Mrs. Ingalls
LI210 Writing About Literature
February 2nd, 2015
What Goes Around Can Kill You “Your crime is sabotage” (Jin 395). This quote is key to understanding the short story “Saboteur” as Mr. Chiu is put into prison for a crime he claims he did not commit. The quote and title have an obvious correlation displaying that there is sabotage in this story. The story is full of actions and reactions that escalate beyond necessity. In this short story, Jin uses conflicts to show that people will do whatever they think is to their benefit regardless of the constraints of the law. There was an evident conflict between Chiu and his body. He, at one point, has a fever and starts “shaking with a chill and sweating profusely” (397). Later down the page, Jin explains that Mr. Chiu has a heart disease and hepatitis that is keeping him from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Because of this ailment that Chiu has, he makes the decision that he must do anything to get out of that prison even if it means illegally lying and taking the blame for something that he did not do. Since there was no doctor on duty, Mr. Chiu signs the paper proclaiming his self-criticism. In doing so, Chiu and Fenjin are released showing that Chiu disregards the law to do what he thinks is right. On page 401, Chiu begins to spread his internal conflict which is his disease to do again what he thinks is best, which, in this case, is seek revenge. The external conflict between Chiu and “the stout policeman” (394) begins in the second paragraph of the short story when the policeman throws a bowl of hot tea water on the two newlywed’s feet. The conflict really develops as Chiu and the policeman get into an argument at the square until “The [policeman] pulled out his pistol” (394). In this quote, the policeman has no reason to threaten Mr. Chiu with his pistol, but he disregards the law and forces Chiu to obey him and takes him to the station with the other policeman falsely calling him a “saboteur” (394). The policeman later prove that they will do anything without regarding the constraints of the law by torturing Fenjin who was sent by Chiu’s wife to bail out Mr. Chiu. One of the men kept pouring just enough water on Fenjin so that it will “keep [him] from getting sunstroke” (399). The