Following the rhythm and images in [Haizi’s] poem, my poem introduces complementary and contrasting ideas as well as tones and metaphors from a Christian perspective. The repeated lines of “Today” in contrast to Haizi’s “From tomorrow on” signify that salvation is available today (Luke 4:21).
Can poverty rob a man of his soul? Can betrayal by the things you love most break the constraints of the God-given conscience and society’s mores? Rickshaw Boy challenges the reader with these wrenching considerations. Though set in a bygone era in a culture that has since been transformed by globalization, Lao She speaks to us clearly—perhaps even more so than to his contemporaries.