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
The long, dark, lonely nights are the hardest for Kai Ying. In the light of day, she can maintain the illusion that things are normal. But at night, she feels the full weight of her anxiety. The family has had no news since Wei’s telegram arrived last week. She tries not to let herself hope for news about Sheng. Sometimes, she can almost feel his body next to hers, and it frightens her to consider that she may never be close to him again. She wonders if they’ll recognize each other; the past year has put their lives on separate trajectories for the first time since they met. She has no herbs that can fix this pain or bring back the time they’ve lost.
Kai Ying has been trying to pretend that nothing has happened—she doesn't talk about Sheng’s arrest, she does her best to ensure that Tao will make a perfect recovery, and she even pretends that nothing has changed after she learns of Wei’s role in Sheng’s arrest. But things have changed, as she invariably acknowledges in the dark of night or when she leave the villa on errands. Trying to avoid her pain only makes it worse.
Themes
Kai Ying hears Meizhen crying briefly, then silence. She loves having a baby in the house; it makes her hopeful for the future. She wonders how different her life would be if her second baby had lived. It—her miscarriage happened so early she never knew if it was a boy or girl—would have been three now. She tries to remind herself of how much she has to be grateful for, but still feels uncharacteristic self-pity.
Meizhen and Suyin give Kai Ying hope for the future because they remind her that good can come from the darkest circumstances. Their survival against terrible odds reminds Kai Ying that she, too, can survive what life gives her. And, as chosen family, they enrich her life and fill in the gap left by her miscarriage.
Themes
