The Death of Woman Wang Literary Elements

Historical book

The action takes place in the 17th century in China in a poor area called T’an-ch’eng.

The story is told from a third person subjective point of view.

The narrator maintains a neutral tone but whenever short stories are included the narrators may be cruel, judging and euphoric.

The protagonists are usually the normal citizens who have no say in the way they can live their life and the antagonists are the bands of bandits who terrorize the normal people.

The major conflict is between the upper class and the lower class.

The book has no climax since it presents multiple historical events that took place in the 17th century.

In the story about Meng, a monk appears in his house and gets scared when he sees Meng, fearing something bad will happen. This proves to be right and the reader is able to see how Meng is punished for his deeds in the future.

When Jen claimed he will take his wife back is an understatement, because not long after that he kills her.

In the second part, when the land is analyzed, the author alludes that while many documents state that multiple lands remained uncultivated because there were no workers, some of them may have been actually been cultivated but the owners refused to admit so they will not be forced to pay taxes.

An important imagery is that of Woman Wang’s body being left to rot in the forest after she was being killed. No one took the body and no one thought to bury her so she remained there for some time. The image is important because it shows just how criminals were treated and how the society had certain reserves when it comes to treating women who broke the laws.

One paradox is how Jen took back his wife even though he knew he was going to kill her. Instead of killing her, he could have simply left her and divorced her.

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In the first part of the book "breathing shrines."