“He was so enraged that he didn’t hear our jovial shouts of greeting. He was very short-sighted and was unable to distinguish us from the jeering peasants in the neighboring paddy fields… His vision restored to its former clarity, Four-eyes was shocked to see the state Luo was in.” page 47
“‘How could you waste all that time writing down this drivel? I can’t believe it. Do you seriously think an official journal would even consider publishing this shit? That they’d give me a job on the strength of this? You must be out of your minds.’ The change he had undergone since receiving his mother’s letter was truly remarkable. A few days before it would have been unthinkable for him to snap at us like this. I hadn’t suspected that a tiny glimmer of hope for the future could transform someone so utterly. He was insanely arrogant and his voice seethed with longing and hatred.” pages 77-78
Sijie uses the symbol of Four-Eyes’s glasses to demonstrate how hope can make a person irrational in their desperation to see something come to fruition.
When Four-Eyes is without his glasses, he is “so enraged that he didn’t hear our jovial shouts of greeting,”(Sijie 47) and was unable to distinguish friends from “the jeering peasants”(Sijie 47). This demonstrates how enraged he becomes without his ability to see. However, when his glasses are on “His vision restored to its former clarity, Four-Eyes was shocked,”(Sijie 47).
These glasses connect to the theme of hope because when Four-Eyes loses his glasses and receives the letter from his mother, it gives him a sense of hope of returning to his former life and receiving his glasses. Further, glasses are a symbol of him being composed and clear-headed But when it seems all is lost, Four-Eyes becomes highly desperate, arrogant, and angry, saying “‘Do you seriously think an official journal would even consider publishing this shit?’” The narrator continues to say that “a tiny glimmer of hope for the future…transform[s] someone so utterly.” These “glasses” of hope have actually compromised his vision so he is fully desperate. This desperation damages his relationship with those around him and causes him to be a more arrogant, insipid person.
On page 105, the narrator takes note of the tail sitting on top of the books in the suitcase. It was the tail from “the unfortunate buffalo responsible for breaking Four Eye’s glasses.” This is symbolic because it connects back to when Four-Eyes got angry about the broken glasses when he got the chance, he got his revenge. With this quote being at the end of the chapter where Luo and the narrator try to steal from Four-Eyes, they’re playing with his hope, the books, and that could come back around and get them.
I had never seen Four-Eyes's glasses in this way, and that is super interesting how it is connected to the main focus topic of hope. So were his glasses and equal symbol of hope to Four Eyes as the books were to Luo and the Narrator? If Four-Eyes ALSO had the books, how come the boys still seemed more hopeful than Four-Eyes?
ReplyDeleteThe glasses embody the hope within the characters.
ReplyDeleteHow does getting his glasses again connect with him getting a job a feeling hope from it?
Do you think that the glasses could connect to coming of age for Four Eyes? The symbolism behind him not being able to see and becoming dependent on the narrator and Luo could show how he was reliant on their support. Yet once Four Eyes gains clarity later on in the novel with the revolutionary writing he takes power for himself.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you connect references from the text to other symbols that specifically relate to the character. I love how you also included a theme of revenge and jealousy and tied it to such a starkly different theme like hope.
ReplyDeleteWithout reading this I would have never connected four eyes together with the subject of hope, but after reading it opened my eyes and is super interesting to notice. Could it also connect to jealousy though? With the narrator and Luo being jealous that he still has a piece of the city with him, connecting him to his parents and therefore the reason he is able to leave his re-education early?
ReplyDeleteI had never thought of the glasses being connected to hope so this is a fresh and original perspective. Do you think that the glasses also represent intellectual liberty? Although it is a tad on the nose, is there an even deeper connection between the glasses, intellectual liberty, and hope?
ReplyDeleteWhy would hope make him more arrogant and insipid? What does this say about the conditions of his life and the Cultural Revolution?
ReplyDeleteThe glasses also connect to coming-of-age because these glasses of hope are his chance to go to the city and leave re-education. When he goes to the city, he will change and grow and hopefully mature, because he is in a different, better life than re-education.
I really like how you viewed Four-eyes as a character embodying the symbolism of hope! That being said, how do you think hope changes how/what four-eyes does from these parts of the story to when he was freed from re-education.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to see that the glasses can be viewed as a symbol of hope. Do you think the glasses are also a representation of how Four-Eyes changes as time passes?
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