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
One morning before school, Little Shan approaches Tao and asks for a truce. Tao thinks about it. Little Shan betrayed Tao to Lai Hing, his worst enemy. Chairman Mao sends people away for less. Mao took Sheng away for less. Since his fall from the kapok tree, Tao’s life has been so unsettled that he sometimes finds himself wondering how he’s even standing upright. He remembers Wei telling him that best friends are hard to come by. Someone like Wei is hard to come by. Tao wants Wei back, but until then, Little Shan will have to do. He agrees to a truce.
As Wei comes closer and closer to redemption in Luoyang, things in Guangzhou begin to fall back into a sort of balance that feels somewhat familiar. For the first time since Sheng’s arrest, Tao finds his footing as he looks within himself for the resilience necessary to forgive Little Shan. And as he forgives his friend, he realizes that he’s also forgiven his grandfather—and even his father—for abandoning him.
Themes
