The Wise Mother

By Sam Zhang

If we have to choose a person who is the smartest and most cunning, Four-eyes’ mother is definitely that person. She helped her son to get out from the re-education, and finds him a job in the city. We can further explore this character in the novel by looking at the way she tries to help her son out.
The first time when she met Ma in the city, she was surprised and happy to see him because she thinks that Ma is Luo. Four-eyes’ mother complains about how much she hates Ma because of the suitcase. She also complains that Ma has punched her son. She is trying to worsen Ma and Luo’s friendship. She thinks that Luo could be a good friend with Four-eyes, therefore, she tries to make a good impression in front of him.
Four-eyes’ mother feels unsafe with her books, so she brings her son to the city and tries to hide the suitcase, which is full of forbidden books. When she and her son come back home from the celebration, she realizes that somebody has touched her suitcase. She firstly suspects Luo and Ma, since they always trying to borrow Four-eyes’ books. She hear some sound in the room, and soon is alerted that the suitcase might be stolen.
Lastly, Four-eyes’ mother really loves her son. She is smart person, but she was deceived by her son several times. The most significant thing is that she finds a job for Four-eyes in the city. The percentage of getting out of the village is only three out of a thousand, so we can imagine how hard it is for him to get a job. The job requires Four-eyes to write mountain poems, however, he just copies from the old miller. When Four-eyes’ mother hears that Luo punched her son, she is really angry and complains about that to Ma.