“Anyone who fights monsters should be careful not to become a monster, and if you look long enough into the abyss, the abyss will look into you.” These immortal words spoken by 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche sum up the plight of the protagonist of Ha Jin's Saboteur. Mr. Chiu starts out as an upstanding citizen who stands up for his rights. He is tortured physically and psychologically by a corrupt justice system until he is transformed into a psychopath driven by the desire to kill innocent people as a demented form of retaliation against those who tortured him. Ha uses Mr. Chiu to show the reader how corruption can spread like a disease and both are indiscriminate killers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essaySaboteur, is set shortly after the Cultural Revolution in China, which occurred in 1966, and continued until 1976 after the death of Communist Party leader Mao Zedong. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Mao asked the boys to rise up and help purge the state by joining the People's Liberation Army (PLA), subsequently eradicating any political figures opposing the power. Communist Party Chairman Liu Shaoqi was imprisoned along with many of his supporters. After Mao eliminated all divergent political representatives, China descended into chaos. Mao used the PLA to restore order before eliminating anyone brave enough to speak out against the Communist Party or the direction it had taken. During the Cultural Revolution, millions of people suffered incarceration, torture, or property appropriation. It is said that over 1.5 million people were exterminated during this reign of terror (Cultural Revolution). Ha was a teenager when the terror of “revolution” subjugated Chinese citizens; From the age of fourteen to nineteen he volunteered in the People's Liberation Army (Jin Ha). The Saboteur's protagonist, Chiu Maguang, serves as the voice of the writer's internal struggle, instigated by the corruption of the political party he once believed in. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist has just gotten married. Chiu and his new bride are sitting enjoying a lunch while waiting to catch the train as the story begins. While Ha completes the scene by giving the reader an almost panoramic view of the couple, he foreshadows the horrors to come for the reader with images of rotten melons stinking in the air. An obnoxious policeman throws tea across the dining room soaking Mr. Chiu and his wife's shoes, which angers said husband. The policeman believes he is above the law of common decency and not only does he not apologize for his actions, he calls Mr. Chiu a liar. This is where the main conflict of the story begins and the overall theme of corruption and how it can spread like a virus. The policeman and another man catch the protagonist for disturbing the peace, beat him and take him to the railway police station. When he arrives at the police station, Chiu is still confident that things will be okay for him once he talks to someone in charge. The reader soon realizes that this is not the case. During the interrogation Chiu is told that the only way to get out is to sign an official statement admitting his guilt. Being a proud scholar was not Chiu's option. When the protagonist begins to feel stomach discomfort, he informs a guard that he has heart disease, as well as hepatitis, and that he needs his medicine. The guard tells him he will have to wait until Monday and,. 2013.