“Saboteur by Ha Jin focuses on a newly-wed couple eating their lunch before catching a train at the end of their honeymoon. Police officers seated at a table next to them throw tea on him and Mr. Chiu (the husband) demands an apology. The officers arrest him for being a saboteur, claiming that he disrupted the public order on purpose. He is thrown in jail and begins to suffer a fever from his hepatitis (which he was worried about relapsing.) The officers do not have money to give him. His wife sends one of his former students, now a lawyer, to free Mr. Chiu. The law student, Fenjin, is cuffed to a tree and has water thrown on him for calling a police officer a “bandit.” while attempting to free Mr. Chiu. (p.12) The police use Fenjin as a hostage in order to get Mr. Chiu to confess to his ‘crime.’ As they are leaving, Mr. Chiu and Fenjin eat at several restaurants, so he can spread his hepatitis in revenge. The title is ironic because Mr. Chiu turns into a saboteur when he never was one before.
The problem Mr. Chiu faces in this story would not be so common in America. He faces the issue of giving up his pride and honor through his confession. This is a very important idea in Chinese culture and one does not put their honor on the line for no reason. He knows that his confession would be a lie but is still forced to give it or watch Fenjin suffer and continue to be imprisoned himself. This story also presents the idea of authority. Mr. Chiu tries to use his status as a scholar in order to intimidate the police men and receive his apology. In the end though, the school does not come to his aid and the police get what they want even though they were in the wrong. The police men are using their authority over the people. When Mr. Chiu was arrested, they said there was a witness to his crime. I think it is possible that this witness was forced to lie as well in order to save their business or their own skin.