As I continue to read the book Beijing Coma, I start to realize the similarities between it's story, and the book Night by Elie Wiesel. During the many political revolutions that eventually lead the rise of Mao as the leader of China, there were atrocities similar to those that happened during the holocaust. Many times, Dai Wei talks about the peasent revolts that were brutally squashed by tyrraneous government, which reminds me of how the Nazis were in Germany.
When Dai Wei and a group of his school mates agree to protest at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, they are met with many police as a resistance. They proceed with the protest, and they were attacked, and shut down. When they are in the police station, Dai Wei asks an officer if he believes they will go to prison, and he responds, "I don't know. But they won't let those civilians off. They're the chickens, you are the monkeys. The authorities will kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys" (100). This is a very powerful line because it shows how the police was more harsh towards civilians, then people who go to university, and are higher up in the social status
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2 comments:
It's good that you're making a comparison toward your novel and that which we're reading in class. I also like how you used the lines comparing students to monkeys and civilians as chickens. It is a really way to show the mindset of the time. Overall, I think events in history repeat themselves, whether in Germany or China
I like your comparison between Hitler and Mao. Both of them were horrible dictators and killed millions of people. I think it's awful that the police would arrest the civilians.
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