Justice

The theme of justice is central to the main murder mystery plot. The main thrust of the novel is whether the killer can be brought to justice. Chen is devoted to the pursuit of justice. The question posed by the ambiguous ending to the case, however, is whether justice was served. In a pure sense it can be argued that justice was indeed served by Wu's execution. Death is the ultimate punishment for his crimes. However, Wu is not executed because he killed Guan. He is executed for corrupt behavior and his death is used by the Communist Party to begin a new campaign against the "corruption under Western bourgeois influence." The author does not give an opinion or come to a conclusion, but poses the question of whether it can be truly be considered justice if the victim's story is left untold. It is a just ending...