Blindness

The water buffalo is an important symbol for the Chinese people under the influence of communism. The peasants work painstakingly long hours in the fields for the benefit of greater China. They do not eat well, receive poor pay, and are treated like slaves. However, most of the peasants happily complete the work because they believe they are benefiting the greater good of Red China and Chairman Mao, whom they believe would never lead them astray. As the novel progresses, Joy transforms from the perfect communist proletariat, believing the same propaganda as the rest of the peasants, to an informed, suspicious, and determined woman who realizes that the peasants, like the water buffalo, only complete the backbreaking work because they are blind to what is truly going on around them. The bloody legs of the water buffalo will also symbolize the painful ways the government harms the people...