Ha Jin The Saboteur

Who’s to Blame? Revenge puts off an aroma of evil to the outside world when a person seeks to pay someone back for the wrong committed against them. There seems to be no laws against declaring revenge against a neighbor in our country, but society should know that revenge lends no reconciliation to either party. Also, who truly decides the guilty party when both have committed a wrong towards each other? Mr. Chiu, a character in Ha Jin’s story “The Saboteur,” makes the transition from vacationer and victim of saboteur, to the very essence and definition of saboteur; Jin’s use of role-reversal in this story conveys the concept of revenge clearly and effectively. “Mr. Chiu and his bride were having lunch in the square before Muji Train Station” (Jin 179). The young couple had taken a trip to Muji on their honeymoon and were about to head home on the train. “[Mr. Chiu] was glad that the honeymoon was finally over and that he and his bride were heading back for Harbin” (Jin 179). He also stated his joy for avoiding and conquering a long battle with hepatitis during the trip. Mr.
Chiu now realizes his present situation with the hepatitis is worsening, and he also knows he must figure out a way to rescue his student and himself. “Again they took him upstairs to the Interrogation Bureau…He asked the chief, ‘If I sign this, will you release both my lawyer and me?’” (Jin 184). As Chiu and his lawyer left the police station, the man was incredibly sick and determinately seeking revenge. If given the chance, “he would have razed the entire police station and eliminated all their families. Though he knew he could do nothing like that, he made up his mind to do something” (Jin 185). On their way back towards the train station, Mr. Chiu and Fenjin stopped and ate at as many restaurants as possible eating only a few bites at each. “Within a month over eight hundred people contracted acute hepatitis in Muji. Six died of the disease, including two children” (Jin