Summary

“Son” begins with Han returning to Beijing to see his mother after having gained citizenship in the United States. He is afraid that his mother will continue her life-long attempt to match him with a wife, which he has no interest in, being gay, but instead, his mother presents him with a crucifix. Han is frustrated by and just barely tolerant of his mother’s fickle blind faith in his late father, the Communist Party, and Christianity, but she is innocently ignorant of his annoyance. Han feels a sense of duty in educating his mother about the lies the Communist Party has fed her, just as she feels a duty to protect his soul with religion. As Han’s mother tries to give him religious pamphlets to read, Han reminds her that she had burned his Bible when he was a child. The Bible...