The Answer By Bei Dao Summary

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“The answer” is a trenchant denouncement in reply to the communist regime’s inhumane treatment to the Chinese citizens. Throughout “The Answer”, there has been a subtle motif of escapism portrayed to shed light onto the communist regime’s oppressive nature. Bei dao focuses on superstition, a form of escapism, to envision a brighter future, yet metaphorically evoke the repressed mind of Chinese citizens during the Cultural Revolution from the Communist regime despite the possible sense of hope.

Bei Dao clearly portrays the oppression of the communist regime throughout the poem by using carefully chosen diction, such as, “base” and “debasement”; Bei Dao refers to the citizens of China as the “base”, evoking that the citizen is the most critical part of China as they are what the nation relies on like a structure’s “base”. However, as a contrast, “debasement” …show more content…

Such “debasement” of the “base” will inevitably will cause imminent chaos and instability of the authorities, suggesting not only a destruction of the civilians of CHina but also the collapse of the country. The use of color, gold from “gilded”, possibly insinuates that the poet views the sky as a heavenly place, in association with color, however, describe as “covered”, portrays the world is oppressed by the communist regime by a larger force than even the sky. This is where Bei dao first introduces his superstitions, such as, believing in life after death, as he glorifies the sky as a haven where dead people should rest after death. However, in contrary to his belief, he claims there are “drifting twisted shadows of the dead”; “Drifted” paints a picture of loss of direction and random movement as if the dead souls cannot find rest in heaven where they should be. This further paints a canvas of the communist's suppressive nature which hyperbolically suggests that the communist regime does not only affect citizens when they are alive but even when they are dead as they are still

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