Discussion Topic
Elements and Symbols in "Saboteur"
Summary:
Ha Jin's "Saboteur" employs symbols to explore themes of authority, deterioration, and human warmth. The statue of Chairman Mao, pigeons, and peasants symbolize the pervasive and oppressive nature of communism, while Mr. Chiu's hepatitis represents the societal sickness under Mao's rule. The rotting melons and buzzing flies foreshadow the corruption and decay in the system. Irony and tone accentuate the narrative, highlighting the transformation of Mr. Chiu from a victim to a saboteur, embodying the very corruption he opposed.
What are some symbols in the story "Saboteur"?
Three concepts dominate this starkly matter-of-fact story: deterioration, authority, and human warmth. Deterioration comes early in "Saboteur." We see it in the pigeons roosting on the statue of Chairman Mao. This august symbol of the People's Republic has been infested by a common, urban pest. This is reinforced by description of the smell of rotting melons. In both instances, the positive (the cultural reverence associated with Mao and the sweetness of melons) has been broken down by the ordinary and inevitable hand of time. Chiu's sickness has broken him down as well.
Authority is an ironic element throughout the story. The police act out a corrupt authority over Chiu when they intentionally throw tea on his feet, tossing the dregs of their consumption onto the bottom of his being, and arrest him when he complains about it. His stay at the local jail has him completely under the...
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authority of the petty, brutal police, and though he tries to establish his own authority as a scholar, it is subsumed by the police's intention to punish him for something unknown. The failure of his own authority is symbolized by the arrival of his student, whom the police chain to a tree outside and torture. His actual and symbolic acquiescence in signing an untrue confession shows him giving up authority to the police while exercising an authority over his student. Even if indirect, he can only influence the student by giving in to the police, which allows the student to go free.
A pervasive problem faced by Chiu is one of human warmth, or rather the lack of warmth. The story begins at a small restaurant, a scene of social interaction and human connection. However, Chiu shows no affection for his wife. The narration never names her except to call her "his bride." When the police initiate the conflict with him, he coldly sends his wife away. The jail is clearly a setting of coldness and inhumanity, and ironically, we see Chiu responding to his situation in a cold, calculating manner. No fond memories of his wife and their love for one another or friendships or family offer comfort. And when we see him give in, signing the false confession, he exits the jail and returns to the setting of a restaurant. In fact, he visits several restaurants and eats small amounts of food, bringing his own personal corruption, in literal terms the hepatitis, but in figurative terms the disease on his soul, into the warm social environment of these eating establishments.
In the short story "Saboteur" by Ha Jin, Mr. Chiu, a lecturer at Harbin University, finds himself arrested for a crime he didn't commit. In this short story, examples of symbolism are prevalent. At the onset of the story, "the air smelled of rotten melon. A few flies kept buzzing above the couple's lunch" (paragraph 3). The rotten melon can symbolize the rottenness of the situation that is about to unfold as well as the rottenness that exists in communism. This device also sets the scene for Mr. Chiu's arrest. The buzzing flies, like the policemen, are waiting for the opportunity to interrupt Mr. Chiu's lunch with his bride.
Fenjin, the recent graduate from the Law Department at Harbin University, becomes a symbol himself, illustrating the powerlessness of the law to intervene in a country where there is no recourse to fight against injustice. Fenjin is literally handcuffed to a tree, just as the law is bound by the shackles of communism. When tyranny exists, a country becomes lawless.
Some symbols in Saboteur are:
1)The statue of Chairman Mao, the peasants, and the pigeons.
The statue sits in the middle of the square before the Muji Train Station. In the story, peasants nap 'with their backs on the warm granite and with their faces toward the sunny sky' at the foot of the statue. The statue, situated in a prominent place, symbolizes the pervasiveness of communism in every aspect of Chinese society. Nowhere is this illustrated more fully than in Ha Jin's description of Mr. Chiu's experience with the policemen. The police control over the populace is absolute; they may arrest anyone, anywhere in the country, for the flimsiest of excuses. The peasants at the foot of the statue symbolize what the citizens are reduced to under Mao's communist tyranny.
The flock of pigeons perched on the statue's raised hand and forearm symbolizes the dictator's incorporation of peace symbols into his communist rhetoric. Interestingly, after the Communist Chinese Revolution of 1949, Flying Pigeon bicycles were approved for public use as the main mode of transportation. China became known as the kingdom of bicycles, Zixingche Wang Guo. These bicycles were viewed as a symbol of equality, promising 'little comfort but a reliable ride through life' for the average citizen.
2)Mr. Chiu's hepatitis.
Mr. Chiu's creative revenge highlights the corruption average Chinese citizens have to face and the lack of options available to them in the battle against oppression; it is only by stealth (as Mr. Chiu's actions shows) that he can best a tyrannical regime intent on his debasement and submission. In this case, however, Mr. Chiu's revenge also ends up hurting those who may be innocent.
Thus, Mr. Chiu's hepatitis is a symbol of the sickness which pervades China during Mao's tenure. Communism has reduced the country to a weak and ineffective shell propped up through tyrannical measures. Any attempt at relief must only result in further suffering and degradation.
What are the elements of the short story "Saboteur"?
"Saboteur" is a short story by Ha Jin that was first published in 1996. It follows the harrowing experience of a man who, having come from a honeymoon with his bride, is at first enjoying a simple meal with her at a restaurant. Then two policemen arrive and deliberately spill a drink, resulting in his and her feet getting wet.
Upon the ensuing complaints, they accuse him of instigating public disorder. The man does not back down, buttressed by the conviction that he did no wrong. So they arrest him, physically assault him upon his resistance, further disregard his rights, his health (as his anger exacerbated), and place him behind bars.
What makes this rather quick read a deeply potent experience is the way that it delivers the chain of events; it showcases the full extent of human nature, especially set against its political backdrop. Fresh from the Cultural Revolution, the story's main character is seen to be one who is learned, scholarly, and full of hope and belief in the system and the changes it promises. There is a sort of naïveté in the beginning—which is to be expected of his white collar, middle class stature—vis-à-vis the policemen who exhibited brutishness.
He enjoys a delicate exchange with his "sweetheart" and is offended, resorting to his idealism in defending their wet feet against the rather dark figures of authority who were clearly abusing their power. However, we see how this very abuse of their power will later take a toll on him and sow the seeds of anger—staining his own innocence and later on causing him to contaminate the entire town with a figurative and literal sickness.
This is a story that masters the element of irony. We see how, despite the equality that comes with the cultural shift—and with the detail of a statue of Chairman Mao with birds perched on his arm—there is an exhibition of the complete abuse of power that exists in the system's underbelly. In being wrongly accused of being a saboteur, he later undergoes a transformation spurred by this maltreatment, which eventually corrupts him and turns him into this saboteur—the very thing he was indignantly trying to prove that he was not.
Irony is also present in the incarceration scene, wherein the drab situation of being unjustly and brashly detained was belied by the rather peaceful descriptions of his surroundings:
The back yard was quiet on Sunday morning. Pale sunlight streamed through the pine branches. A few sparrows were jumping on the ground, catching caterpillars and ladybugs. Holding the steel bars, Mr. Chiu inhaled the morning air, which smelled meaty. There must be a restaurantor a delicatessen nearby.
Much of the irony draws from a Marxist view of struggle. When victimized by an abuse of power, one maintains idealism until he is pushed over the edge. This polarization between two classes is where all revolutionary energy begins. In the story, it is the man's anger at the very failure of the system that was supposed to protect him that causes him to emerge from jail scorned and hell-bent on sowing the seeds of society's ills and feeding it back to its people. This transformation is evident when the neophyte lawyer—whom he saved from further torture—saw him for the first time as "ugly."
Irony can scarcely be executed without the help of tone, which is another element in this story. The voice of the narrator takes on a matter-of-fact attitude, taking us into the minds of both Mr. Chiu and Fenjin. This is done, however, with considerable distance so as not to be overdramatic. Still, it zeroes in on every minute detail to create a starker contrast—creating irony.
The last line:
Nobody knew how the epidemic started
is perhaps the most ironic of all. We, as readers, could gloat knowing exactly how it started for this particular story. The townsfolk in the story do not. What is perhaps being conveyed by this then is that, beyond the text and in all irony, how much of what ails a society do its people really know and remain impervious to? And this is what perhaps makes many of the world's societies no different from the one that is in the story.