Literary Analysis - Julia Jacob #5

 Fear

Fear is one of the themes of the book Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-li Jiang. The period of the Cultural Revolution was a time of fear, confusion, and violence in which the rules and traditions of the Chinese society break down. Adolescents and college students wander the streets and approach people if they think they are dressed wrong.The Red Guards conduct searches of people's households, as they do the Jiangs (due to the family’s ‘Black History’). They live in fear of the searches and the kids and Grandma stay in the park all day long for better protection from the guards. The family is so insecure about safety that they have their own system with a map to designate whether or not it is safe to come home. Ji-li and her family pass the better part of the two years living in fear, especially once her father is detained due to the family’s ‘Black History’. He now has to attend late night meetings that are located in the theater where he is critiqued, mocked and pressured to confess. As soon as the search for ‘Four Old’ items and riches, Ji-li Jiang and her family had to fire their housekeeper, Song Po-Po, because they are so scared to be accused of exploiting workers. A bit after this happens, the Red Guards are searching Ji-li’s house and they find a knife with some of the family’s burn photos in a garbage bag. Everything the family does is based on fear, and they do not want anything to get them in trouble.

Julia Jacob - Connection Captain - #4

Julia Jacob

Connection Captain

Week 4

Red Scarf Girl

For the chapters 10-12 I could not stop thinking about a movie called "Good Will Hunting" that stars Robin Williams. To me, the whole context in the chapters about Ji li's teacher not caring about her "black" past and having chosen he to be part of his class is very similar to this movie because it is based on a professor that finds this kid that is an amazing mathematician but has no money or condition to get training and the professor can only find him because his kid got into trouble and as a penalty got sent to be a janitor for the school. And while he was there, he was able to solve a nearly impossible math problem that was displayed in the hallways for the students to try. 

This is what made me connect to the book since these kids both had factors that kept them from achieving great things, but it was because of a teacher that could see past this problem of theirs that created faith in these kids and made them become a success. 

Julia Jacob - #2 Illustrious Artist

I have created this picture to symbolize all the importance of chapters 3-5 by imputing the  following words into this "Ji-Li, Cultural Revolution, Da-Zi-Bao, Red Successor, black  background" so that we can see the main factors of the chapters. From all these words the one idea that is most important is Da-Zi-Bao which is the revolution that created the conflict  against the teachers.