Theme of Black Walls
...oom black. Because of Mr. Zhou’s preference, they discriminate against him by spreading propaganda and fear of the complex getting a “bad name” through his actions. The neighbours feel that Mr. Zhou is threatening their own security by doing something different in the complex when actually “it has nothing to do with [them]” as Little Button proclaims. Mr. Zhao fills the neighbours’ minds full of fear claiming that they should “inform the police” right away instead of being potentially charged “in a misjudged case.” The risk of being punished is overwhelming for most of the neighbours and they simply agree with what they were told by Mr. and Mrs. Zhao. They were led to believe that their courtyard was vulnerable to his “illness,” just as the misfortune that could be associated to it. Their focus on their own personal well-beings clouded their imaginations as they failed to see the true Mr. Zhou that Little Butt...