In Broad Daylight Analysis

In Broad Daylight the author Ha Jin, tells a story about a moral issue through direct characterization of a dynamic character named Mu Ying, a married woman. The issue is Mu is a whore in the eyes of her community because she slept with men for money. Mu was to be punished for the sins she had committed by the Red Guards. Her husband, Meng Su is a static character in this story. He loved his wife so much, that he over looked her moral flaws and tried to protect her from the punishment that was to occur. However, in the end he realizes he is not good enough for her and the worse possible event occurs. He takes his own life.

Mu was known as an “Old Whore” (Jin 146) who lived on Eternal Way. She was hated by everyone who knew about her extra marital earnings, with the exception of her husband. Sleeping with random men was the reason she was disliked. Even her husband knew he was married to a fallen woman however, he loved her with all of his heart and she knew that. Mu's life was turned upside down one day when the two Red Guards from Dalian City showed up at her door and whisked her away to be punished for her nympho actions.

Mu was a dynamic character. As she was being taken down to be questioned and punished for her sin's she carried with her an undisturbed attitude. Death was a possibility for Mu that day and she knew it, yet she remained calm. She was a beautiful, plump woman with long legs and did not have one strand of gray hair on her head. “While most of the women had sallow faces, hers looked white and healthy like fresh milk (148). Unlike the other women in her community who wore pants and jackets all the time, Mu wore dresses and that staggeringly separated her from the other noblewomen. The day she was taken by the guards “Mu wore a sky-blue dress, which made her different from the other women who always...”(p148). She had a “purple wart beside her left nostril” (p148), that set her apart from the other women, a beauty mark I imagine. However as she was being punished that day with ink bottles being smashed on her head, being knocked off of a bench she was put on to be persecuted for her actions, she changed her attitude towards her husband. Noticing he was no longer there watching her being tortured, her body began to slightly shake. At this point is when she realized she needed to make extreme changes in her life.

One night her life was turned upside down when she was a younger woman. She was abducted by Russian soldiers and sexually abused. She was left on the river bank to die. Meng, her husband, found her that night and moved secretly to re-capture her and take her back home before she died. He took care of her for the entire winter season.

She was questioned the day of her punishment by “a young man with glasses and a bony hand” (p150) about her actions, yet she remained calm while answering the questions about her intolerable actions. Quite a strong woman Mu was. She answered