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 doesn’t like having Suyin and the baby in his house. He understands Kai Ying’s decisions less than he understood his parents’ decisions. He remembers once asking his nurse if his mother loved his father. Her answer—that his mother felt a sense of duty, that her family had made a good arrangement for her—confused him. This was especially true after he met Liang, which happened long after his father died without a Lee grandson. Wei splashes water on his face to clear away unpleasant thoughts and prepares to walk Tao to school.
Wei continues the reflection on his father’s multiple wives that Tao began in the last section. The family Wei grew up in looked very different from the one he made with Liang or the one he shares now with Kai Ying and Tao. Additionally, Song is a treasured member of the family, though she’s not related by blood. Wei’s experience suggests that love and sympathy form better foundations for relationships than pure duty. However, he realizes that he has perhaps gone too far the other way, ignoring the duties and responsibilities he has toward his family members.
Themes
In the courtyard, Tao says goodbye to Kai Ying, then he limps over and gently lays his hand on the kapok tree’s scarred trunk. He wants the tree to feel better and he thinks that this will help, since it’s a living entity, too. Despite Wei’s concerns, Tao insists on walking the whole way to school and they arrive before the gates have even opened. But soon, Little Shan and the other students arrive and Wei leaves.
Tao offers a double example to Wei in this moment, if Wei will pay attention to it: first, Tao moves, and every step he takes brings him closer to physical and emotional healing. Second, his reverence for the kapok tree suggests a sense of mutual obligation. The tree watches over the family and now Tao watches over it as it heals, too.
Themes
