The Lesson By Ha Jin Summary

Rights and equality for any race, gender, or wealth class defines social justice. Three short stories that perfectly express social justice are “Saboteur,” “A Worn Path,” and “The Lesson.” In the story “Saboteur” the antagonist is a police officer who treats the protagonist unjustly. The social justice issue being portrayed is social inequality. Social inequality occurs when everyone in society does not have equal rights because of their race, age, or gender. In contrast, “A Worn Path” is a story of an elderly African-American woman who is on a quest. While on her quest, racism is illustrated as the social justice issue. Racism takes place when someone makes judgment about another person’s race or culture. Lastly, “The Lesson” is a story

Mao Zedong, China’s Communist leader at the time, launched the revolution in order to reassure his authority over the Chinese government. At this time, all citizens were supposed to be equal. Nonetheless, a portion of police officers did not treat every citizen equally. Mr. Chiu is a communist party member because of this, two police officers treat him unjustly. “Saboteur” is also a story of a newlywed couple. Who are on their honeymoon in Muji City. While having lunch, before heading back to their hometown Mr. Chiu notices two railroad policemen to the right of him who were laughing and drinking tea. Mr. Chiu begins to describe the police officers; the first officer is a stout middle-aged man. He describes the second officer to be tall, young, and with an athletic build. While Mr. Chiu and his wife are enjoying their lunch, the stout police officer stands up and throws hot tea on Mr. and Mrs. Chiu. “Mr. Chiu got to his feet and said out loud, Comrade policeman why did you do this” (Jin 469)? He is extremely angry and upset. The stout policeman acts as if he has no idea of what he did to Mr. and Mrs. Chiu. Mr. Chiu explains to the officer that he threw hot tea on his feet and on his wife. The officer tells Mr. Chiu he is lying and says “You wet your shoes yourself” (Jin 469). Mr. Chiu is unjustly arrested; the police officers tell him he is being arrested for being a saboteur. Afterwards, Mr. Chui catches a glimpse of Fenjin, a former student he had. Fenjin is sent by Mrs. Chui, as a rescuer to get Mr. Chui out of jail. Fenjin is tied up in the courtyard because of the actions of Mr. Chui, tying Fenjin in the courtyard is also unjustly because Fenjin is punished for something that he has not done. The actions of these two police officers are unjust, because they do not treat Mr. Chui or Fenjin equal, the way they would treat someone who is not a part of the communist