The One with the Buffalo

The buffalo represents the hypocrisy of the villagers and their wavering position within the Cultural Revolution. The villagers embraced the Revolutionary ideals when it benefited them, yet they followed their own values when they saw fit. A quote from the killing of the buffalo states, “A few minutes later a bunch of children came running with the news the headman of Four-Eyes Village had deliberately pushed a buffalo over a precipice. The slaughter was disguised as an accident; the perpetrator claimed that the beast had lost its footing on a tight bend” (92). This staged accident was very dangerous to the peasants’ safety “because it was against the law to slaughter working animals that were used in the fields” (90).Though it was illegal to kill working animals, the villagers did it anyway for celebration and pleasure. The Cultural Revolution was widespread, but evidently wasn't deep rooted, as we can tell from the peasants' shifting and mercurial natures. They still embraced their intellectual liberty by ignoring the influence of the Revolution. This shows how the Cultural Revolution hasn’t completely succeeded in brainwashing its people; instead, peasants secretly disobey its rules.
This symbolism connects to the breaking of Four-Eyes' glasses. The breaking of his glasses represented reeducation and the deterioration of intellectual liberty, but the slaughter of the buffalo represents the push against the Cultural Revolution's iron grip and the reemergence of intellectual liberty.