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| “ | The dike's broken!... If it's broken, then I'll have all of you beheaded, I'll have all of you jailed! You hear that? Guards! How dare you let this man barge in like that? Where is the order? | „ |
| ~ The Magistrate to a peasant informing him about the disaster. |
The unnamed magistrate is the main protagonist of Phạm Duy Tốn's short story Sống chết mặc bay (Who Cares if you Survive or Die).
He is a local government official whose role is referred as to a "parent-like official" (Vietnamese: Quan phụ mẫu), symbolizing his duty to care for people like a parent. However, in the story, he neglects his responsibilities during a disaster in an emergency moment: a flood threatening to break the dike protecting a big area, which would kill countless people. Instead of supervising the emergency response, he stays in the communal hall and gambles, leaving his people to suffer.
Biography[]
The story starts with a depiction of a devastating flood threatening a village as the water of the Nhị Hà River (Red River) rises and a section of the dyke begins to collapse. Hundreds of thousands of villagers, exhausted and drenched, work desperately through the night in heavy rain to reinforce the dyke and protect their homes and lives.
Meanwhile, just a short distance away, the local magistrate, who is supposed to be responsible for the people’s safety, is completely indifferent to the crisis. Inside a secured and comfortable communal hall, he is surrounded by luxury, servants, and subordinates, fully absorbed in playing a traditional card game (tổ tôm). When being informed of the possible disaster by subordinates, he brushes it off. Later, when a peasant rushes in to report that the dyke has broken, he becomes angry at the interruption and orders him to be thrown out.
The story ends with the magistrate winning a big hand of cards, shouting triumphantly, while outside, the village was completely destroyed: houses destroyed, fields flooded, the inhabitants of the area either displaced or killed.
Personality[]
The Magistrate in the story is portrayed as an ignorant, self-indulgent, and callous official. While his people struggle to save a collapsing dyke in the middle of a flood, he lounges comfortably in a well-lit hall, fully engrossed in playing cards. Despite warnings of imminent danger, he ignores them, caring more about winning his game than the lives and suffering of the villagers.
Trivia[]
- The Magistrate, alongside Chí Phèo, Bá Kiến and Lý Cường, are the four Vietnamese literature villains who are featured in Vietnamese education textbooks. Among them, he is the only one featured in middle school textbooks, as the later three are featured in high school textbooks. He is also the only villain who is from a separate story.
External Links[]
- The Magistrate on the Pure Evil Wiki