Drowning in Ambition in Ha Jin's In the Pond

Ha Jin's In the Pond describes the story of an intelligent and incredibly artistic man on a journey to create right where there is wrong. Shao Bin is stuck in the commune town of Dismount Fort; a small pond stained with blood and filled with grief, corruption and poverty. Initially, Bin seems to be a model citizen and a truly genuine family man. As the novel progresses, Bin's forceful actions to battle the social injustices he encounters begin to show his flaws. Although he is very ambitious, he has an overwhelming greed and desire for power. Ironically, during his quest to fix the corrupt society that he lives in, these flaws contribute to poor decisions and bad judgement, which eventually lead to the most critical mistake of his life.

Shao Bin's quest begins when his bosses deny him of housing at Worker's Park - the Harvest Fertilizer Plant's apartment compound. As Bin had worked there for six years - and had more seniority than the other employees - he was confident that he would be selected as one of the new residents of Worker's Park. When he had received the bad news and had finally let it settle, Bin was "[c]hoking with anger[.] [H]e was determined to do something about the injustice. Even though he couldn't correct the leaders' wrongdoing, he wanted to teach them an unforgettable lesson and show them that he wouldn't swallow the offense" (7). Bin's first attack against the injustice is fuelled by rage. Although this isn't the only reason that he wants to put up a fight, it is a foreshadowing of events to come. At this point, his anger does not cloud or impair his mind. He takes the right course of action by choosing to publicly announce that he was treated unfairly through a work of art. Bin is a scholar, and "the true scholar's brush must encourage good and warn against evil" (8).

His first drawing showed that Secretary Liu and Director Ma have a lot of power of their employees. Bin titled his first drawing "Happy Is the Family with Power". His art gave him life and filled him with many great feelings. "The excitement of creating a meaningful piece of work kept him awake after he went to bed" (9). Bin uses his talent and the things he loves to battle corruption attempting to give his family a second chance at the housing in Worker's Park. His drawing evoked his bosses to stop giving him a bonus for six months. The war that Bin was waging was about to get tough - "