“He has been a well-behaved child,” his mother explained to me. “The only trouble with him is that he should never be allowed outdoors.” (644)
When I began reading Can Xue’s The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes, I believed the story would be about a child with over protective parents, but the parents were not overprotective since they let Sha-yuan on the beach with the rowdy children of other beach-goers. As the story went on, I began to think Sha-yuan has schizophrenia, a personality disorder that can change the ability of the effected’s thought processes, feelings, and behavior.
“Nothing, very quiet. But the situation will change completely after nine o’clock in the evening.” (645)
Still, as the story continued, schizophrenia did not seem like a disorder that Sha-yuan was a victim of. The end of the story left me confused and unsatisfied. I would not be confuse and would be satisfied if there was more information and background to the story.