values that differed from European culture. It is reasonable that Hu would be a bit overwhelmed by certain things he encounters in a new country. Foucquet was very unwilling to help Hu deal with his encounters and treated Hu as both a child and a servant. Foucquet became very bothered by Hu s scenes and instances of disappearance. Hu must be lost. He has not come back to the Bayneses house. Nobody knows where he is...The Bayneses were worried and alerted Foucquet. Foucquet was anxious too, and left a message for D Argenson, lieutenant of the Paris police. Hu s disappearance violated the contract he made with Foucquet, but when Foucquet decided to commit Hu to an asylum, he carried out the necessary procedures with determination. It took a great deal of persuasion, two personal visits, and more money than they expected... for Foucquet s colleagues to feed and house Hu while they waited for four days to get the papers to commit him to an asylum. Then when people actually came to take Hu away, The pull a pair of manacles over Hu s wrists and lock them shut. The fact that Spence gives support and contradictions for Hu s insanity shows that Spence is questioning the very definition of sanity and forcing the readers to reevaluate the denotations and connotations they associate with it. Most people would say that an insane person is someone who cannot function in society. Hu has a hard time adjusting to his new society, but not because he is mentally incapable of doing so. Some of Hu s problems are due to being in a new culture very different from his own, however, many of his actions are those stemmed from rebellion or a desire for attention. Foucquet has a great need to control Hu. He wants to use Hu for copying the Chinese documents, and because of this, he sees Hu as his servant. Thus Hu is defined as a lower class than Foucquet. Spence is using Foucquet to represent the upper class in 18th century European society wanting to contr...
