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Pages 43-61
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dark Forest, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Communication, Cooperation, and Fear
Survival vs. Morality
Strategy, Dishonesty, and Deception
Love
Hope vs. Despair
Summary
Analysis
After witnessing the death of the woman he was with, Luo Ji wakes up in an unfamiliar room. He doesn’t know exactly where he is. He only knows that he is in a basement room that seems to be 10 stories beneath the surface. A man walks into the room and says his name is Shi Qiang and that he’s a former police officer. Luo Ji immediately says that he had nothing to do with the death of the woman he was with and that it was a traffic accident. At first, Shi Qiang doesn’t tell Luo Ji why he (Shi Qiang) is there, but he eventually says that he’s there to help. Then, another person knocks on the door and tells Shi Qiang that the meeting has been moved up.
Notably, Luo Ji’s immediate reaction when he ends up in the room 10 stories beneath the Earth’s surface is to say that he’s innocent of causing the woman’s death. That, along with Luo Ji’s previous comment that he must learn to live, suggests that Luo Ji is persistently troubled by his conscience. He seems to believe that he is doing something wrong by living his life the way he does, though he also does not seem to know how to change.
Themes
Meanwhile, Zhang Beihai visits his father in the hospital. He tells his father that he has joined the space force and says that the space force will be built on principles of naval combat, which is why he’s suited for the job. He then asks his father for advice and asks what he should do now. His father says only that Zhang Beihai should concentrate on his work and think long and hard before he makes his next move.
Zhang Beihai’s father’s advice seems cryptic and difficult to understand, as he only urges Zhang Beihai to think hard before he makes his next move without explaining what Zhang Beihai’s objective might be. The conversation suggests, though, that Zhang Beihai has some kind of strategic mission and that his “next move” will be significant.
Themes
Shi Qiang returns to the basement room with another young man, who gives Luo Ji a jacket. Luo Ji expects the clothing to be a prisoner’s uniform, but it’s a brown jacket like the one Shi Qiang and the other man are both wearing. Shi Qiang explains that it’s bulletproof. They leave the basement room and get into a car that’s escorted by soldiers in other cars, which takes them to an airport. Fighter jets line the runway. Shi Qiang and Luo Ji board a charter plane that looks like a passenger plane on the outside, but inside, there is a bedroom and an office. Shi Qiang warns Luo Ji that the plane could make some unorthodox maneuvers, and then the plane takes off.
Luo Ji continues to be mystified about where he is and what is happening. The bulletproof jacket that the man gives Luo Ji suggests that Luo Ji may be under threat and that the people around him want to protect him. That suggests that Luo Ji is important to whatever mission Shi Qiang and the other man have been sent to carry out. The military escort and lavish conditions of the plane also suggest that Luo Ji has become part of a well-funded and well-protected plan.
Themes
On the ground, Zhang Beihai and Wu Yue meet. Zhang Beihai says that he has noticed that Wu Yue has been depressed since joining the space force and that Wu Yue is struggling with defeatism. Wu Yue’s defeatism comes from his conviction that the Trisolarans’ advanced technology will guarantee victory for them against humans. Zhang Beihai says that Wu Yue’s attitude is an example of “technofetishism” and “technological triumphalism,” which ignores the role of human qualities like determination and grit in battle.
Notably, after Zhang Beihai meets with his father in the hospital, he confronts Wu Yue about Wu Yue’s defeatism. According to Zhang Beihai, that defeatism stems from Wu Yue’s belief that because the Trisolarans are more technologically advanced than humans, the Trisolarans will necessarily win the war. Zhang Beihai, on the other hand, argues technology won’t be the only factor that determines success on the battlefield.
Themes
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On the plane, Luo Ji and Shi Qiang talk. Luo Ji asks Shi Qiang where they’re going and why. Shi Qiang says he barely knows more about that trip than Luo Ji, and it’s not time to disclose information yet. Shi Qiang adds that he’s not with the police and that the police aren’t involved in this mission. He then details several interrogation techniques, including making people answer the same questions multiple times to see if their answers change and “good cop, bad cop.” He says that to really outsmart interrogators, one should try and remain off their radar and convince those interrogators that one is of no importance whatsoever. The two then go to bed. Out the window, Luo Ji sees four fighter jets flying alongside the plane.
Shi Qiang’s discussion of interrogation techniques, and how to undermine those techniques if one is being interrogated, points to the role that deception and strategic thinking play in the novel. Notably, Shi Qiang says that the most effective strategy to outsmart one’s interrogators is to convince them that one is no significance at all. By remaining off those interrogators’ radar, a person can become free to pursue one’s goals. All of those points will take on greater significance as the novel continues. The four jets outside the plane show the precautions taken by whoever arranged the flight and also reinforce the idea that Luo Ji may be under threat.
Themes
The space force also has a meeting that night. During that meeting, Zhang Beihai gives a presentation about how to spot defeatism in members of the space force and brings up the ideas of “technofetishism” and “technological triumphalism” again. The people listening seem to not be paying close attention until Zhang Beihai directly accuses Wu Yue of falling prey to the kind of defeatism that will doom any chance they have to succeed against the Trisolarans. He then says that Wu Yue isn’t fit for the space force. People in the audience murmur. Wu Yue then speaks up and says that it’s true. He does feel like the effort is hopeless, and he knows that means he should no longer be a member of the space force.
Zhang Beihai doesn’t just confront Wu Yue privately about his defeatism or bring up Wu Yue’s defeatism to a superior officer. Instead, Zhang Beihai announces that defeatism in a meeting and then makes Wu Yue face a kind of public humiliation. That announcement essentially forces Wu Yue to depart from the space force. The announcement also draws attention to Zhang Beihai as a triumphalist and makes it clear the lengths to which he’ll go to try and ferret out defeatism within the space force’s ranks.
Themes
