Reading Ha Jin's Saboteur stirs a deep frustration and hopelessness inside me as I watch each little injustice unfold. From the text, I perceive an overall theme of abusing power and craving revenge that together create a terrible cycle. On multiple occasions Mr. Chiu mentions that the Cultural Revolution had just come to a close which should, in theory, bring more equality among the citizens and authority figures, but he soon realizes that people aren't so quick to change. They often cling to old ways, opinions, and beliefs despite the threat of law, especially those that have authority and the means to defend themselves. This perpetuates harmful cycles by restraining positive changes from becoming integrated into the culture.
As many times as I read over the conversation between Mr. Chiu …show more content…
The last comment Mr. Chiu makes before the officer signals to restrain him is, "Comrade Policemen, your duty is to keep order, but you purposefully tortured us common citizens. Why violate the law you are supposed to enforce?" (Jin, 288). I feel that regardless of what kind of tone it's read in -calm or angry, he should not be reprimanded for simply stating what had happened and asking why. The only explanation I can figure is that they’re a couple of arrogant “hooligans” taking advantage of their authority on this apparently defenseless man. It may well be that they were put in similar predicaments in their past and were aching to pay it forward. Whether inadvertently influenced through observational learning or purposefully trained through behavioral learning, these men acquired a damaging way to interact with others. Once they slapped the handcuffs on, I realized -long before our protagonist did- that reasoning with these fellows would be of no use. Part of me wants