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
As the train approaches its first stop, Tian tells Wei that it will give them the opportunity to find something to eat before the next, longer leg. Wei follows Tian to the market gratefully, feeling lucky to have made such a knowledgeable friend. In the market, they eat noodles from a stall and Tian buys some rice alcohol. Then, someone pushes Wei to the ground and runs off. A young man helps him up, patting the dust from his jacket before disappearing into the crowd. Tian offers to share his alcohol on the train. Wei has never been much of a drinker. He used to worry about how much Sheng drank, before he met Kai Ying.
Wei sees only his own needs, so he focuses on what Tian does for him (helping him navigate the train journey) rather than realizing what he does for Tian: that is, providing companionship and distraction from sadness. Note that while it seems very much like Wei has been pickpocketed, he doesn’t notice this. This highlights how sheltered he’s been and suggests this will be a difficult trip for him.
Themes
In the car, quieter now that some passengers have disembarked, Wei examines a tear in the sleeve of his jacket from his fall. He thinks how lucky he is to have Song and Kai Ying to repair it when he gets home. Then, he pats down the pocket, suddenly realizing that the young man who allegedly helped him actually picked his pocket. There’s nothing he can do about it now, but the warm burn of Tian’s shared alcohol takes some of the sting from being robbed. Feeling a stab of homesickness, he realizes it is 3 o’clock, when he usually fetches Tao from school. He drinks so much he feels a little dizzy and drifts off to sleep.
The fact that Wei immediately imagines Kai Ying or Song repairing his jacket—even though they will be miles away by morning—shows how coddled and protected he has been in his family. His few responsibilities seem mainly to include walking Tao to and from school; he assumes that someone else will take care of everything bigger, more important, or more complicated than that. Still, he doesn’t face the harsh realities of the world completely alone: his fast-growing friendship with Tian provides solace and reminds him that relationships make life’s burdens easier to bear.
Themes
Wei sleeps fitfully, the uncomfortable chair making his back ache, until the next stop. It is much shorter than the first; Tian dashes down to the platform and buys dinner for himself and Wei from the station’s food vendors. Wei watches him through the window, marveling again at how quickly they’ve forged a friendship. Something about Tian’s sadness feels familiar to Wei, like they are both lost souls. Tian accepts Wei’s thanks for the food, but not his money, so Wei insists he will buy the next meal. After dinner, as he watches other passengers pull pillows and blankets from their luggage, Wei realizes just how unprepared he is for the long trip. As he settles himself to try and sleep, he calculates the distance in his head. By the morning, he will have traveled well over 500 miles from home.
At first, it seems like Tian’s and Wei’s friendship might veer into the same unequal territory of Wei’s family relationships. But while Wei feels grateful for Tian’s help, he doesn’t take Tian’s actions for granted. The sadness he senses in Tian suggests that this man, too, has suffered great losses. And it offers hope that Wei might also learn to be a better, more generous person as he acknowledges and learns more about Tian’s pain. Importantly, Wei makes it clear that he will not allow the inequality in this relationship to persist; he insists on returning Tian’s generosity in kind.
Themes
