Did Hai Know about Taoyu's Feelings? (Sentence Analysis)

 “You should watch out for that partner of yours.”...

...“He’s smarter than you, Taoyu. A true snake that one,” Yi said. “Let’s just say he’ll do anything to get ahead.” (Wang 123)

Throughout most of “Vaulting The Sea” Taoyu spends most of his time thinking about his relationship with Hai and wishing they would become more than just vaulting partners. Yet he makes no moves to demonstrate his interest because he’s worried Hai doesn’t view him in the same way and it would make their partnership more complicated. As they grow up, there are few to no indications that Hai is ever aware of Taoyu’s romantic feelings for him, casually pushing aside interactions and conversations that might have had more tension if both the boys loved each other, such as their questionable masturbating competitions. It seems that as they grow older Hai’s priorities naturally shift away from Tauyo to his girlfriend Ning, but Yi’s cryptic statement on Hai opens a whole new world for interpretation. “He’s smarter than you” implies that Hai knows more than Taoyu cares to let on, and is probably aware of his romantic feelings for Hai.

If Hai is aware of Taoyu’s feelings it means he is willfully ignoring them and pushing them to the side for the sake of their success as a diving duo. Since Hai will supposedly do “anything to get ahead”, he’s clearly not above continuously ignoring Taoyu’s need for some form of closure or acknowledgement for the sake of his professional diving career. When Hai and Ning are riding their bikes and Taoyu tries to talk to Hai to fill his empty heart, the couple continue to ride off and Hai clearly wants nothing to do with Taoyu right now. Perhaps he recognises the disheveled emotional state his partner is in and suspects he will try and confess his feelings. But as he has done before during these delicate situations he doesn’t give Taoyu the chance to try and change their partnership into something more. 

Later that same day when Taoyu makes his move, Hai momentarily kisses him back before pushing him away and completely changing the subject. Perhaps Hai does have some feelings for Taoyu, but as he is “a true snake” his desire for success trumps those feelings and he doesn’t want to complicate his relationship with his diving partner. At this point, it doesn’t really matter if Hai has feelings for Taoyu because he is still pushing him away without any explanation and only using him to compete in the Olympics. He maintains full power over Taoyu even after he has expressed his emotions. He doesn’t even run the risk of explaining his feelings or that diving is his priority so that he doesn’t have to give up any power over Taoyu. The more Taoyu is left wondering about Hai’s feelings, the more he wants to remain his diving partner to try and figure out his feelings. Or at least that’s what Hai may have wanted to happen. 

Ultimately, we don’t know whether or not Coach Yi was telling the truth about Hai, or just trying to plant seeds of doubt in Taoyu’s head to make him more malleable as a young athlete. But this singular line focuses us to question if Hai is as innocent and naive as he initially seems to be. Yet, whether or not Hai knows about Taoyu’s feelings, the blame for Taoyu’s lack of support all stems from his treatment as a young athlete. If Hai chooses to not confront Taoyu’s feelings, it is because he has been told his whole life that his identity is dependent on how well he performs in his sport. But if he doesn’t know, Yi was trying to further manipulate Taoyu. Either way, it doesn’t change the main meaning of the story, as Taoyu still had to grow up without knowing what it felt like to be loved by anyone.