could face the magistrate. 

No one will listen to him. Mr. Chiu has been defeated by men with much less intellectual powers than Mr. Chiu. Over the course of his prison time, Mr. Chiu becomes more and more ill feeling the effects of the hepatitis again.  The jailers will not listen to him or help him. He tries to remain calm but his anger surges at times.

On Monday, Mr. Chiu awoke to the sounds of someone moaning.  It was an amateur lawyer sent by his wife, who has been tied up to a tree and tortured by the police. Instead of the lawyer saving the criminal, Mr. Chiu, sacrificing his innocence, has to sign a false confession to save both himself and the lawyer.

A numb pain stung him in the upper stomach and nauseated him, and his head was throbbing.  He was sure that the hepatitis was finally attacking him. 

Anger was flaming up in his chest; his throat was tight and clogged.

After being let go from the police, Mr.Chiu states that he would like to raze the entire police station and all that were in it because he anger was so great.

In addition, Mr. Chiu now suffers from a complete relapse of his illness.  On top of that, he finally suffered a full relapse of his hepatitis, which means since he is running a fever, he is contagious.  This law abiding citizen now seeks his revenge from anywhere he can find it. 

By eating in several restaurants before leaving the city, Mr. Chiu becomes a saboteur by intentionally spreads his disease.  Unfortunately, the wrong people suffer from his anger. Over eight hundred contract the disease with six people dying from it.

What specifically is ironic?

• Mr. Chiu is arrested on his way home from his honeymoon.
• He is the victim of an intentional incident caused by the police who should have protected him.
• As a teacher and intellectual, he is defeated by seemingly barbaric nitwits.
• Instead of the best lawyer that his wife could find, she sends an amateur lawyer.
• Mr. Chiu has to save the lawyer, not the reverse.The innocent Mr. Chiu has to sign a confession to the crimes that he did not commit.

*Most importantly, the once innocent Mr. Chiu becomes the saboteur that he was charged as when he spreads his disease throughout the cafes that he eats in causing many people to become seriously ill, and some to die. 

"Saboteur"  by Ha Jin full of ironic events.The story takes place following the cultural revolution. Mr. Chiu is a communist in good standing which becomes ironic since it is the communist police who create the devastating problems for him.  He and his wife are returning from their honeymoon.  Both are anxious to get to their home.  Mr. Chiu has recently recovered from hepatitis and is still weak.

Irony is at the heart of the story:

• Mr. Chiu is arrested for complaining
• The police are the villains
• The innocent man is charged with sabotage
• His wife sends an amateur lawyer rather than the best that she could find to save her husband
• The lawyer is saved by his client
• The revenge is served at the expense of innocent victims

All of these incidences are ironic in the circumstances of the story.

Sitting quietly eating his lunch, Mr. Chiu is upset when a policeman purposefully spills his drink on Mr. Chiu's  new leather shoes. When he confronts the policeman, Mr. Chiu is arrested and taken to jail. He is charged with disorderly conduct and sabotage. 

Mr. Chiu will have to stay in jail over the weekend to see the magistrate on Monday.  He becomes ill and knows that his hepatitis is relapsing. The authorities tell him that they can do nothing for him.  He rests and fumes until Monday morning.

He is awakened by the sounds of moaning.  Mr. Chiu looks out the window and finds his lawyer tied to a tree after having been tortured. Mr. Chiu has to save his lawyer and himself by signing a false confession. 

After his release, Mr. Chiu feels terribly ill.

In his chest he felt as though there were a bomb.  If he were able to, he would have razed the entire police station and eliminated all their families.  Though he knew he could do nothing like that, he made up his mind to do something. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Chiu becomes the wrongful avenger. He visits several cafes and contaminates them with his hepatitis.  As a consequence, he exacts revenge but on innocent people: eight hundred people contract the disease with six people dying.

Mr. Chiu essentially lands in the role of the saboteur exacting  his vengeance in a public way. 

The irony is that Chiu is not a saboteur until he is arrested for being one.  He is mistreated and his student is arrested and tortured.  Chiu is just innocently having a meal with his new bride.  There are signs that something is wrong.

The rice and cucumber tasted good and Mr. Chiu was eating unhurriedly.  His sallow face showed exhaustion.

This sentence foreshadows the ending because it tells us that Mr. Chiu is sick.  Hepatitis is a contagious disease.  The police arrest him for disturbing the peace, even though he did nothing wrong.  They refused to give him medical attention for his hepatitis.

In the end, Chiu becomes the thing he never would have been unless the police had mistreated him.  He uses his hepatitis as a weapon to create an epidemic to get back at the government for how they treated him.

The message is clear.  If you mistreat people because you think they are weak, they may surprise you.