The Impact of Lulu's Discovery


Chen writes about how this pair of twins despite their physical similarities and shared experiences, could go onto very different directions in life. No one path is glorified and no one path is overly criticized. Lulu and her “big brother”, our narrator who remains unnamed grew up in China. The vast majority of the story focuses on Lulu’s discovery of the censorship of the Chinese government and how it affects not only her but her family, from her brother’s point of view. It all begins when Lulu goes off to college in Beijing. It is there where she discovers online communities of protesters, and she becomes one of them. Her brother is supportive of Lulu, and of her courage to stand up to those in power. Reading her blog while they are separated and “touch his hand to the back of [his] skull” where they were connected in the womb as if it were a phantom limb connecting the two of them despite the miles between their two school. Once her parents find out about what Lulu has been doing after she was arrested, the first time. That is where the true effects of Lulu’s actions come to light. Their father works for the government and the fact that Lulu was criticizing them hurt him. At the brother’s wedding her father says something very pointed to Lulu. “You want to help people, Lulu, but don't deceive yourself, all you've done is hurt yourself, hurt your family.” And to some extent their father is right, as much as Lulu wants to help people she is in turn hurting herself in the process. 

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