In the short story ‘Saboteur’, the main character Mr. Chiu is exposed to abuse and injustice from the police and the government that transforms him into an “ugly man”, a characteristic that drastically opposes his kind, serene self presented at the beginning of the story. Set in one of the most active moments in Chinese history, the story starts off with a problem that results in Mr. Chiu getting arrested for being innocent. As the time passes, Mr. Chiu becomes more aggressive and exasperated, and in the end gets his revenge for all the time wasted and all the pain that the police put him and his loved ones through. When Mr. Chiu is first introduced to us, the writer Ha Jin describes his face as “sallow” and “shows exhaustion”, after his wife’s and his honeymoon. Despite his exhaustion, he asks: “ Are you all right, sweetheart” to his wife when he notices her pale complexion and her massaging the bridge of her nose. This illustrates his strong, …show more content…
Chiu had before the quarrel between him and the police. Additionally, the respect he had towards the chief of the police department also changes to an extremely negative temper. He had used polite words, such as “sir”, and spoke professionally towards the chief when they first met in the interrogation room. Nevertheless, it does not take long for Mr. Chiu to “harangue” about how he is innocent and demands on being released. This attitude continues throughout the story, although sometimes, he switches back to his professional self. “ He reminded himself that he should take this detention with ease.” (Ha Jin) This quote conveys the fact that he is sanguine, even in the situation he is in at that time. However, a few sentences after, it says: “Time and again he was overwhelmed by anger, cursing aloud…” ( Ha Jin), which illustrates his unmanageable attitude, an attitude he did not show at the start of the