Content Warning: This section depicts death by suicide.

One of the central figures in The Three-Body Problem is Ye Wenjie. The story takes place over the span of her lifetime, beginning with a scene in which she witnesses the murder of her father during a particularly violent moment of the Cultural Revolution in China. She sees him defend his academic ideas to a room full of feverish students who proceed to beat him to death. The event traumatizes her, especially because Ye is later sent to a labor camp in Mongolia. There, she witnesses a vast campaign of deforestation. The trauma of seeing an important, personal instant of violence (the murder of her father) coupled with the trauma of seeing a widespread campaign of violence against the natural world (the deforestation) causes Ye to lose all faith in humanity. She sinks into a deep depression, with her thoughts and emotions stirred only by rebellious ideas in banned books. Forbidden conversations and dreams of fighting back are short-lived, however, because she’s quickly captured and accused of politically incorrect behavior.

Following the short trial in which the outcome is largely predetermined, Ye is given the option to spend the rest of her life at the Red Coast Base.