How to understand the novel Thick Hair?

On the surface, this novel has no profound theme, which is about a little boy whose hair is too long. He goes to have a haircut and listens to the barber tell his uncle's tragic story. But if we understand and analyze it carefully, we will find that the theme reflected in the novel has far-reaching significance.

(1) Thick hair and various pressures.

The title of the novel is The Barber's Uncle, but one third of it is about the little boy's hair and his nap in the warm winter sun. Saroyan's novels were written after World War I in the United States. After World War I, the American people had a hard life and great pressure, especially Armenian immigrants.

The author does not directly describe the life of the broad masses of the people, but reflects it through the experience of a little boy. Children should be carefree. There is no pressure to find a job or family, but his thick hair is accused and laughed at by almost everyone. Isn't this stress for a little boy?

Almost everyone laughed at the little boy when he got a haircut. His brother said that he had never seen such a bad hairstyle. Saloyan uses thick hair to symbolize the pressure that people have to bear in life. Even though the little boy's hair was cut off, some people were still laughing. Maybe one kind of pressure disappeared and another kind of new pressure appeared again. Isn't this a true portrayal of our lives?

(2) Daydreaming under the tree symbolizes the wishes of the general public.

In the warm sunshine in winter, the little boy seems to be sleeping instead of sleeping under the big tree. In this chapter, Saroyan describes the world in the eyes of a little boy. In the sentence that all parts of the world are calm, the word still emphasizes tranquility and peace. In this world, life is happy everywhere. The little boy expressed his cognition with his feelings. It's good to be alive somewhere.

Even small houses, tables and cheers, the most common family facilities, are warm, happy, beautiful and wonderful for the little boy. The reason why the little boy is more mature and sensible than his peers is that he has experienced war and suffering, so he will feel this way.

Only when you dream of living will you live forever, without change, decay and death. This passage is actually a passage indicating the theme, and it is also the theme of the author's creation of this novel. After the war, people are more eager for a peaceful and peaceful life, and ordinary life is what people yearn for.

(c) At the end, the boy's expectations reflect the author's wishes.

The novel mentioned before that the barber is not a professional barber. He gave the little boy the worst haircut. What should the little boy think? Saroyan's genius lies in his writing: But it's ok. The little boy didn't care about the ridicule of others, but he felt fine. He said, I hope I can continue to come here for a haircut next time and continue to listen to the barber's stories about these lost, lonely and adventurous people.

In fact, the ending is exactly what Saroyan wants to tell people: everyone living in society will have pressure, just like the little boy in the novel, but learn not to care about the ridicule of others; Everyone's life has hardships, but don't be sad and miserable, because some people are more bitter than us.

From a child's point of view, Saroyan's novels are very calm. On the one hand, the creation of this novel exposes the changes in people's lives and family tragedies brought about by the war, on the other hand, it praises the Armenian spirit by portraying characters and encourages people to live a strong life in adversity.

Extended data

Saroyan has no formal training, and his writing is not limited by format, so there is no strict structure and important plot. When Saroyan wrote this novel, he always expressed it through some simple sentences. There are no complicated sentences in the article, but the theme behind the novel is very profound.

(A) the use of the first person

The first person can narrow the distance between the reader and the protagonist, giving people an immersive feeling. The story is told in the tone of a little boy and described in the first person. The little boy and his relatives in the article are all described by me, my mother, my brother and so on. When the barber tells his uncle's story, the barber also tells it in the first person. The barber keeps talking about my poor uncle, my uncle, my prey, and so on.

This writing technique enables readers to exchange roles with the protagonist, giving people a real and vivid feeling and being very readable. When reading a novel, readers can really feel the accusations from all sides against the little boy and deeply feel the helplessness of the little boy. The tragic life of the barber's uncle Meesaq also deeply touched the readers.

(B) the use of oral expression

The novel is narrated in the first person, and the narrator is a little boy. So the story is vivid and colloquial, and many sentences do not follow strict grammatical rules. For example, there are doors and windows everywhere, which has no predicate, and there is no subject in this sentence, but this statement makes sense, because the novel is told from the perspective of children.

Barbers talk about uncles in a colloquial way, for example, Berlin, he said; For example, God, I prayed and so on. Especially the use of modal particles. It seems that we are not reading this novel, but listening to the barber's sympathy for my uncle's feelings again and again, which doubles the expression effect of the novel.

(C) the use of parallelism

Parallelism is a rhetorical method in which three or more phrases or sentences with the same or similar structure, related content and consistent tone are arranged together to enhance the language situation, emphasize the content and aggravate the feelings.

At the beginning of the novel, I wrote that Miss Gama said I needed a haircut, my mother said I needed a haircut, and my brother Crick said I needed a haircut: the whole world wanted me to get a haircut. This one-stop sentence highlighted the theme, indicating that the little boy's hair was too long and was criticized by all sides. It is impossible not to cut off his long hair, which also stimulates the reader's desire to continue reading.

When the little boy decided to get a haircut, the author used the phrase "The whole world is right, Miss Gama is right, my brother Cricco is right, and the thing to do is to get a haircut", which not only makes it catchy to read, but also enhances the expressive effect of the article. It can be seen that the little boy has made up his mind that the only thing to do now is to get a haircut.

(D) the use of repeated statements

In order to reflect everyone's criticism of the little boy, there are a lot of statements in the novel that I need a haircut. When the barber talked about his uncle, the barber said that my poor uncle Meesaq appeared in the article dozens of times, and this repeated use highlighted the barber's sympathy for his uncle's fate.

When it comes to my uncle's homeless, in Berlin, hairdressers use streets, houses and people, but there is not a door for my poor uncle Meesaq, not a room, not a table. It can be seen that these repeated words are in sharp contrast with Meesaq's miserable life.

Not only in Berlin, but also in other places, the barber repeated these sentences. Anywhere in the world, streets and houses are contiguous, but there is no room for Uncle Meesaq.

(E) the use of humor

Although this novel expresses sympathy and sadness for Uncle Meesaq's miserable life, the author's humorous application plays a finishing touch on the theme.

When almost everyone is laughing at the little boy's hair, the author of the third paragraph of the novel describes Huntington, a big businessman. He is strong and rich, with money, cars and real estate, but the author goes on to write that such a great man has no hair and is bald.

But what is even more unexpected is that he often lets his workers go a long way from the town to see the little boy's hair and shout loudly in the street: good weather and good health, which makes people laugh and at the same time sees the sadness of human weakness.

People like him not only don't realize their shortcomings, but also laugh at others in turn, or tell his workers with the help of the boy's thick hair that the climate in California is good for people's health. What about his own baldness?

The author described that when the boy's hair is long, it will grow into a bird and try to build a nest on my hair. This scene is very interesting. A bird wants to build a nest on the boy's hair, because his hair is thick. The author's rich imagination is admirable. At the same time, it can be seen that the little boy was indifferent when so many people advised him to have a haircut before, but a bird made him change his mind. I have to admire Saroyan's unique creativity.