Intermittent stories of Commander Yu describe his as a balanced person with equal evil and equal good, but with each to a great degree. One time he is regarded like a saint or a martyr, and then other times, the same story is told with disrespect, as if Uncle Arhat was stupid. The story is retold in the novel several times, with different assumptions each time. Uncle Arhat was captured and tortured by the Japanese, allegedly for treason. Sometimes, the family's passionate appetite for sex leads to incest.

War brought the family much misery, and a good deal of the novel is retelling stories about family men who died or were captured and tortured.

When a stranger arrives to the funeral on a mule, he meets his own brutal death. In a short aside, the novel flashes forward to the gruesome scene of his grandmother's body being exhumed from its wartime mass grave to receive a proper burial. His grandmother was arranged to the wine-maker against her will, but she takes over when the speaker's grandfather murders her husband. To begin, an unnamed grandson of Commander Yu tells of the effects of the war on the family. Early on, the family makes sorghum wine, but as the Second Sino-Japanese War unfolds the family transitions.

Red Sorghum is a braided story with three different strands, in that the story combines elements of three different generations of the same family, the Shandong family. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Red sorghum by mo yan