Sunday, March 22, 2015

Lexi Farnes - Historical Context

Historical Context
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang 
Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 + Epilogue

How did historical events influence the ideas in the novel?  What cultural issues may have influenced, challenged, or inspired the author?
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Red Scarf Girl is a book written by Ji-Li Jiang. It is her memoir of the Cultural Revolution from ages 12-14. "The Cultural Revolution was launched by Chairman Mao, supposedly to rid the country of anti-Communist influences. Long afterward it was revealed that Chairman Mao unleashed this chaos in order to protect his own political position" (Jiang 276).




She wanted to write the book because, "I grew up and moved to the United State, but still, whatever I did, wherever I went, vivid memories of my childhood kept coming back to me. After thinking so much about that time, I wanted to do some thing for the little girl I had been, and for all the children who lost their childhoods as I did. This book is the result (Jiang 266).

Ji-Li had always been smart, she had the admiration of her classmates, and she hoped to have a bright future in Communist China. But once the Cultural Revolution launched, her life began to fall apart. During the years of the Cultural Revolution, she was made fun of by her friends and neighbors just because of her class status. Ji-Li was always hopeful that her life would get better, but it never really did. Things just got worse and worse...

"Our leader had taken advantage of our trust and loyalty to manipulate the whole country. This is the most frightening lesson of the Cultural Revolution: Without a sound legal system, a small group or even a single person can take control of an entire country. This is as true now as it was then" (Jiang 266).

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3 comments:

  1. Lexi,

    Your post shows great depth of what Ji-Li Jiang wanted to do with Red Scarf Girl, and shows how hard it was living life during the Cultural Revolution. Your images symbolise the Cultural Revolution, and the images connect with your post. Was there any other reason about why Ji-Li Jiang published the book? How did the censoring in China influence the book?

    Overall, awesome post.

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  2. Lexi,

    I liked how your post and the book have something in common. Both are based on research one research that was found physically and one I like to call research of the mind. Not only because it is revolved around your opinion but it feels that you must search your memories to get to point you want others to understand. Your post was awesome to making this clear to me. Thank you for boosting my thinking.
    -Julianna Mello

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  3. Lexi,

    I really like your post and how it is formatted. It is insightful and really pushes the learning forward. Your paragraphs make the reader understand more about the topic. The one and only thing I think you could improve on is the vocabulary. You could add more complex words to show expertise. Also, you could add some transitions to make the text flow better. Otherwise, great post!

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