Ha Jin

Ha Jin is a contemporary Chinese author and poet who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution and has written many books of short story collections. “The Bane of the Internet” is fairly new and part of a collections of stories published in his 2009 book “A Good Fall”. Characters like the eldest sister in “The Bane of the Internet”, immigration to the land of opportunities shows the loss and gain of her life. Jin created the character of the eldest sister to dramatize the lives of the Chinese immigrants and their daily battle to find balance between their lives in a new world and the responsibilities of caring for their family they left behind.
The Eldest Sister
The eldest sister in the “The Bane of Internet” is a static character
Yuchin wanted her ex to see how well she was doing without him. “I urged her to wipe him out of her mind as if he had never existed” (para, 3). The stream-of-consciousness style mimics the perplexing and irresponsible thoughts the eldest sister feels about the ex-husband and the purchasing of a car. She symbolizes the thought by stating, “Indifference is the strongest contempt” (para, 3).
Phrases by Jin (2009) such as “I told her that was ridiculous, nuts” (para 4) and “That was insane” (para, 6) shows the informal diction used to describe the thoughts and feelings of the eldest sister. He creates a character that one would feel is easy to talk to or in the younger sisters case take advantage of. The story is informal which makes the characters believable and as if anyone could have the same type of relationship with their
The character development of the eldest sister is one of gain and loss. On one hand she has immigrated to the land of opportunities to gain a sense of independence and freedom from her family. On the other hand, she feels a sense of loss in her independence by being pulled back into the unpredictable life of her younger sister. “If only I could shut her out of my life for a few weeks. If only I could go somewhere for some peace and quiet” (para