“The Saboteur” By Ha Jin “The Saboteur” is a realistic short story written by Ha Jin that describes an incident of police brutality in China, with the victim finally getting so upset that he attempts to get revenge with ominous consequences. We see the portrayal of a turbulent time in modern Chinese history, We start out seeing the main character Mr. Chiu and his wife finishing their honeymoon, enjoying lunch. It is revealed the Mr. Chiu had just battled and overcome Hepatitis, and seems to be recovering at this time. Then, at a nearby table, a policeman who is eating with a fellow officer spills his tea on Mr. Chiu purposefully. After a few brief words, Mr. Chiu is arrested and framed as being a “saboteur”, which comes into play later …show more content…
Firstly, it is a change of pace from other short stories in that it offers insight into a different culture that is not often portrayed. As many of the authors we have read have been American or European, their stories are often set in that culture or cultures familiar to them. So, The Saboteur is a breath of fresh air from the common short story. The diverse setting is matched by the diverse ending. Admittedly, we have read many short stories where the character is dead or implied dead at the end of the story, but the world around them moves on, without consequence and barely with second thought towards the character we knew. However, The Saboteur shakes things up. When Mr. Chiu is called saboteur before he is arrested, the reader understands that he had done nothing to earn the title. At the end, we see an angered Mr. Chiu cursing out loud and swearing revenge on the police as his health worsens. And then almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Mr. Chiu contaminates food and eventually spreads Hepatitis, which indeed earns him the title of “saboteur”, or at least the implication that he turned into what the police initially called him. The world around Mr. Chiu is now directly affected by his impromptu attempt at getting revenge, a result of the police not allowing him aid for when he was becoming sick. The stories ending is very grim, and shocked me when I read it; however, I feel that it was a proper ending, as it paints the most realistic picture. Mr. Chiu is implied to most likely want revenge on the police alone; collateral damage like all the civilians who contracted hepatitis at the end of the story was probably not his goal, after all, he showed no anger towards the public. It was the police alone who got him into this situation. And yet, intentional or not, we see that this anger increasingly overwhelms him throughout the story, especially evident in his outbursts of revenge and cursing. Perhaps
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
A year passes without any incidents and senior patiently waiting, knowing was once again junior’s mischief was upon them. Senior gets a call from Miss Daisy Windsor, her complaint about Junior was very sever and she had to speak with Lawrence Senior as soon as possible about his sons actions. Senior walked in and his flashy gold watch and diamond ring blinded Miss Daisy. She implied that he was a very wealthy man. She looked inside his eyes and saw dollar signs. Lawrence writes a check for his sons actions and a little more. He then walks out a very happy man. They had a deep connection and Senior realized he made a big mistake knowing he betrayed Mrs. Lawrence. The affair continued for 3 years. Mrs. Lawrence never found out, never even expected the
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York: BasicBooks, 1997. Print.
Chapter one, The Observers, in the Death of Woman Wang demonstrates the accuracy of the local historian; Feng K'o-ts'an, who compiled The Local History of T'an-ch'eng in 1673. The descriptive context of the Local History helps the reader to understand and literally penetrate into people's lives. The use of records of the earthquake of 1668, the White Lotus rising of 1622 and rebels rising vividly described by Feng the extent of suffering the people of T'an-ch'eng went through. Jonathan Spence stresses on how miserable the two-quarter of the seventeen-century were to the diminishing population of the county. The earthquake claimed the lives of nine thousand people, many others died in the White lotus rising, hunger, sickness and banditry. P'u Sung-ling's stories convey that after the loss of the wheat crops there were cases of cannibalism. On top of all of this came the slaughtering of the entire family lines by the bandits. The incredible records of women like Yao and Sun in the Local History present the reader the magnitude of savagery the bandits possessed. All of these factors led to the rise of suicides. The clarity of events Spence given to the reader is overwhelming.
The story focuses on her great-grandfather, who was in disapproval of the French occupation of Vietnam, but still excelled at his job as a Mandarin under the puppet imperial court, fearing persecution of his family if he were to resign. In this section, the author also mentions more about the how the values of confusion had influenced the Vietnamese people in attempts to justify her great grandfather’s
In his 1937 film Street Angel, Yuan explores the inequities facing Shanghai’s urban proletariat, an often-overlooked dimension of Chinese society. The popular imagination more readily envisions the agrarian systems that governed China before 1919 and after 1949, but capitalism thrived in Shanghai during that thirty-year buffer between feudalism and Communism. This flirtation with the free market engendered an urban working class, which faced tribulations and injustices that supplied Shanghai’s leftist filmmakers with ample subject matter. Restrained by Kuomintang censorship from directly attacking Chinese capitalism, Yuan employs melodrama to expose Street Angel’s bourgeois audience to the plight of the urban poor.
The article provides background information which helps to explain how the Japanese soldiers were able to commit such atrocious attacks on Chinese citizens with seemingly little or no remorse. From a young age, Japanese children had a hatred for the Chinese engrained into them through propaganda by their teachers, textbooks, and even through the toys ...
This book was an extremely captivating read that I had a hard time putting down. This exciting novel was about an upstart gang of Vietnamese youths that formed in Chinatown who violently made their presence felt, they were known by the name Born to Kill. This book had many legal issues that we discussed in class and only a couple of issues that were not handled correctly in my eyes. This is a book that anyone that is interested in Asian organized crime should read.
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Through the description of the characters the reader understands better the conflict between the protagonist Mr. Chiu and the political system represented by the policemen. Mr. Chiu, with a “thin jaw” (4) and worried by a bad liver and acute hepatitis appears to be weak. His wife whose cheeks are pale wears “glasses”(4), which could be perceived as a sign of fragility. They live a comfortable life as indicated by the fact that they own a color TV, something that only a certain elite could own at the time of the story. However, even she looks sick: she suffers from a headache. The couple obviously belongs to the intellectual elite and it helps justifying the policemen’s behavior towards them: during and after the cultural revolution, the relationship between the government and the intellectuals was not among the most pleasant. It is easy to understand that an uneducated people is easier to rule than a well-informed one. Even Chiu asse...
Plot: Ignatius waited for Mrs. Reilly outside the department store. A policeman attempted to apprehend Ignatius; a mob ensued with the result of an old man being arrested for calling the policeman a communist. Mrs. Reilly and Ignatius escape to a local bar in which the bartender treats them with a lack of respect as well as eavesdrops on their conversation about Ignatius’ trip to Baton Rouge.
Dr. Alexandre Manette and his inability to ever truly escape the ramifications of his physical imprisonment is contrasted with Sydney Carton's emotional resurrection from a self-focused drunkard to the self-sacrificing savior of the story.
Salzman also showed that there was great oppression. The people of China were under constant surveillance and control. Rarely were they able to make important decisions f...