Saboteur

ENC 1102

Essay on the short story “Saboteur” by Han Jin.

1369 words.

Saboteur, written by Ha Jin exposes a difficult period of China: the Cultural Revolution and its consequences on people’s life. Through the author’s skillful use of setting, symbolism and the main character’s dynamism, the reader is able to understand the theme of the story that is revenge.

The setting of a story has a ponderous influence on the reader’s perception as it often justifies a character’s behavior. In Saboteur, the story takes place in communist China as witnessed by the concrete statue of Chairman Mao in the middle of the square. During this period, the communist leader Mao Zedong was ruling with authority and transforming the society based on a Marxist model. The author states that “the Cultural Revolution was over already and recently the party had been propagating the idea that all citizens are equal”(26). The statue is located in the middle of a square before Muji train station. Muji seems to be a middle sized province town. The place is very busy as suggested by the “food and fruit vendors crying for customers in lazy voices” (3). The place “smells of rotten melon and a few flies kept buzzing above the couple’s lunch”(3) foreshadowing a unpleasant event. The season in which the plot takes place is summer since Mr. Chiu and his bride are both wearing sandals. Additionally later during the story Mr. Chiu is offered to sign his self criticism carrying a date that is July the 13th.

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 asserts it: “he is not a common citizen who would tremble”(49). In comparison the policemen, their antagonists, are “stout”, “tall and of athletic build”(2). The reader can already foresee an aggression from the policemen on the couple when the government employees “would steal a glance at Mr. Chui’s table” while “telling a joke” (2). After his unfair arrest, Mr. Chiu seems hopeful that he will be treated with justice. “He wasn’t afraid. The cultural revolution was over already, and recently the party had been propagating the idea that all citizens were equal before the law”(26). Later in the story, when Chiu is taken to the interrogation bureau and questioned by the chief if the bureau, his behavior seems to have changed: “The moment he sat down in the office, he burped”( 28). Chiu is a scholar and it is generally admitted that people with education would not have the indecency of burping in public. Chiu’s new antagonist is now “the Chief of the bureau who was a thin, bald man who looked serene and intelligent”(29). This starts suggesting that Chiu might be in more trouble than what he thinks he is in. The two policeman had a brutal behavior and Chiu always thought they were no match in front of the power of his education and the fact that he can defend himself. With the chief of the bureau, Chiu faces somebody being as intelligent and smart as him. Chiu even feels physical pain when “something stirred in his stomach”(49) as the chief shows the statements from different witnesses. The protagonist is drifting from hopefulness to doubtfulness showing the dynamism of his personality. This event also foreshadows and justifies Chiu’s final reaction. The reader can also realize the protagonist’s dynamism when he is sent back to his cell when Chiu tries to find courage in an old saying: “When a scholar runs into soldiers, the more he argues, the muddier his point becomes”(59). Chiu feels “miserable “(60) and is already resigning. Yet he does not completely lose hope since he is “more upset than frightened, because he would have to catch up his work once he was back home”(60). In paragraph 66, Ha Jin writes that Chiu was the only one among his colleagues not to be affected by the fleas. In this section, the author might be comparing