The Attacking Lice - Symbolism
- "I had a vision of my body as a rallying ground for armies of lice, all thrilled at the change of diet, ravenous for the delights offered by my poor veins" (71).
- "A bug-infested bed upon which Four-Eyes lay, fighting to stay awake in case the old man happened to sing snatches of sincere, authentic folk songs in his sleep, while the lice swarmed out of their hiding places to attack in the dark, sucking his blood, skating on the slippery lenses of his spectacles, which he hadn't removed for the night" (65).
Sijie uses the symbol of lice to demonstrate the hardships of re-education and the Cultural Revolution. The lice illustrate how the narrator, Luo, and Four Eyes all suffered in the mountains due to the re-education program, and shows how they felt like the government attacked them by restricting their freedom, just like the lice physically attacked them in the old miller's house. The lice represent the boys’ loss of intellectual liberty as they are forced to re-educate themselves instead of being their own individuals. They have to follow strict rules that prevent them from having religious, intellectual, social and political freedoms. The lice remind the boys of how their fate of re-education has caused them to lose education and other aspects of their life that they value. This symbol of lice also relates to Four Eyes’ glasses, as they represent education and liberty. Even with the lice attacking him, Four Eyes “hadn’t removed [the glasses] for the night” (65). The re-education program is hard and restraining, yet Four Eyes does not let that stop him from trying to find education, which is proven by the fact that he does not remove these glasses even when he sleeps.
