Do Not Say We Have Nothing

by

Madeleine Thien

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Ai-ming’s father and Big Mother Knife and Ba Lute’s son. As a young man, Sparrow is an accomplished musician who teaches at the Shanghai Conservatory. Sparrow eats, sleeps, and breaths music and he is constantly either listening to one of his favorite classical pieces or writing his own compositions. He is close with his cousin Zhuli, who lives with him and his family, and he has a subtly romantic relationship with his student Jiang Kai. Until the Cultural Revolution, Sparrow dedicates his entire life to music. While many of his contemporaries choose to title their pieces propagandistically, with words like “liberation” and “revolution” in the title, Sparrow only titles his compositions with numbers. However, once the Cultural Revolution hits, Sparrow’s family is targeted in the political uprising. After being tortured and humiliated by the Red Guards, Zhuli commits suicide by hanging herself in Sparrow’s office. Upon finding his cousin’s body, Sparrow is devastated. He is comforted by his friend and fellow student, Ling, and the two eventually have a romantic relationship. Soon, the Shanghai Conservatory is shut down, and Sparrow is sent to work in a radio factory in the south of China. Sparrow could have accepted an offer to play with the orchestra in Beijing but he refuses—he doesn’t believe in Chairman Mao or the policies of the government, and refusal for him is an act of resistance, demonstrating his commitment to his principles. For Sparrow, music transcends politics, but under Mao’s regime, music must have a clear political message. So, choosing not to play music, Sparrow instead dedicates his life to working in the factory. He eventually marries Ling, and when their daughter, Ai-ming, is born, Sparrow becomes her primary caretaker after Ling is transferred to Beijing. As an adult, Sparrow is subdued and quiet, making him a mystery to his young daughter. It is only when the two of them have relocated to Beijing, and the Tiananmen Square protests begin, that Sparrow begins to show his personality again. He begins writing music, a composition called The Sun Shines on the People’s Square, and he becomes actively involved in the demonstrations. Ultimately, Sparrow’s kindness leads to his death: he goes out to help a coworker who has been injured during the Tiananmen Square massacre and he is subsequently shot by soldiers.

Sparrow Quotes in Do Not Say We Have Nothing

The Do Not Say We Have Nothing quotes below are all either spoken by Sparrow or refer to Sparrow. 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 1 Quotes

Remember what I say: music is the great love of the People. If we sing a beautiful song, the People will never abandon us. Without the musician, all life would be loneliness.

Related Characters: Big Mother Knife (speaker), Sparrow
Related Symbols: Music
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Both Kai and her cousin had unassailable class backgrounds, they were Sons of the Soil, Sons of Revolutionary Heroes, Sons of…she laughed and drank the wine.

Related Characters: Jiang Kai (speaker), Zhuli, Sparrow
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
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:
Chapter 6 (II) Quotes

In the new trousers, baby blue shirt, and leather shoes that Ling had given him for the 1988 Spring Festival, her father looked taller. Or, maybe he only looked this way because, when he wore his usual clothes, the uniform of Huizhou Semiconductor Factory No. 1, Sparrow never stood up straight.

Related Characters: Marie / Jiang Li-ling (speaker), Ai-ming, Sparrow, Ling
Related Symbols: The Book of Records
Page Number: 325
Explanation and Analysis:

“The music you used to write, Ba, was it criminal music?” He could only say, “I don’t know.” That same night, he wrote a new banner for the front door which read, May the Red Sun keep rising for ten thousand years, in calligraphy that was accomplished but empty, a fixed smile. He might as well have written Joy! on a plastic bucket.

Related Characters: Marie / Jiang Li-ling (speaker), Ai-ming, Sparrow
Related Symbols: Music
Page Number: 329
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 (II) Quotes

For as long as she could remember, right and wrong had been represented by the Party through color. Truth and beauty, for instance, were hóng (red), while criminality and falsehood were hēi (black). Her mother was red, her father was black.

Related Characters: Ai-ming, Sparrow, Ling
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis:

The architecture was intended to make a person feel insignificant, but Ai-ming felt confusingly large, there was so much room here, a child could run in any pattern, any shape, never encounter anyone or anything.

Related Characters: Ai-ming, Sparrow
Page Number: 357
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sparrow Quotes in Do Not Say We Have Nothing

The Do Not Say We Have Nothing quotes below are all either spoken by Sparrow or refer to Sparrow. 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 1 Quotes

Remember what I say: music is the great love of the People. If we sing a beautiful song, the People will never abandon us. Without the musician, all life would be loneliness.

Related Characters: Big Mother Knife (speaker), Sparrow
Related Symbols: Music
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Both Kai and her cousin had unassailable class backgrounds, they were Sons of the Soil, Sons of Revolutionary Heroes, Sons of…she laughed and drank the wine.

Related Characters: Jiang Kai (speaker), Zhuli, Sparrow
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
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:
Chapter 6 (II) Quotes

In the new trousers, baby blue shirt, and leather shoes that Ling had given him for the 1988 Spring Festival, her father looked taller. Or, maybe he only looked this way because, when he wore his usual clothes, the uniform of Huizhou Semiconductor Factory No. 1, Sparrow never stood up straight.

Related Characters: Marie / Jiang Li-ling (speaker), Ai-ming, Sparrow, Ling
Related Symbols: The Book of Records
Page Number: 325
Explanation and Analysis:

“The music you used to write, Ba, was it criminal music?” He could only say, “I don’t know.” That same night, he wrote a new banner for the front door which read, May the Red Sun keep rising for ten thousand years, in calligraphy that was accomplished but empty, a fixed smile. He might as well have written Joy! on a plastic bucket.

Related Characters: Marie / Jiang Li-ling (speaker), Ai-ming, Sparrow
Related Symbols: Music
Page Number: 329
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 (II) Quotes

For as long as she could remember, right and wrong had been represented by the Party through color. Truth and beauty, for instance, were hóng (red), while criminality and falsehood were hēi (black). Her mother was red, her father was black.

Related Characters: Ai-ming, Sparrow, Ling
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis:

The architecture was intended to make a person feel insignificant, but Ai-ming felt confusingly large, there was so much room here, a child could run in any pattern, any shape, never encounter anyone or anything.

Related Characters: Ai-ming, Sparrow
Page Number: 357
Explanation and Analysis: