Blog Post #8

Life and Death in Shanghai / Nien Cheng

By- Ava Daniels

"These handcuffs are to punish you for your intransigence. You will wear them until you are ready to confess" (110).

The quote above was taken from the first page of the excerpt written by Nien Cheng. Throughout this reading, these handcuffs were very significant and important to the true story she is telling. Cheng is being held in a prison for a crime that that the guards are trying to get her to confess about; Instead, she refuses to confess to something she did not do. Prior to the handcuffs, Cheng was called into an interrogation room to try and get her to confess. She undergoes numerous forms of torture by multiple guards at this prison. They then realized that they are going to get nothing out of her and proceed to put the handcuffs on and place her in a very small and dark holding cell. Not only do the handcuffs, which are very tight, cause excruciating pain to Cheng's hands, they also start to affect every aspect of her life while in the cell. She begins to have very swollen, blue, and lifeless hands. She has no way to eat her food which causes her to fall vey weak. Guards were coming in and out trying to get her to confess to this crime that she says she did not commit. By the third day in the cell, the handcuffs begin to take a toll on her mental state and she feels absolutely lifeless, not being able to feel her feet. One part that really illustrated the trauma she went through while in this prison was when she goes into detail about how the blisters on all of her toes had popped and dried, causing her socks to stick to the bottoms of her feet. This also stems from the handcuffs. I think that the handcuffs were a staple and test of her will power and strength. The excerpt ends by Cheng saying "...I believe the main reason I was able to survive was the Maoist Revolutionaries failed to break my fighting spirit" (128).

Comments

Parker said…
I totally agree that the handcuffs play a huge part in this story. Nien Cheng had suffered a lot in prison, and the handcuffs were the most brutal thing to have happen to her. She describes this time with the handcuffs in a way to show how strong her will is in this dark troubling time.
January 30, 2023 at 11:23 AM
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