“Saboteur” By: Brittany Easter November 1, rd Period

Author and Background Information Author: Ha Jin Background Info: The Communists created the People’s Republic because they wanted China to covert to communism. During Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, many political leaders were removed from power and incarcerated. Many were even executed. Today, China is a communist nation.

Theme The theme of “Saboteur” is to treat others how you want to be treated. The reason this is the theme is because the police treated Mr. Chiu terribly and, in return, he gave them and a good amount of the people in Muji hepatitis. Maybe if they hadn’t of treated him so bad, he wouldn’t have given them the hepatitis.

Plot Mr. Chiu and his wife were at the train station getting ready to return from their honeymoon. The police threw hot tea at their feet & wrongfully arrested Mr. Chiu for complaining about it. Mr. Chiu was held unlawfully in jail for several days & when his wife sent a lawyer to come bring him home, the police beat him as well. Mr. Chiu couldn’t stand to have someone else beat over him, so he signed a paper admitting he was in the wrong just to go back home and free his friend. On their way home, Mr. Chiu stopped at all the food places after getting free & ate a bunch of food. This gave the people of Muji hepatitis.

Characters/Speakers & Descriptions Mr. Chiu: A recently married man with hepatitis who was wrongfully arrested. Mrs. Chiu: Mr. Chiu’s bride. Old policeman: Throws hot tea at the Chius and arrests Mr. Chiu. Young policeman: Laughs at Mr. Chiu and his wife and follows the old policeman’s ways. Guard: Guards Mr. Chiu in prison. Fenjin: A lawyer friend of Mr. Chiu who tries to free him, but ends up getting beat up by the old policeman.

Conflict The conflict of this story was that Mr. Chiu & his wife were just trying to get home. However, the police at the train station treated them with cruel and unusual punishment & arrested Mr. Chiu. They also didn’t want to let him go and his hepatitis was stirring up and he didn’t have his medicine. They also beat up the lawyer who tried to come free him. The only way they would let them go was for Mr. Chiu to sign a paper admitting to a crime he did not commit.

Resolution Mr. Chiu signed the paper, but then got his revenge on the police officers. He took Fenjin with him to the different restaurants to eat. He always ordered two bowls of food, but never ate all of what he got. Shortly after the majority of the town ended up with hepatitis & some even died. Therefore, he got his revenge on the men who wronged him.

Memorable Line or Passage: “While eating, he kept saying through his teeth, “If only I could kill all the bastards!” The reason I liked this was because it expresses how Mr. Chiu was angry about how he was wrongly treated & it shows how he was determined to get revenge on those who had wronged him. He was trying to give his hepatitis to the police officers to show them what suffering was like.

Questions 1.) Do you think the police officers contracted hepatitis? 2.) Why did Mr. Chiu eat at all the different restaurants? 3.) Do you think that what he did was wrong?

Interesting Information or Ideas There are 5 different forms of the hepatitis virus. It is the information of the liver. The most common types in the U.S. are: A, B, & C. In recent years, they have found D & E.

Interesting Information or Ideas Cont’d Hepatitis A Transmitted through fecal contaminated food or water and anal/oral contact. Hepatitis B (HBV) & Hepatitis C (HCV) HBV- transmitted through contact with infected body fluids. HCV- blood born virus & transmitted blood to blood.

Interesting Information or Ideas Cont’d Can you visit someone with hepatitis? –Yes. It is perfectly safe to. Hepatitis is not transmitted through physical contact. It is OK to: –Shake hands –Hug –Kiss

Interesting Information or Ideas Cont’d Can it be sexually transmitted? –Yes. Hepatitis B (HBV) can be contracted through sexual intercourse. –HBV is found in blood, semen, or vaginal fluids. –100 times more infectious than the HIV virus. –Sexual partners of an infected person should practice safe sex. –Partners not affect should get the HBV vaccine. HCV cannot be sexually transmitted. Hepatitis A may be spread through anal/oral contact during sex.

Interesting Information or Ideas Cont’d Is treatment available for hepatitis patients? –Hepatitis A: no treatment for hepatitis A. –Hepatitis B: treatment for chronic hepatitis B usually consists of Alpha interferon and lamivudine. –Hepatitis C: treatment for HCV will be interferon, ribavirin, and teleprevir or boceprevir. –Chronic hepatitis D: is usually treated with pegylated interferon. –Hepatitis E: usually resolves on its own over several weeks to months.

The End