Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individual Identity Under Communism
Class and Communism
Freedom of Expression vs. Propaganda
Political Oppression, Isolation, and Divided Communities
Storytelling, Family Connection, and History
Summary
Analysis
In 1989 Shanghai, after the students have declared they will not retreat from Tiananmen Square, Sparrow is more productive than he has been in weeks at the factory—he feels that music newly infuses everything he does. In the outside world, Hong Kong entrepreneurs have sent tents and fresh supplies to the students in the Square. There are rumors that the People’s Liberation Army is planning a coup. When Sparrow gets home, he calls Big Mother Knife, who tells him that although she hasn’t joined the protests, she believes in the students’ cause. She also has news for him: Wen the Dreamer and Swirl have sent her a letter, and they are coming home. The government’s convictions against Wen have been lifted, and Sparrow can expect them at his house in the winter. Big Mother Knife tells him that they know everything—they know that Zhuli is dead.
Sparrow shows how deeply he has re-embraced himself in being so energized by playing music. Hong Kong’s intervention in the protests shows readers that the student demonstrations have drawn international attention—although the rumor that the army is planning a coup suggests that the Chinese government might not think that international disapproval matters much. Additionally, the fact that Wen the Dreamer and Swirl are able to come back to China after being away for so long shows that the government is changing in this period, even if it is not changing as much or as quickly as the students would like.
Themes
The next day, having stayed late at Tiananmen Square with Yiwen the night before, Ai-ming sleeps until noon. She plans to go to the Square that night but not to stay too long—she wants to come home and get a good night’s rest. As Sparrow sleeps through the afternoon, the radio broadcasts over and over, “All Beijing citizens must be on high alert! Please stay off the streets and away from Tiananmen Square! All workers should remain at their posts and all citizens should stay at home to safeguard their lives!” Neither he nor Ai-ming believes that the army will re-enter the city.
Here, the alarming warnings broadcasted on the radio suggest that the army does plan to re-enter the city. Sparrow and Ai-ming are likely so enthused by the people’s former victory over the army that they don’t give the warnings much importance. Still, the messages on the radio show that the government plans to continue to repress the people’s free expression, through violence if necessary.
Themes
Suddenly, there is a knock on the door, and Ai-ming answers it to a harried woman with a stain of “dried red mud” on her clothing. She is one of Sparrow’s coworkers and she begs him for help. Two of their coworkers have been hit by the army, she says, and she needs to bring them to Sparrow’s apartment. Sparrow instructs Ai-ming to stay with Ling and leaves with his colleague. Ling, holding Sparrow’s new composition, The Sun Shines on the People’s Square, asks Ai-ming, “Why did he go with her […] Doesn’t he know what’s happening out there? Does he really believe that he can carry on as if he is invisible?”
The “dried red mud” on the woman’s hair is clearly blood, which is the first sign that violence is occurring in the city. What’s more, it is symbolic that Ling is holding on to Sparrow’s composition—this is his record, the story he has chosen to tell of his life, and the way that he has been able to express his identity after so many years of repression. This is what will be left of him when he dies.
Themes
Later that night, Ai-ming is trying to distract herself by studying for the entrance exams when Yiwen knocks on her window. Crying, she begs Ai-ming to come outside, and Ai-ming does. As they run out the courtyard, Ai-ming remembers that she forgot to close the window. When she goes back to shut it, she sees Ling hovering in the doorway. “Ai-ming, come back,” her mother says.
Ai-ming demonstrates her loyalty to Yiwen by leaving the house even though, by that point, she knows that there is violence in the street. She also shows her commitment to advocating for what’s right, even if it means sacrificing her own life. In this way, she mirrors Zhuli, who died for her commitment to freedom of expression.
Themes
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Outside, Ai-ming cannot recognize the streets of Beijing as her own: bricks and debris are everywhere, and the smoke from “at least a dozen fires” clouds the air. Yiwen yells to her that the army is killing people all over the city—including in the neighborhood where Sparrow went with the coworker who came to the door.
Here, the knowledge that the army is shooting in the part of the city where Sparrow is gives Ai-ming a taste of the fear that Sparrow and his family lived with during the Cultural Revolution. She now sees firsthand how political violence can separate families.
Themes
Sparrow, with his coworker, is surrounded by the army. He feels that there are more soldiers and more people on the streets with every passing moment. One of their other coworkers has been hit with a bullet, and they go to lift him out of the rubble. Sparrow, weak, worries that he will bring them all down if he falls. He and his coworkers place the injured man on a flatbed tricycle, and Sparrow feels “an anger that had seemed long gone, or had never existed in him before.”
Sparrow’s anger rising up can be seen as the parts of him that have been repressed for so long finally coming to the surface. This violence likely triggers painful and infuriating memories of the violence his own family experienced during the Cultural Revolution, that led to so much loss and suffering.
Themes
Near home now, Sparrow hears on the loudspeaker the radio repeating, over and over, “Go home, Go home.” As he approaches his own neighborhood, he begins to feel, incongruously, safe. He sees a young couple with a baby stranded beneath an awning. The man tells the woman they need to go home, but the woman refuses, saying, “We’re trapped, they’re shooting there.” Across the street, Sparrow sees a teenager pointing a camera, taking pictures. The soldiers turn and shoot him, one coming forward to bayonet him in the stomach. Sparrow runs toward the teenager to try to help him, trying to stop the blood streaming from the teenager’s wounds. Minutes later, Sparrow lifts the boy’s body onto a cart.
Here, the soldiers’ decision to shoot the teenager with the camera stems from their desire to hide what is really happening from the public eye. This suggests that their operations are covert, and that it is unlikely the government will admit to any violence once this moment is over. The teenager, on the other hand, represents freedom of press, in some ways; as a citizen, he should have the right to document what is happening all around him. Instead, due to the government’s repression, he dies for this.
Themes
Again, Sparrow sees the stranded young couple. The woman senses an opportune moment and darts into an alleyway; the man, frozen with fear, stays in place. Sparrow suddenly begins to run toward the soldiers. He remembers Big Mother Knife saying to him, “Never forget: if you sing a beautiful song, if you faithfully remember all of the words, the People will never abandon the musician.” He thinks of Zhuli, of carrying her body home from the Conservatory; he thinks of Kai and the letter Sparrow sent just weeks earlier, saying he would come to Hong Kong. He thinks of Ling and Ai-ming, all the while running toward the soldiers.
Sparrow, like Zhuli, gives up his life for what he believes in. It’s interesting that he associates music with this moment, in which he attacks the soldiers in protest of their violence and oppression. Perhaps music is a stand-in for the expression of anything that is true or meaningful. Indeed, in attacking the soldiers, Sparrow demonstrates his commitment to what he believes, which is that the soldiers and the government they serve are wrong and oppressive.
Themes
Ai-ming is in Tiananmen Square with Yiwen—they, along with hundreds of other students, slept in the Square all night. Two professors who participated in the hunger strike with the students run back and forth between their tent and the army, trying to negotiate a peaceful retreat. Every so often, the students are asked to vote whether they will leave or stay. While Ai-ming wants to leave while they still can, Yiwen wants to stay. “Other people died for us!” she shouts, not wanting her fellow protesters’ lives to have been sacrificed in vain.
In this moment, the student demonstrations are chaos. They are faced with a difficult decision: they must choose either their lives or advocating for what they believe in until the very end. This is the exact choice that Zhuli was faced with at the end of her life. Both options result in the students’ inability to fully live: either they die, or they give up a key part of their identity and belief system.
Themes
Slowly, the soldiers close in on the students, forcing them into a tight funnel. Some start screaming. Others try to fight back, but still, they are being forced forward and out of the Square. As they leave, the leaders begin singing the Internationale: “Arise, slaves, arise! / Do not say that we have nothing. / We shall be the masters of the world!” Ai-ming and Yiwen break off from the crowd to make their way home, avoiding gunfire when they hear it.
Here, the students’ choice to sing the Internationale clearly shows that they believe the government is hypocritical. The student demonstrations were in line with communist values, which stress the importance of the government responding to the people’s needs. Instead, however, the government has chosen to repress the voices of the people.
Themes
