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
Suyin puts her baby down for an afternoon nap. It frightens her to think about where they would be without Kai Ying’s generosity. She feels stupid and angry with herself for threatening her security by stealing food. Nervously, she fingers her cheeks. The angry acne that once covered them is drying up, thanks to a special cream Kai Ying made for her. Suyin remains fascinated with Kai Ying’s skills as an herbalist, the way she calls forth the magic power of nature with an expertly blended soup or tea. Suyin knows she must find a way to make things right again.
Like Wei—and like all people, as Song pointed out earlier—Suyin makes mistakes. Problems arise, the novel suggests, when a person refuses to forgive themselves or others. For instance, Wei tortures himself with regret over how he could have treated Liang and Sheng differently, but he has no power to change the past. He can only try to make better, more responsible choices in the present. Likewise, Suyin intuitively understands that she cannot undo her mistake, but must look for a way to make things right in the present. And she hopes, with a feeling bordering on desperation, that Kai Ying will be willing to forgive her again.
Themes
