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Kimberly Dighero
Gina Srmabekian
ENG 114B
8 April 2015
Essay 2: Our Gods Are Fleeing
Often times when we think of our lives or the outcomes yet to come we think
of our fate as well. In both Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang, we come to see
the fate of Vibanna and Little Bao, and the importance of religion that factored into
their outcome. Each character and their choosing a monotheistic or polytheistic
religion was of their own free will. However their outcomes based on their religious
views was of determinism due to history of unacceptance between cultures and
religions.
Gene Luen Yang created a world in which no matter the choice of religion
Vibanna or Little Bao chose to follow their outcomes would remain the same, death.
In Saints, Vibanna chose to be apart and to follow Christianity despite her familys
opinions towards the foreign devils or Westerns. This provides proof suggesting this
was of Vibannas free will. Such as Little Bao choosing to remain faithful to his
Chinese culture and religion was of his free will. Factors in which suggest Vibannas
and Little Baos outcomes were pre-determined are such things like the anger, and
violence between both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Throughout both
Saints and Boxers we as the readers are able to examine the violence between
Christians and secondary Christians against the Chinese men who banned together
in the Boxer rebellion.
Religion has always been a primary issue in the past for many countries as
foreigners enter new lands. The issue results from those foreigners intent on
converting locals, and the locals resistance against the conversion. In the case of
Boxers and Saints it is the difference between a polytheistic religion and a
monotheistic religion. The Polytheistic religion is one in which the Chinese believe

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in, it is one that has many gods, and was the religion before Christianity stepped
foot on Chinese land. Christianity is a monotheistic religion in which there is one
God. The conflict of these two are of who is evil or devil. So in hand the Chinese say
the foreign or Christian faith is evil to their land, and the Christians believe they
must save China from their evil. This in hand creates a resistance between the
people of opposing religions, and therefore each does harm towards the other to rid
them from their land or in the Christians view forcefully change the Chinese. This
history of violence to covert one to a religion and the resistance of that religion is of
an importance as it was a key factor into the outcomes Vibanna and Little Bao.
Vibanna in Saints chose the route of Christianity and although some may say
she stumbled upon this religion ultimately she chose to be part of the Christian
fellowship. It was the rejection of her own grandfather and his beliefs in which lead
Vibanna to believe she was a devil as she did not know anything other until she
discovered Christianity. Vibannas grandfather hatred for the foreign devils started
during the Taiping Rebellion as he believes that is when a curse fell upon her father.
Vibannas rejection from her family and specifically her grandfather was due to their
Chinese belief, loyalty, and connection to their culture. Vibannas accidental
destruction of the Chinese earth god Tu Di Gong ideal demonstrates the importance
of these ideals to the Chinese and what little impact it had on her (Yang 6-8). Their
belief in the Chinese religion also played a part into Vibannas rejection as her
grandfather refused to give Vibanna a real name. The name four girl was given to
her due to the order of her birth and the number four is often related back to death
in the Chinese culture. Within Saints the following statement Four, after all is a
homonym of death, and grandfather had had enough of death suggest that
grandfathers great belief in his religion and culture had always influenced the

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rejection he had for Vibanna since she was born (Yang 3). This in hand allows a
clearer understanding as to the ease Vibanna had in converting to a Christian, as
she felt accepted. However for Little Bao it was quite different in remaining to his
religion.
Little Baos faith remains within polytheistic views like predominately all of
China before foreigners stepped foot on the land. Little Baos reasoning for
remaining to his faith was a result of his loyalty to his father, and operas in which
ceases the idea of converting at all. For example Little Bao was able to see the
violence caused by the foreigners when his father quickly returned from a trip
beaten, thus his loyalty remaining strongly intact. As well as his loyalty it is of his
love for his culture and Tu Di Gong in which Father Bey allowed one of his fellow
Chinese Christian followers to purposely destroy the ideal. It is this event in which
Little Bao sees the disregard Christians have for his faith and culture, and therefore
deems them devils and the Chinese who have converted as traitors. Little Baos
loyalty to his father was gone once his father had change from strong to weak due
to the Western Christians. Little Bao stated I remember my vow to always respect
my fathers wishes. It was a vow made to another man, in another time suggests
the change his father had endured, change the man Little Bao idealize and was
loyal too (Yang 66). Although his loyalty to his father altered when Little Bao
remained loyal to his operas as it was also demonstrated when he chose to join the
rebellion in the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists. When Little Bao was
with his brother disciples he taught a ritual in which he believed himself to
transform and withstand any harm from the Western Christians. This Boxer idea
was one in which they believed would make them able to withstand bullets, killed
foreigners and Chinese Christians and destroyed foreign property. (Boxer

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Rebellion) However despite Little Bao and Vibannas free will and choosing whom
they wished to follow, their outcome would have resulted the same.
Therefore the choices Vibanna and Little Bao have chosen did not result in
their outcome. It is the long history between the Western Christians attempting to
convert others that automatically results in resistance. Within both Saints and
Boxers we are given an ability to be more sympathetic to each character as the
stories tie together. This paves way to the idea that if individuals were more open
and accepting such casualties would not happen. Vibannas death came forth
because she refused to decline her new found faith and therefore said a prayer in
which later save Little Baos life. That is a prime example of her faith having an
importance or impact, it was Little Baos acceptance and listening in which helped
him live. Although Little Bao accepted her prayer and it benefitted him he still
continued on with his faith and the Boxer Rebellion. Their outcome was of
determinism as it has shown in history that many conflicts regarding religion has
ended violently, such as Natives who suffer at the hands of others for refusal to
convert.
Within the Boxer Rebellion in which Little Bao was part of the Society of the
Righteous and Harmonious Fists, he as well as others chose to be a part of it
because in 1900 the Chinese culture was at risk from the Western Christians and
Japanese influence. Little Baos choice in hand lead him to be killed as he and his
brother disciples believed themselves to be spirit boxers or invincible. In Boxers
Little Bao and his brotherhood would perform a ritual before battle in which Little
Bao took on Chin Shih-huang ego and believed it was his destiny to keep China
united. Little Baos free will allowed him to believe he was capable of doing such a
ritual and being invincible, however it ultimately resulted in his destruction in which

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was bound to happen as he escaped death many times before. Although Little Baos
death was bound to happen so be Vibannas death as their stories were predetermined. The scenarios in which Vibanna and Little Bao were put into was one of
which was deemed to end violently and in death. This was due not to their choice in
religion but to the long problem of unacceptance between cultures and religion. If
put on opposite sides their outcomes still would of remained as death, because of
the hatred between religions and to provide a larger eye opening impact on the
readers of Boxers and Saints.

Work Cited
"Boxer Rebellion." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.history.com/topics/boxer-rebellion>.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. "A History of the Boxer Rebellion (1900)." N.p., n.d. Web. 07.
Apr. 2015. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/boxer.htm>.
Yang, Gene Luen, Lark Pien, and Colleen A. F. Venable. Saints. New York: First
Second, 2013. Print.
Yang, Gene Luen, Lark Pien, and Colleen A. F. Venable. Boxers. New York: First
Second, 2013. Print.