1.
How did historical events influence the
ideas in the novel? What cultural issues may have influenced, challenged,
or inspired the author?
The Cultural Revolution is a main historical even that influences
the ideas in the novel. Red scarf girl was written by Ji-li Jiang and published in 1998. Historical
events influence the ideas in the novel because the book is set in China during
the Cultural Revolution. During this time China was trying to get rid of way of
living called the four olds. These four olds were old ideas, old culture, old
customs, and old habits. They were trying to take out the four olds and bring
in the four news. “The newspapers told us, our schools were not bringing us up
to be good red socialists and communists, as we had thought, but revisionists.”
(Jiang 64) I think the transition may have been hard for everyone living in
China at that time and I think that also might have inspired the author to
write about her own experience during this time.
I thought that you did a good job in doing this post and that you explained well what was the historical event that had influenced the author to write this novel. I liked that you also explained really well and clear about the four olds which were four very important things that were happening in the cultural revolution, because China was going from old habits to new better habits.
ReplyDeleteSimone, I agree with you that the Cultural Revolution had a great influence in the book. It affected the lives of Chinese people in a negative or positive way. For Ji Li, it affected her in a negative way. Since the Cultural Revolution started, people started caring more about the family's past and where everyone came from. They would determine everything by class status. Ji Li's family past affected her in her decision and what she wanted to do. When she was elected as one of the Red Successors, she didn't make it because of her family's background. We saw in a lot of ways how she was affected and there will probably be more.
ReplyDeleteHi Simone,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said on your post about the Cultural Revolution and its influences in the book. You explained well your opinion on this question and I really like how you explain how the city is getting rid of the "four olds" and bringing the "four new". The only feedback that I would give to you is to stretch a little bit more your thoughts and ideas/opinions to make the post with a lot of details and clear post. Something you could also add on the post is details of the authors life and some "quotes" from the book. There is a site that I used for my post that had a lot of information and background form the author. This is the site: http://www.jilijiang.com.
Nice post,
Caroline L