In relating the story of Guan Yin, Mei Wen describes the woman as a goddess of compassion with one thousand eyes to look for suffering and one thousand hands to relieve it. With Master Big Belly's passing, Little Bao's eyes glow green to demonstrate that he now holds the same mystic vision. Master Big Belly has a tremendous eye in his belly that glows green, filled with mystic vision. In Boxers Tu Di Gong's eyes are crooked and misshapen in his revised portrayal after Father Bey destroys the villages original idol. Do you think it important that they be read together? And what about the order in which one reads them? Why do you imagine Yang felt it worthwhile to present the story from both the Boxer and the Chinese Christian perspectives?Įyes are depicted importantly at several points within the two books. Boxers and Saints sell as two separate volumes.Do you feel Yang seemed more sympathetic to one side of the conflict or the other? If so, which side? And further, if so, do you feel his sympathies are justified?.

What do you think Yang attempts to communicate by using different tenses? Boxers from the first-person present tense. How did you see the drive for purpose governing Bao and Vibiana's sides of the story?

The concept of calling or vocation governs both stories in Boxers & Saints.

Were you able to empathize with Yang's two protagonists? Did you prefer one to the other?.How familiar with the Boxer Rebellion were you before reading Boxers & Saints? How did Yang's work affect or confirm your presuppositions about the region and era? What do you think of Boxers & Saints as a teaching aid? Did it inspire you to research more about the events described?.

What is the principal difference and for what reason do you think Pien coloured the books as she did?

Lark Pien's choice of colours for the two books is pretty different while sharing tonal similarities.

His depiction seems rather matter-of-fact and visually simple-for his subjectmatter, did you find it too gruesome, too cartoonish, or just right? Did you find the violence felt different when it was the action of the gods of the opera? If so, then in what way? Talk about Yang's depiction of violence in his books. Violence is a big part of both the history and the storytelling of Boxers & Saints.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang