead, my wrists, head, and calves were tied by ropes, painful to cut each piece of flesh. Thus, my first resurgence failed. I can’t escape the hell on earth as the father and son’s house, but I’m no longer a horse, a turtle reared in a corner. I have relived the moments of youthful and free youth. That resurgence is like a wave that rises and then quickly dissipates, although it has not changed my life, the underground waves of emotions will eventually flow strongly, as evidenced by my reckless actions. untied A Phu and escaped with him from Hong Ngai.

In this passage, the author describes Mi’s actions very little, but the reader is still fascinated by a person who is rising from the dark realm, has a latent vitality without a cruel force. which can be crushed. The author’s space, time, and narrative voice are all consistent with the complicated evolution of Mi’s mood. To Hoai has led readers to follow that mood, when earnestly recovering, when choking with grief! The passage describes Mi’s mood in the spring night imbued with humanity, contributing to highlighting the character of Me; expressing honestly and touchingly the real value and humanitarian spirit of the short story A Phu couple.

I is the central character in the short story “A Phu couple” that writer To Hoai has devoted a lot of talent and enthusiasm to build. The story is extracted from the collection “Tales of the Northwest” (1953) by To Hoai. During the trip with the army to liberate the Northwest (1952), To Hoai had the opportunity to live, eat, and stay with the ethnic minorities, which helped To Hoai find inspiration to write. this story. To Hoai’s success in “The A Phu couple” is not only due to his living capital and living feelings, but also due to the artistic talent of a talented writer. In “The A Phu couple”, To Hoai used many artistic methods, of which the most prominent and notable was the method of analyzing the psychology and actions of Mi in each life stage. That artistic point really shines and sublimates in the passage describing the psychology and actions of the character Mi on the winter night to save A Phu. Thereby, we see the realistic and humane value of the work.

In this work, the thing that makes the most impression on readers is the image of the girl “no matter what she does, she always looks down, her face sad”. That is the psychology of a man resigned, surrendering to fate, a dark and tragic life situation. The reason why I have that personality is due to the forced marriage between Me and A Su. I can’t marry the person I love, but I have to live my life with someone I’m afraid of and cold. Another reason is that the authority, theocracy, and money of the governor Pa Tra have turned Me into a daughter-in-law to get rid of debt. Having a reputation as the daughter-in-law of the richest man in the region, but really, I’m just a slave, nothing more. That made me miserable, I cried for months and once intended to eat a handful of leaves to end my life. But “living a long life in misery, I’m used to suffering”. That’s why I surrendered to my dark fate, my heart gradually hardened and lost its natural beat.

Parallel to that personality trait is the mood of a person who loves life, loves life, wants to escape from a dark and tragic life situation. That was shown in the spring night. On that spring night, My mood developed according to different emotional levels, the latter level being higher than the previous one. At first, I heard the familiar sound of the cat flute, I whispered the song someone was playing, and then I drank wine and recalled the good old times… I became aware of myself and about life and wanted to go out. But A Su’s rough rope tied Me to a pole. But that rope can only “tie” my body, but cannot “tie” the soul of a girl who is integrating with spring and life. That night was a meaningful night for me. It was the night she really lived for herself after thousands of nights she lived as if she were a lifeless corpse. It was a night when she rose above authority and violence to live her heart’s calling.

After that spring night, I continued to live the life of buffalo and horse. But writing about this issue, To Hoai affirmed: the suffering and humiliation that I suffered was like a layer of ashes covering the hidden vitality in my heart. And as long as there is a strong wind strong enough to blow away the cold, sad ashes, that fire will burn and help me overcome my dark life. The humanitarian value of the work shines forth there. And finally, was in the wind. Those are the long and sad winter nights in the mountains and forests of the Northwest. The winter is as cold as cutting flesh, so every night I go outside the fire to blow the fire and warm my hands. In those nights, I met A Phu, tied up, waiting to die in the cold. However, Mi still calmly blew fire to her hand “even if A Phu is a corpse standing there”. Why am I cold and indifferent to that incident? Is tying people to death a normal job in the Pa Tra governor’s house and everyone is used to it, so no one cares. Or because I “lived a long life in suffering, I’m used to suffering” so I was indifferent, indifferent to the suffering of others. Another night came, at that time everyone in the house was asleep. I woke up again and went to the kitchen to light a fire to warm my hands. The fire burned brightly, “I squinted my eyes to see that A Phu’s eyes had just opened, a stream of sparkling tears crawled down the darkened cheeks.” It was the tears of a slave when faced with the approaching death. It was “that sparkling tear” that melted the cold ice in my heart.

My heart suddenly recovered before a person, the same situation. Last spring night, I was also tied up by A Su standing there, there were many times when tears fell from her mouth and down her neck, unable to wipe them away. I suddenly realized that this person is similar to me in terms of situation, but people in the same situation can easily sympathize with each other. I remember the terrible things in the past, “they tied up the woman who was also in this house the other day”. Reason helps me realize “They are so cruel”. Tying people to death is better than wild animals in the forest. Just because a bull was eaten by a tiger, a healthy, industrious young man, drunk with life, had to take his life instead. The rulers considered A Fu’s life less than an animal. And whoever commits a crime like A Phu will be punished in the same way.

Remembering the stories of the past, returning to the present, I suffered bitterly for my identity: “I am a woman’s body, they forced me to return to its ghost house, then I only know how to wait for the day to drop my bones at home. here it is”. Thinking of myself, I think of A Phu, “If only this night, the other person would die, die of pain, starve, die of cold, die. Why did the other person have to die like that? A Phu…. I seem to think so.” Really, there’s no reason for the Pa Tra governors to force A Phu to die for the crime of losing a cow!

In my mind, I suddenly thought of A Phu running away and I would be the one to die instead of A Phu on that imaginary column. However, I am still not afraid, my thinking has its basis. Father and son Pa Tra have turned Me from a person who loves life, loves life, is talented, hard-working, filial, passionate about love into a debt-retorting daughter-in-law, a true slave, they were cruel when tying a woman to death, wouldn’t they treat me like that?

Thus, witnessing the “sparkling tears” of A Phu, My mood was complicated. I sympathize with people in the same situation, I remember the woman in the past, reason helped me realize that the feudal lords were cruel, I felt sorry for my fate and then I thought of A Phu; After that, I imagined the scene where I was tied up… A series of psychological traits prompted me to take action: using a knife to cut rice to pull out a rattan rope to untie A Phu. It’s a daring and dangerous job, but it suits my mentality on this winter night. After cutting the rope to untie A Phu, I did not expect that I would dare to do such a shocking thing. I whispered a “go now” and then I choked. A Phu ran away while Me stood still in the dark. We can imagine the cluttered psychological features of My at this moment. My heart is confused with hundreds of questions: Run after A Phu or wait here to die?. So in the end, the latent vitality urged Me to live and I ran after A Phu. It’s very dark, but I’m still walking. My footsteps like stepping down the authority, the theocracy of the contemporary feudal lords has weighed heavily on my soul for many years. I caught up with A Phu and spoke first. I said to A Phu after many years of silence: “A Phu. Let me go! You will die here.”

Those are the words of My character’s desire for life and freedom. That sentence contains so much love and hurts the hearts of readers. That is the cause – the consequence of Me cutting off the invisible rope that binds my life. So, Me and A Phu helped each other run down the mountain slope. The two have left Hong Ngai – a place where the good memories for them are too few, and the sadness, pain and humiliation are unspeakable. The two left Hong Ngai and went to Phien Sa, but they still don’t know what the days ahead will be…

Obviously, on this winter night, latent vitality plays a very important role. It was it that helped me overcome my dark fate. I save A Phu means I save myself. Through the above excerpt, To Hoai praised the beautiful qualities of mountainous women in particular and Vietnamese women in general. To Hoai was very sympathetic and pitiful for My’s gloomy fate, with no way out. But with a sensitive and loving heart, To Hoai discovered and praised the remaining fire in My heart. The writer’s humanitarian thought shines there. At the same time, through the work, To Hoai also affirmed the eternal truth: where there is unjust oppression, there is a struggle to fight it, even if it is a spontaneous rise like Me. Indeed, through it, this work helps us to understand many things in life.

With the short story “The A Phu Husband and wife” in particular and the collection “Tales of the Northwest” in general, we understand why To Hoai is so successful in the genre of short stories. Artistic style features: national colors imbued with poetic and lyrical qualities, rich figurative language and words have converged and glowed in this short story. The work “Tay Tay Bac” deserves the first prize for short story – the award given by the Vietnam Artists Association in 1954-1955. And “The A Phu couple” really leaves a good impression in the hearts of readers because its artistic, realistic and humanitarian values. This short story is indeed a typical short story for To Hoai style.

The story “The A Phu couple” helps readers deeply sympathize with the suffering of women in the feudal mountainous society, thereby helping us to appreciate their aspirations more and more. This is a true literary work because it has contributed to humanizing the readers’ souls as Nam Cao has conceived in the short story “Leadership”.

“Oh my god, it forces people to be tied up to death, it makes me die… why does the other person have to die” Earth is the stream of thoughts that come from my sympathy and love for people and my plight in the winter night. untied A Phu. In the work “A Phu couple” by writer To Hoai, this excerpt successfully depicts the mood swings of the character Mi, and at the same time shows the truth “Love is a magical energy”. which in itself can produce miracles. This is also one of the messages that writer Nam Cao sent in the work “Chi Pheo” through the detail that Thi No cooked a bowl of onion porridge for Chi. The bowl of porridge of that love awakened the buried conscience in the bottom corner of Chi Pheo’s heart.

Writer To Hoai has a career spanning nearly seven decades with more than one hundred works of various genres. With his deep knowledge, witty, lively narration, rich vocabulary, his works have a strong appeal to readers. Among them is the short story “A Phu couple”. The work was printed in the volume “Tales of the Northwest” in 1952, the result of a field trip when he followed the main army to advance to liberate the Northwest.

The story tells about the fate of the people who were oppressed and exploited under the yoke of feudal colonialists in the mountains. The writer has successfully built two typical characters for the slave life, namely Me and A Phu. Two lives, two personalities, but the same fate rebelled to liberate themselves. Through the fate of Me and A Phu, To Hoai has sent readers ideological content with profound realist and humanitarian value.

In the work, Mi was favored by To Hoai to create a perfect image of a Cat girl. I’m charming, talented, and filial, but the writer also cleverly puts on a mantle of tragedy to create a character that represents the fate of mountain women suffering in slavery. rate for the rich.

My family is poor, because of my father’s debt. I have to accept my life as a bride to cheat debt. After being deceived by A Su, he returned to worship “present ghost”. My youth has been buried since then. I became a life of buffalo and horse, retreating like a turtle raised in a corner” in the house of the governor of Pa Tra. That spring day, I wanted to go out, I longed to live in accordance with my youth. But once again, I was pitied against me by myself – A brutally dealt with the column. The forces of power and theocracy imprisoned and tied her life in chains of unjust oppression.

Since then, I have no interest in life. I become insensitive to everything around me. I act like a pre-programmed machine with the same facial expression. “There was a girl spinning hemp by the rock in front of the door next to the carriage. Always, whether spinning yarn, chopping horse grass, weaving cloth, chopping wood or carrying water from a stream, she would bow her face, her face sad. On winter nights, “that machine” has repeated actions, “getting up and blowing fire with hands and back”. I say this to show us that I have been exploited physically, mentally oppressed to the point of no longer being able to resist, that I consider injustice as normal because it happens every day and every hour. poor people in this house, in this area, and no one can change it. Therefore, when he witnessed the scene of A Phu – a healthy, brave, diligent young man in the village who was fined for beating A Su and had no money to pay, so he had to work for the governor’s house for free, was beaten, I was tied up, hungry, and cold because I let the tiger eat my cow. I still didn’t change my color and changed my habit “usually until the rooster crows in the morning I sit up and go to the kitchen to warm up”. “One night, A Su suddenly came back to see Me sitting there, A Su beat Me right down to the kitchen door. But the next night, I still go out to warm up like the night before.” The burning heart of the old spring nights that was completely frozen became cold, as inert as the cold of this winter. Writer To Hoai was really very subtle when choosing the right meaning of the seasons to describe my mood.

But with sympathy for the dark fate of the poor mountainous people. To Hoai did not let his character gradually petrify. The writer initially created details to awaken the soul that was battered by the feudal forces of My. It was “the stream of sparkling tears crawling down the darkened cheeks” expressing the bitter helplessness of A Phu that made My heart flutter. Tears of despair. But most of all, it is a lonely, lonely tear, without anyone to love and share. The stream of tears of the strong, brave son who dared to throw a gyroscope in the face of the general made Me start to “simply think”. I was also tied up “Many times crying tears running down my mouth, down my neck, I couldn’t wipe it away”. Sympathy gradually appeared in Me. The spark of love has been rekindled. I don’t think for myself right now “it’s okay if it kills me”. But I knew how to condemn “They are so cruel” and disgruntled on behalf of A Phu “Why does that person have to die”. Compassion for people rose from the fact that I remembered my painful fate. Something I’ve been missing for a long time.

To Hoai is very ingenious in describing the psychological states of the characters when the writer lets the flow of My thoughts go from one thought to another. It is like an underground circuit that silently flows in my mind and then gradually helps the warm, loving heart that thought it was dry to revive. At this moment, even though in my mind, I am imagining the scene of having to replace the tied and dead A Phu, “I am not afraid” and this time it will certainly be extremely intense.

Continuing the line of thought that showed the revival in My soul, To Hoai also described the unusual actions that showed the strange revival of My. “The coals have completely ignited the fire, I did not blow, nor stand up”. And when I stood up, I acted very boldly “I pulled out a small knife to cut rice, cut jackfruit”. About this detail, To Hoai himself confided in the volume “The author talks about the work, asks the story of the author whose work is taught in the school” (Editor Nguyen Quang Thieu, Youth Publishing House 2000) that: “Cut off. The rope for A Phu is that I liberate (or hope to free myself) for my own soul. When I finished cutting the rope, I panicked. That’s when real life hits. I whispered, “Go now…” It was an order to A Phu and a statement to my soul. Cutting the ropes for A Phu is also Me who removed the invisible chain of the theocracy and power that was tying up my life day by day. And at this time, when “A Phu has struggled to get up and run”. I stood in the dark, maybe because now I feel afraid for my work and love myself to receive the consequences “you will die here”, I ran after A Phu to free my body. I crossed over to my death to find my own life even though it was a spontaneous act.

With his charismatic storytelling talent, natural yet delicate storytelling, language imbued with national flavor and generous humane heart. In the end, To Hoai let Me take off the tragic mantle of his life, stepped on it, and ran to Phieng Sa – where there was light of the revolution to put on the costume of freedom. This is the writer’s ideology, a new step in the humanitarian spirit in Vietnamese literature after the August revolution. To Hoai expressed the thought of the possibility of rising up to liberate themselves from the oppression of the colonialists and the ruling land lord, and pointed out the right path of struggle for them.

Through the excerpt of a winter night, I untied A Phu, we clearly see that human love is an important factor that determines the change in my thoughts and actions. A Phu’s tears are the tears of someone who is alone when there is no one to help in the most desperate time. If I didn’t have compassion, I would still be calloused and insensitive to A Phu’s impending death. Empathy between people in the same situation has helped two strangers to connect with each other, creating unexpected power. I broke free from the “dark room” of my life and A Phu was freed from the slave pole.

In short, both beautiful people like Me or ugly like No just need love, they will bring wonderful and meaningful things to life. Thanks to the two writers Nam Cao and To Hoai, although they are at two different stages in the flow of Vietnamese literature, they have all devoted their talents to giving readers two works of great humanity. . The message they leave behind is profound.