Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Hundred Flowers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Redemption
Journeys and Growth
Suffering, Strength, and Resilience
Home and Family
The Promises and Failures of Communism
Summary
Analysis
After each long and restless night, Wei leaves the house for an aimless walk, which helps to relieve his angst. He cannot forget the look in Kai Ying’s eyes when he confessed; it seemed to suddenly confirm that everything he’d spent his life building meant nothing. This morning, out of habit, his feet carry Wei through the city toward the University. On side streets and in alleyways, he passes old men and women gossiping on their doorsteps, scruffy dogs, and a group practicing tai chi. Under a bridge, he finds a middle-aged woman in a bright-red outfit practicing a dance. She snaps a fan open and closed in time with the movements of her feet. Wei knows she could be arrested for such decadent, bourgeoise behavior, but he finds her precision admirable. He wonders what it would feel like to move through life with such grace and confidence. He walks on.
In the wake of his confession, Wei leaves the villa regularly for the first time in years to avoid Kai Ying and Tao. The book suggests that growth requires movement, and these walks become the first steps of Wei’s path to redemption. Even though his daily path remains aimless now, distance from the villa gives him much-needed space for self-reflection, just as Kai Ying’s walks to the market gave her the opportunity to consider the things she tried to avoid at home. Wei’s encounter with the dancer allows the book to yet again criticize the Chinese Communist Party for its brutal repressions. In the name of rooting out “bourgeoise” or elite decadence, it has made people’s lives worse by limiting their ability to express themselves and enjoy simple pleasures like dancing.
Themes
