Introduction
The short story ‘Refugees’ is written by famous American writer Pearl S. Buck. It was written somewhere around 1930s. It was part of a collection of stories written regarding the 1931 Chinese floods, which were later collected and published in her book “The First Wife and Other Stories in 1933.”
Themes
- Importance of sowing land – The story although reflects plight of the people suffering from displacement due to floods. But at the core of whole scenario, it focuses on “the land must be put to seed.” The old man in the story is symbol of a typical hard working farmer who knows that starvation can be avoided for another year only by sowing land.
- Competition created by refugees – It’s generally an unnoticed aspect of refugees settling at the new place that they increase competition there. They compete for employment, resources etc. It becomes extremely tough for the locals to help them financially or on humanitarian grounds. The story reflect this theme strongly. The locals of the new capital were ignoring the incoming refugees in thousands of numbers. They have bitterness in their hearts for them. The local shopkeepers shout at them when they beg for food or money. Rickshaw pullers hate them as ‘being starving, they would pull for anything given them’.
- Dignity of labour – The old man despite extremely hungry and physically weak does not beg. He replies to a person who gives him two coins that ‘I didn’t beg of you. Sir we have good land and we have never been starving like this before…’ This shows self-respect in labourers.
- Hardship due to displacement – The story display an extremely sorry scene of displacement. The refugees don’t have homes to stay, food to eat, money to survive and even seeds to sow the land again. They are hundreds of miles away from their homes. They are being seen as a big problem by the locals. The old man represents the sorry state of refugees. He is old, has lost his son and daughter-in-law and now thrown out of his homeland. He is forced to take care his only grandson at such at the age of retirement. They are hungry and nowhere to go. Still, he hopeful of returning to his land and sow it again for his grandson.
Symbolism and Imagery
- The Noodle Vendor: He represents the nature of an urban area. A city provides you momentary relief but can’t understand the deeper tragedy or problem one is facing as it has a fast paced life which does not stop for anyone.
- The Children: They are the future which is threatened by natural calamity. They are facing such a tragedy that their level of exhaustion has exhausted even energy of children. They can’t even cry.
- The Seed: Seeds are the symbol of hope in the story. They are the solution of all this problem and the old man understands that well. Hence, he wants to purchase seed from the money he received from that strangers instead of purchasing food for himself.
Style and Tone
Buck uses a realistic style of writing. She avoids the emotional style and instead letting the physical details such as the weight of the pole, the dust on the clothes, the coldness of the coin etc. evoke the reader’s empathy. This “objective” reporting of tragedy makes the old man’s quiet resolve feel more heroic.
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