In the story, “The Beauty”, Ha Jin initially talks about a jealous man who thinks his wife is cheating on him. Once you read further into the story, you’ll realize it’s really about a real estate agent who has a beautiful wife and is so concerned about why their daughter is so ugly and plain. What was really gratifying was due to their unattractive daughter; Dan jumps to conclusions thinking that the baby is not his and suspects his wife of having another affair.
I think the conflict in the story was very interesting. While I was reading it, initially the questions I had were “Who is the father of this baby? Is Gina really cheating on Dan?” It never occurred to me that the real key point of the story was about Dan wondering, since he’s so handsome and his wife being so beautiful, why his daughter did not resemble either of them. From the beginning of the story Dan tries to find ways to track his wife, also by hiring a private detective to do the dirty work. He strives to get information about his wife’s personal history and the man she talks to constantly at her job. Eventually, he finds out about the man’s personal history and how he was a Communist member in China (which could result to deportation). Although, in the end, the wife herself confronts Dan about her true identity. It’s the focus on beauty, the disappointment that his wife’s beauty isn’t genuine but artifical via plastic surgery. This tarnishes him that makes it so interesting. A good quote from this book is, “No, I love my beauty. It’s the best thing America gave me. Finally I have a face that matches my figure and skin. A voice shouted in his mind, that’s not beauty, that’s fraudulence!”(pg45). It made me think that beauty does mean a lot to people. The best thing that America gave Gina should have been her daughter or her husband, not some artificial “beauty” needled on her face. You are just deceiving others by putting a mask on.
I loved how Jin made up the ending. “However, Dan took to...