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
Wei boards the noon bus bound for Ruyang, the permission slip in his jacket pocket. On his lap sits the folded wool sweater he’s determined to give to Sheng, whether he’s allowed to or not. Wei looks out the window and thinks idly of the treasures of Chinese history and culture that come from the area around Luoyang, the cradle of Chinese civilization. But these thoughts don’t bring him the excitement they once would have. At the correctional facility, guards scrutinize his permission slip, then show him into a cold, windowless room. It has five rows of wooden tables with chairs on either side. An older woman waits at one across the room.
As Wei boards the bus to visit Sheng, his ruminations prove how much he has changed. No longer does he care to live in the past; no longer does he find more excitement in the cultural heritage of China than he does in the thought of talking to his son for just a few minutes. Living in the past has cost Wei much joy and happiness in the present, a mistake he feels determined not to repeat. Thus, despite the bleak nature of the room, he feels hopeful rather than guilty for the first time in months.
Themes
When the door opens, Wei’s heart leaps. But it’s not Sheng. Instead, it’s a girl not much older than Suyin, with a shaved head, bruised face, and hunched posture. The guard tells her and the older woman that they have 15 minutes together. Wei looks away, trying to give the pair as much privacy as possible. He stares at the table, the scuffs and marks carved into it slowly transforming in his mind’s eye into a map of China’s great river systems. One looks like the Yellow River, which represents the spirit of the Chinese people. He studies the mark, wondering who made it, with what, and why.
The anonymous female prisoner offers a stark reminder of the Communist Party’s cruelty—even though readers never know the nature of her crime, they know that Sheng has been locked up in the same place for the crime of speaking truth to power. Wei cannot help but make his reflexive comparison between the harsh realities of life under Communist rule and the former glory of China.
Themes
When Wei looks up from the table, he sees the old woman comforting the girl. Then, a male guard approaches Wei to say that there was a mix-up: Sheng left for the quarry before the guards learned about the visit. He isn’t here. The permission slip is for today only; Wei will have to reapply for another visit. Across the room, the girl screams when a guard wrenches her away from her mother.
The anonymous prisoner’s experience enhances the reader’s sense of Communist Party cruelty, but the guard’s callous disregard for ensuring that they help Sheng and Wei keep their appointment confirms it, too. The Party clearly respects no person, no authority, no values like love or family connection.
Themes
