Saboteur written by Ha Jin is a story that revolves around a revenge of a person. In the plot, Mr. Chiu, who is the main character, revenges those who had wronged him in the story. In the quest to have his revenge, he meets a lot of conflicts (Huang 45).
The Setting of the story is based in Muji, China. The story most probably was written during the 1960s, during the Cultural Revolution time. The communist party at this time was under a leader called Chairman Mao (Huang 45). He often ruled with what is usually called a Marxist model. In the story, such is depicted when he had a statue of concrete resembling him placed in the centre of a given square. That simply symbolized how great his power was at that time (Huang 45). In addition, the setting revolves just after the Cultural Revolution ended and recent parties advocated for equality of the law “the Cultural Revolution was over already and recently the Party has been propagating the idea that all citizens were equal before the law” (Gioia 23). Furthermore, the narration of the story is in third person, since the author tried to expose little of Mr. Chui’s feelings plus thoughts (Gioia 24).
In thematic analysis, the major theme convened in this story is irony. There are a lot of ironical situation in the story (Pearson 66). First of all, it is ironical that the police officers, who were supposed to be maintaining peace at the railway station area, were the once causing problems to the people. Mr. Chiu, a person described as peaceful at the start of the story, while in the company of his bride, was picked up by the police officers and taken to cell. Furthermore, it is ironical that the very same police men forced Mr. Chiu into accepting offenses he did not commit so as to be released (Pearson 67). In addition, it is ironical that Mr. Chiu, after release, started to plot revenge on the people whom had offended him, whereas he was an educated professor, thereby becoming himself a saboteur.
In conclusion, the story narrates a story of Mr. Chiu, a person who had been offended by the authorities, and later turned to get his revenge on them. It is an ironical story and many instances of irony could be derived from it leading to the characters becoming saboteur (Pearson 68).
Works Cited
Gioia, Deirdre Kennedy. Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Prentice Hall , 2004. Print.
Huang, Guiyou. Asian American Short Story Writers: An A-To-Z Guide. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Print.
Pearson, Michael. Innocents Abroad Too: Journeys Around the World on Semester at Sea. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2008. Print.
