Do Not Say We Have Nothing

by

Madeleine Thien

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Do Not Say We Have Nothing makes teaching easy.

Comrade Glass Eye Character Analysis

A friend of Ba Lute’s from his days as a Communist Revolutionary. When Sparrow has the chance to travel to the countryside to collect folk songs for the Shanghai Conservatory, Ba Lute tells him to try to meet up with Comrade Glass Eye, who may know where Wen the Dreamer—Sparrow’s missing uncle—is. Indeed, Comrade Glass Eye was at re-education camp with Wen the Dreamer but he doesn’t know where Wen went after that. Comrade Glass Eye himself was released, and Wen the Dreamer told him he planned to escape.

Comrade Glass Eye Quotes in Do Not Say We Have Nothing

The Do Not Say We Have Nothing quotes below are all either spoken by Comrade Glass Eye or refer to Comrade Glass Eye. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Individual Identity Under Communism  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

Written on the inside of the lining were the names of all the men who had died, and the dates of their falling. It is, I believe, the only accurate record that exists. He told me he had a plan to do something more. He would take the names of the dead and hide them, one by one, in the Book of Records, alongside May Fourth and Da-wei. He would populate this fictional world with true names and true deeds. They would live on, as dangerous as revolutionaries but as intangible as ghosts.

Related Characters: Comrade Glass Eye (speaker), Sparrow, Wen the Dreamer
Related Symbols: The Book of Records
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

Men whose only crime was honest criticism were digging ditches and wasting away. Meanwhile, back home, their families lived in ignominy, their kids were hounded in schools or kicked out altogether, their houses were confiscated, their possessions trashed, their wives forced to beg on the streets […]

Related Characters: Comrade Glass Eye (speaker), Sparrow, Wen the Dreamer
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Do Not Say We Have Nothing LitChart as a printable PDF.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing PDF

Comrade Glass Eye Quotes in Do Not Say We Have Nothing

The Do Not Say We Have Nothing quotes below are all either spoken by Comrade Glass Eye or refer to Comrade Glass Eye. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Individual Identity Under Communism  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

Written on the inside of the lining were the names of all the men who had died, and the dates of their falling. It is, I believe, the only accurate record that exists. He told me he had a plan to do something more. He would take the names of the dead and hide them, one by one, in the Book of Records, alongside May Fourth and Da-wei. He would populate this fictional world with true names and true deeds. They would live on, as dangerous as revolutionaries but as intangible as ghosts.

Related Characters: Comrade Glass Eye (speaker), Sparrow, Wen the Dreamer
Related Symbols: The Book of Records
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

Men whose only crime was honest criticism were digging ditches and wasting away. Meanwhile, back home, their families lived in ignominy, their kids were hounded in schools or kicked out altogether, their houses were confiscated, their possessions trashed, their wives forced to beg on the streets […]

Related Characters: Comrade Glass Eye (speaker), Sparrow, Wen the Dreamer
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis: