57 pages • 1 hour read
Madeleine ThienDo Not Say We Have Nothing
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Overview
Throughout this novel, rain appears more than any kind of weather. The characters often use the image of rain to interpret their lives: Sparrow loves playing “Song in the Cold Rain” and Zhuli’s favorite book is The Rain on Mount Ba. Because characters must censor their emotions—in particular, their tears—rain, which physically looks like tears, has therapeutic value.
Symbolically, rain signifies either a big positive change, or a big negative change. For example, just before finding his way to Comrade Glass Eye, Sparrow notices a light rain falling. Locating Comrade Glass Eye is key to Sparrow understanding his family and his life, so in this instance, the rain presages a positive development. Conversely, on the day that Jiang Kai yells at the Professor, “rain smacked the concrete so hard it ricocheted up, hard as pellets” (236). Here, the rain seems to signify a big negative change.
Strikingly, on a day when Ai-Ming’s 18th birthday coincides with the death of one of the major Party officials, “Ai-Ming watched the rain for a long time” (348). This rain marks a change that at first seems like opportunity, but upon a closer look indicates a negative turn. When “heavy rain broke free” the day Sparrow signs up for the independent union (409), the initial positive expectation is dramatically upset when the independent union ends up under attack.
Birds
Bird imagery pervades the novel, from Sparrow’s name, to his later nickname “The Bird of Quiet,” to the many bird metaphors and idioms that characters use in their descriptive language. Yin Chai, the star of the Conservatory, makes Sparrow feel like he is competing against a “the will of the great swan” (119). When Ai-Ming describes her connection to Yiwen to Marie, she writes, “we wished to fly to heaven, two birds joined wingtip to wingtip” (111). Characters are often described as birds: besides Sparrow, Wen and Big Mother Knife are said to be carrier pigeons, while Jian calls to mind the “mythical bird with one eye and one wing” (161). There is even a type of calligraphy called “bird writing” revealing once again how important birds are to these characters and their culture (188).
Trees
Trees are a heavy part of these characters’ conscious thoughts, helping them make sense of the world. Trees usually symbolize safety, love, and stability. When Jiang Kai, Zhuli and Sparrow find “a flowering pear tree,” it is a “refuge” (126). Later, when Jiang Kai has a difficult and honest moment with Sparrow, “they were sheltered by a willow” (236).
When the characters are upset, they turn to tree metaphors for understanding. For example, when Big Mother Knife comes home and finds everyone missing, she starts smashing the dinnerware and saying, “Comrades, amputate the branches and tear down the trees” (290). Also, when Ba Lute is upset about the charges against Wen, he retorts, “Comrade Wen has the aggression of a falling leaf” (117).
