Boss Lin inherited a small shop from his father. Originally, his life was not bad, but later he "lost money year by year" and was heavily in debt, making life more and more difficult. From September 18 to 1 1 28, the further invasion of Japanese militarism and the dark rule of the Kuomintang * * * brought great disasters to the people of China and made the situation of the Lins' shops even more difficult. Although boss Lin struggled hard, he still failed to avoid bankruptcy.
Not that boss Lin is incompetent. On the contrary, he is a shrewd "businessman" who is familiar with all kinds of "businesses". Near the end of the year, he imitated the practice of Shanghai big stores, decorated the storefront with colorful colors and attracted customers by reducing prices. When it didn't work, he continued to sell goods at low prices, but his business improved. After all, he lost too much, and the more he sold it, the more distressed he became. He thought, "We should improve the code and label inferior goods with the price of the first batch." When the Shanghai refugees arrived in the small town, Mr. Lin seized the opportunity in time and creatively promoted "one-yuan goods" to profit from it. He is also good at trying to figure out the psychology of customers, smiling at these "food and clothing parents" and having an unusually sensitive insight into customers' eyes, and never forgetting to hand over a cup of tea and a cigarette. Not only that, boss Lin is also good at weighing the pros and cons. When Mrs. Zhu San asked him for the deposit interest, he thought that if she didn't give it, the old lady would make a scene in the shop, which would "have a great impact on the future of the business", or she would collect the cash from the sale and deliver it to her. In business, boss Lin's "abacus" is quite accurate. In this clever character of the elf, he shows the opportunistic and mercenary ideological style of a small exploiter. "Doing business is very likable. Twenty years ago, were you afraid you wouldn't get rich? " Shanghai debt collectors told boss Lin that it was true. However, after all, the situation in the early 1930s was not like that of 20 years ago. No matter how clever and capable Mr. Lin is, he can't compete with all kinds of invisible and tangible forces that control his destiny.
The small shops in the town directly contacted the countryside, and Boss Lin tasted the bitter fruit of the rural economic collapse. The front door of Lin's shop is empty. "Groups of villagers carry baskets, but there is nothing in the basket. Sometimes there is a bag of flowers and blue cloth. It seems that they know it is rice; Even the late rice harvested by rural people more than a month ago has long been forced out by landlords and usury creditors. " "Mr. Lin knows all this, and he feels that one of his businesses was at least indirectly deprived by the landlord usurer." In this regard, boss Lin is really powerless.
Similarly, boss Lin was shrouded in the shadow of war. Lin Jiapu borrowed some money from Shanghai Dongsheng Bank. Due to the influence of the "November 28th" war, "Shanghai went on strike and all walks of life closed down". Before the end of the year, Dongsheng sent customers to collect debts. Boss Lin cried and begged the local Hengyuan Bank for a loan. Because the bank broke its road in Shanghai and became a "legless crab", the remittance was blocked and turned back by a cold word "I can't help you". At first, boss Lin thought that the war in Shanghai had nothing to do with him personally, but later "understood that the war in Shanghai would also affect his shop." Can a small businessman like Mr. Lin cope with the decline of national fortune and foreign oppression?
Boss Lin is timid by nature, and he is helpless in the face of various pressures from the surrounding environment. Black pockmarked Kuomintang used the people to boycott Japanese goods to extort money from businessmen. Boss Lin had to bite the bullet and spend a bribe from 400 yuan in exchange for permission to tear up the stored Japanese goods and sell them as domestic products. Kuomintang troops stationed in the town borrowed money from the Chamber of Commerce. Boss Lin was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce for 20 yuan and had to agree. Director Bu of the Kuomintang in the town covets her daughter's beauty, taking advantage of boss Lin's false accusation and arrest in an attempt to achieve the shameful purpose of possessing concubines, while the black pockmarked girl in the party department takes the opportunity to extort money. One is important, the other is for money, and the fight between them cost boss Lin 100 yuan to be released safely.
The exclusion of peers also gave the boss Alin a blow. Boss Lin's price reduction and "big release" attracted some customers and caused the dissatisfaction and jealousy of Yu Changxiang. In order to overwhelm the Lins' shops, Yu Changxiang took vicious and circuitous measures, spreading rumors that Boss Lin was selling goods cheaply in order to escape, falsely accusing the Kuomintang Party Department, and eventually leading to his arrest. After the arrest of boss Lin, Lin's shop lost its backbone and was cornered. Yu Changxiang took this opportunity to stab someone in the back and stole Boss Lin's "one-dollar goods". The law of the jungle, the big fish eat small fish, how does boss Lin win in the ruthless competition?
In such a specific background and environment, under such irresistible pressure, no matter how smart and capable Mr. Lin is, no matter how dismal his management is, there will be no good ending. Like the broad masses of the lower classes, boss Lin's bankruptcy is doomed.
However, there are still many differences between boss Lin and the workers. Apart from the mercenary nature determined by the small businessman, he was indifferent to the anti-imperialist movement and resentful about boycotting Japanese goods: "That man has no Japanese goods, which is really outrageous." The "128" war aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the broad masses of the people, but he was "quietly" in the midst of shouting and cursing; In a small town, "Mr. Lin is always thinking about his business when everyone in the street is not interested in business because of the war in Shanghai." For his own benefit, he even took bribes to sell Japanese goods as domestic products, which harmed the national interests. This kind of thinking and behavior, which is extremely lacking in patriotic enthusiasm and national self-esteem, makes people feel sympathy and disdain at the same time.
What is particularly discontented and repugnant is that when he was cornered, he actually passed on the loss of the shop to the poorer and more lonely people like widow Zhang. Boss Lin can still abscond with money, but these people who have saved a few hard-earned money in Lin's shop have been deprived of everything. At last, the novel describes that they were beaten by the police in order to get back the money from Lin's shop. In the chaos, the old lady fell to the ground, the widow Zhang "escaped a lot of jumping and stepping feet", and the five-year-old child in her arms was gone, with only a few drops of blood on her skirt. "She cried and ran, her hair was unkempt; When she ran across the closed Linjia Road, she was completely crazy. What a tragic scene this is! Of course, the root of this tragedy is still in that society, but boss Lin is also to blame. The big fish ate boss Xiaoyulin, and boss Xiaoyulin swallowed the weaker shrimp!
In the novel, the image of boss Lin is true and full. This is not only because it shows the complexity of characters' connotation, but also because it is a very appropriate restriction in this artistic expression. Smart in business, but not greedy; He struggled desperately under heavy pressure, but he resigned himself to evil forces and dared not resist; He is weak, but he shows some firmness in weakness when he refuses to marry his daughter to Director Bu as a concubine. All these properly express the typical personality characteristics of small businessmen in villages and towns. At the same time, the novel subtly analyzes the inner activities of boss Lin. This kind of psychological description is not a static psychological analysis, but captures the external expression of the characters' inner activities in a specific situation, and depicts the hidden rich inner language actions with extremely accurate and frugal pen and ink. For example, the wife came to collect debts, and the novel described "Boss Lin went back to his hometown sadly"; My daughter bought a piece of silk material on credit outside. Boss Lin heard, "My heart suddenly stopped, and my eyes were wide open and I couldn't speak." After a while, he sighed and complained softly, "How impatient! Wouldn't it be nice to buy it after the New Year? "Although this is not a direct manifestation of boss Lin's inner activities, it shows the melancholy of boss Lin at this time and his helpless mood when facing his spoiled daughter at ordinary times, which is more vivid.
The success of boss Lin's image-building is very important in Linjiabao. It makes this novel show special brilliance in summarizing the breadth and depth of life, thus becoming an artistic masterpiece in modern short stories.