Novella ” It Happened At Willow Castle ” Review

On the day on which the four elements; A mixture of water, air, clay, and fire was prepared and made into an effigy, and spirit was breathed into it, on that day the word “war” came into being. This word was blessed with meaning when Adam was considered worthy of worship and AZAZEL saw ADAM as a caliph and recited arrogance. As soon as the word “war” got its meaning, there was a fear that this might not happen, the system of the universe would be disrupted due to the coercion and oppression of war. To maintain balance in the system of the universe, the need was felt for such a spirit, which could fill the canvas of the universe with the color of relief while opposing war. This spirit is found in the veins of the word “love”.

 

When two powers come together, each power scrambles to dominate the other and makes every effort to demonstrate its power. This is what happened between war and love, and since the dawn of time, war and love have been fighting.

War and love are two such universal passions whose existence reveals their presence in every particle of the universe. A writer is the tongue of the universe and how is it possible that tongue can keep the world ignorant of a code that lies deep within his being? This happened and all the writers of the world wrote well about these two passions. Some sang love songs, some teased the strings of oppression of war.

A similar story of the conflict between love and war is told in the Chinese novella, which is translated into English under the title “It Happened At Willow Castle”. Its creator is Shih Yen.

The story goes that during World War II in China, Chinese soldiers stay at a farmer’s house in a village. Eighteen-year-old Lee Jin, a platoon soldier, falls in love with a farmer’s daughter, Armi. He dreams of marrying her. But principles get in the way and he sacrifices love for principles.

The novella “it happened at willow castle” is a story of romance in the context of war, which smells of Indian soil. Surprisingly, a novel created on Chinese soil contains all the characteristics that are recognized as hallmarks of Indian literature.

In the novelty, when the writer takes up the pen on love, the chain of principle binds his hands, the respectability of the peasant blocks his way, and the fetters of tradition prevent him from advancing. This novella also shows how strong the zamindari system is in the east. Novella’s character Howe, the landlord, illustrates how the master of the landlord system enslaves the people and creates a new narrative of brutality for his lust for wealth.

The other main theme of this fiction is war. Therefore, other themes related to war such as dogma, revolution, firmness of will, doubt, hope and pitfalls of haste, etc. are also discussed. Man is a lover of beauty from early morning and wherever he sees beauty, he is drawn towards it. In this novelty, to satisfy the same aesthetic sense of man, in some places, the beauty of beauty is mentioned and in some places, natural scenes are depicted.

A leader is a person who loves his subordinate as he loves his son and the subordinate must always be ready to obey the orders of his ruler. In the context of the leader, this concern is the soul of this story.

Love is a colorful and multidimensional subject. And the same colorfulness has been brought out with full warmth by Shih Yen in the novella “It Happened At Willow Castle “. Sometimes love is found in the form of a lover, sometimes in the form of a leader and a subordinate. Somewhere the color of love with principles prevails, and sometimes the light of love with honor shines. Sometimes this love takes the cloak of father and son, and sometimes it wears the cloak of love for the country.

The specialty of this novella “It Happened At Willow Castle ” is that two conflicting emotions have been combined and decorated in a single saucer in such a way that the ringing of cruelty and oppression does not interfere with the tone of beauty and love.