The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong
"The House of Sixty Fathers" by Meindert De Jong is a poignant coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of World War II in China. The story follows Tien Pao, a young boy who must navigate the dangers of war after Japanese forces invade his village, forcing his family to flee. As Tien Pao takes charge of his family’s sampan, he encounters various obstacles, including a dramatic river crossing and the precarious existence of refugees. Accompanied by his beloved pig, Glory-of-the-Republic, Tien Pao embarks on a quest filled with both peril and moments of unexpected kindness.
Throughout his journey, Tien Pao displays resilience and bravery, particularly when he helps an American airman in distress. His experiences reflect the themes of loss, survival, and the quest for family, culminating in a heartwarming reunion with his parents. The narrative highlights the complexities of growing up in tumultuous times, emphasizing the relationships formed between characters of diverse backgrounds. De Jong's work is enriched by its realistic depiction of the struggles faced by children in conflict, making it a significant exploration of youth, heroism, and the human spirit.
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The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong
First published: 1956; illustrated
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Coming-of-age, family, animals, and friendship
Time of work: The 1940’s (World War II)
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: Hengyang, China, and the river route leading to it
Principal Characters:
Tien Pao , a Chinese lad who lives by his wits and drive to reunite with his lost familyGlory-of-the-Republic , Tien Pao’s pig, which shares his arduous journeyLieutenant Hansum , an American airman wounded in a skirmish with the Japanese and rescued by Tien Pao and Glory-of-the-Republic
The Story
Firmly seated in twentieth century realism, The House of Sixty Fathers nevertheless borrows quest epic elements for its settings, plot, and protagonist. The action, occurring in China during World War II, is part of a historical event, American intervention following a Japanese invasion.
Tien Pao, the book’s apprentice hero, is just old enough to take care of the family sampan while his refugee parents seek food and work after Japanese invaders destroy their village. When an American airman demands sampan passage across the river, Tien Pao obliges, convinced that he is accommodating a blond river god. Soundly reprimanding their son for crossing the raging river, Tien Pao’s anxious parents remove the oars from the sampan before heading for town the next day. This time the sampan sweeps into the river after water buffalo weaken its moorings.
Thus begins Tien Pao’s journey. Like many on epic quests, Tien Pao has a companion—Glory-of-the-Republic, the family pig, which he protects from hungry refugees and Japanese soldiers during a long trek in search of his parents.
The journey repeatedly thrusts the lad into an arena where he is an outsider. Propelled by a storm into Japanese-held territory, the sampan becomes a target for the enemy. Sensing his danger, Tien Pao abandons the skiff and climbs with his pig to a cliff above the river. There they watch as an American airplane, falling out of the sky during a battle, bursts into flames. A yellow-haired airman beats off flames as he emerges.
In the skirmish that follows, Tien Pao achieves a heroic rescue by shouting a warning to the airman. During an ensuing Japanese search for the airman and his benefactor, Tien Pao conceals the wounded American in the crevice of a rock. His deeply wounded leg notwithstanding, the airman joins Tien Pao and Glory-of-the-Republic as they set out at nightfall to find safety.
When the airman sprawls in a faint on the path, Chinese guerrillas rescue him on a makeshift stretcher. Tien Pao and Glory-of-the-Republic travel on with the guerrillas, going into the fields as if to harvest whenever they are overtaken by Japanese on the trail.
Finally at Hengyang, the river city where he last saw his parents, Tien Pao, with pig in tow, resumes his search. With invaders sweeping through the city, Tien Pao joins fleeing refugees, fighting off an old hag who eyes his little pig hungrily. Later, crouching in a basket with his pig on a freight train, he rides until a sharp curve throws the basket out of the car. Recovering from the fall, the two take up an extended watch of the railroad tracks, where hundreds pass as they flee the city. When two American soldiers discover him, Tien Pao is unable to stand because of exhaustion and lack of food. The boy begins a wordless interaction with the men, who take him and his pig to their barracks.
Adopted by the sixty men of an air squadron, the boy is apologetically adamant: He does not want to appear ungrateful, but he longs to return to his lookout to watch for his parents. Once there, he sees the flood of passing refugees dwindle to nothing. Reunited with Lieutenant Hansum, the airman whose life he has saved, Tien Pao persuades his friend to fly him along the railroad tracks to search further for his parents. After an unfruitful search, the plane passes over an airfield under construction. Tien Pao spots a woman whom he declares is his mother. The subsequent joyful reunion with his mother and then his father rewards the youth’s efforts and ends the archetypal separation-search-reunion cycle begun in the book’s first chapter.
Context
In many ways a coming-of-age novel, The House of Sixty Fathers develops some distinctive and related De Jong motifs. A De Jong hero reminds the reader that growing up is beset with lapses. Those lapses, sometimes embarrassing to the protagonist, produce endearing characters: Moonta (Far Out the Long Canal, 1964) wets his pants in a moment of emotional relief; Millie (The Easter Cat, 1971) finds cozy comfort in discovering toys from babyhood; Eelka (The Wheel on the School, 1954) is too close to tears to talk. Tien Pao, under duress of his arduous trip, creates a cover-up diversion, noisily bathing his pig to cover his sobs of relief upon receipt of food and kindness.
As portrayed by De Jong, the growing-up process eases stereotypes about the young and the old, the small and not-so-small. Lina (The Wheel on the School) discovers with surprise that old people can be funny, and Evert, a school child, negotiates an exchange of wheels for a needy tin man. In Along Came a Dog (1958), a little hen protected by a big dog subsequently becomes its benefactor. A young black bull in The Big Goose and the Little White Duck (1938) seeks to intimidate an imperturbable goose by pawing the earth, adult-bull fashion, before returning to more playful behavior. Tien Pao similarly finds unexpected nurturing from an old crone, a wounded airman, and even an old hag. In turn, he nurtures a kaleidoscope of characters: an airman seeking sampan passage, his parents needing yen for food which he has earned in granting the passage, a starving refugee child who receives Tien Pao’s last morsel of rice, a fallen hero who is wounded, and an old man in need of money for food.
A mini-initiation for Tien Pao comes when his sixty fathers present him with a cut-down version of a squadron uniform. He is proud of it, but never loses sight of his overriding goal to find his family. The obstacles he has met on his quest produce surprisingly mature behavior, characteristic of De Jong’s sympathetic portrayal of childhood in its winsome stretch toward maturity.