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 he waits in the visitor’s room—alone this time—Wei traces the carved line of the Yellow River on the desk. He drapes the sweater for Sheng on the back of the chair. Finally, the door swings open. A gaunt, hard-faced Sheng shuffles in. Only then does Wei first think that Sheng might not want to see him. But Sheng’s eyes soften as he looks at his father. Wei touches the sleeve of Sheng’s tunic, to assure himself that his son is truly there. He clears his throat and explains the family’s worry when Sheng suddenly fell silent. Sheng says his team manager has been destroying his letters to and from home.
For months, Wei has been holding a terrible thought at bay and he can no longer ignore it when Sheng walks into the room: Sheng might not want to forgive Wei, either for writing the letter or for his neglectful attitude toward Sheng earlier in his life. But Wei’s relationships with the others have already prove the strength and resilience of the Lee family. And, as Tian promised, his willingness to undertake the perilous and difficult journey it and of itself shows not just his willingness but his ability to make up for his past mistakes.
Themes
Sheng asks how Kai Ying, Tao, and Song are holding up. Wei assures Sheng that everyone misses him desperately, then he fills him in on Suyin’s arrival and Tao’s fall. When Sheng wonders aloud why Tao would suddenly climb the kapok tree, Wei reminds him that they both climbed it as boys, too. When the guard turns away to light a cigarette, Sheng slips his letter to Kai Ying across the table. Wei apologizes for the grief he has caused by writing his letter and says he deserves the punishment instead. But Sheng replies that Wei need not ask forgiveness for speaking the truth. He would have said something similar eventually, even if Wei hadn’t sent the letter. As the guard tells them that their time is up, Wei begs Sheng’s forgiveness for letting so many precious years of Sheng’s life slip by unappreciated. Sheng squeezes his father’s hand.
The kapok tree that guards the courtyard has been a symbol of strength and resilience throughout the book; now it becomes a symbol of the Lee family men as well, a point of connection between Wei, Sheng, and Tao. Accustomed to seeing the distance between himself and his son, Wei has been blind to their similarities, similarities that Sheng points out now. While Wei has tortured himself with his focus on the past, in the present, he and Sheng have grown more alike as both have grown older and wiser. If Wei can live in the present, figuring out how to contend with difficulty and trial, this moment promises that he will find ways to redeem his past mistakes.
Themes
