Sijie uses the symbol of Four Eye’s glasses to represent education. Four Eyes is the most educated person on the mountain: he comes from an educated family, his mother is a poet, and he not only can read but has a secret stash of books hidden in his house. In addition, he is also the only person on the mountain with glasses. Although his glasses break in a farming accident, he still has to continue his daily tasks, carrier bundles of rice to the village. Even before the task, the author describes him as “lost and stricken, even before he had hoisted the hod of rice onto his back” (Sijie 53). His glasses represent education and intelligence; without them, he is helpless. His lack of glasses represent blindness in both real life and in education. In addition, without his glasses he acts “as if he had been blinded. 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” (Sijie 47). His glasses are the symbol of the educated, which Mao’s Cultural Revolution is trying to stamp out. Hence, the peasants are “jeering” at him, or making fun of him, because of his educated background. Again, he is blinded again by the lack of his glasses.
Without his glasses, Four Eyes is weak and vulnerable. He represents the part of China Mao is trying to eliminate. In fact, in the farming incident, the buffalo knocked his glasses out. Although this may have been unintentional, the buffalo represents the goals of the communist revolution: stamping out education and all intellectual liberty.
That being said, his glasses connect to the theme of intellectual liberty. Without his glasses, he is helpless and is unable to read his hidden books, the embodiment of intellectuals in the Cultural Revolution. Four Eye’s glasses represent education and intellectual liberty.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a great analysis of the symbolism of Four-Eyes' glasses! Do you think him receiving new glasses is related to him eventually being rescued from the Phoenix of the Sky?
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of the glasses' symbolism is really interesting! Furthermore, by losing the glasses, Four-Eyes is "coming of age" to a new reality where his past advantages are useless, if not disadvantageous. Do you think that the loss of glasses could also represent a loss of innocence, or a loss of guidance that comes with being an adult?
ReplyDeleteGood job touching on all the key points of Four-Eyes' glasses, it represents a lot of themes. Do you think that his glasses also represented a weakness in his hard-working character?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the new glasses also represent hope, as he is able to return to the city?
ReplyDeleteThis can connect to the theme of coming of age, as the glasses can also represent four-eyes coming to terms with the cultural revolution and understanding that the cultural revolution may not have resigned him to a fate of living in a village for the rest of his life.
that's intense
DeleteThis analysis is very good and does a great job at connecting Four-Eyes' glasses to intellectual liberty and the Cultural Revolution. Do you think the buffalo being killed for Four-Eyes' party and him keeping the tail is connected to the symbolism you have made above? I think you can also make a connection to hope. When Four-Eyes breaks his glasses, he has loses his hope but when Four-Eyes gets his new glasses, he is renewed with hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting analysis of the symbolism of the glasses. I never really associated the glasses with knowledge but your idea clearly showed your thinking and helped me to better understand this symbol.
ReplyDeleteReading the connections you made between the glasses and intellectual liberty was very interesting. How do you think his glasses relate to his individualism in a place where it seems he is at risk of being dehumanized?
ReplyDeleteDo you guys think that when Four Eye's glasses break it is a symbol of reeducation and agriculture getting the best of him? I think this passage definitely shows a lot of intellectual freedom but also its limits.
ReplyDeleteThe analysis of this symbolism is very mind-provoking. Because 4 Eyes has the "promise" of his mother and new glasses to escape from the Phoenix in the Sky, what promises do you think he will lose now that he has left the mountain and gone back to the city?
ReplyDeleteThis analysis is interesting because I never really associated the glasses with knowledge, but this well displays how Four-Eyes believes he is higher on the social scale because of an object.
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed with the insightful connections you made here relating the glasses with themes of intellectual liberty and the cultural revolution as a whole. Do you think that the glasses also have the potential to represent hope, as Four Eyes's intellect was his only hope in getting off of the mountain and accomplishing greater things in his life?
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ReplyDeleteDo you think that the glasses can also symbolize clarity or the ability to be able to see things in a different light in comparison to other people?
ReplyDeleteI can see that the glasses symbolize intellectual liberty as its primary and literal function is to help people see things clearly. Clearly because of his family background, Four-eyes perceives the world differently from the other villagers in re-education. I think that these glasses symbolically shows the ability for Four-eyes to be able to think on a different level from other people.