This quote was one the of the lines that stood out the most in my eyes because this was when Ji-li began to realise that her world was turning upside-down. For instance, she had a Da-zi-bao written about her, she had to join her fellow colleagues when they went to visit her aunt and criticise her thanks to her bourgeoise lifestyle. Yes, I do know that it is a quote mentioned a few chapters back, however now that Ji-li is going to enter Junior High School, I think her attitude towards Chairman Mao will change slightly, if not completely because she's been stripped of her right to go to the school she desired and now is forced to attend a school with the colleagues that never did anything but bother her and point out that her grandfather was a landlord, constantly. Not to mention that now that all these people around her, some of which she cared about, others which she did not are beginning to die, be beaten, be injured, etc. It seemed as if the sun no longer shined in her eyes, because all she could see were tears.
I chose this image to represent the paragraph above it, because in the end of chapter nine, Ji-li and An-Yi are writing positive messages on small scraps of paper to convince themselves that in the end, they're going to be alright and while no tears are shed during this conversation, you could tell just by reading, that inside, both of them were crying.
"No matter what I did and where I went, the Cultural Revolution followed me."
The second quote I chose was the one listed above, because as I read on and am more and more immersed into Ji-li's story, I've noticed that this quote is one of the few opinions listed that actually turned into facts, because this quote can be either something positive, negative or both. For example, there've been times in which Ji-li complimented Chairman Mao's government, like when she stated that: "It was her dream to see him in person", and her reactions when the Liberation Army Soldier was talking about her brief encounter with him. However, at the same time, there've been times in which Ji-li hasn't fully supported the actions of the Red Guards, like when Six Fingers made her aunt sweep the streets and when An-Yi told her about how bad her mother was beaten.
I chose this image to represent the paragraph stated above, because in this picture you can see many people "worshipping" Mao, such as: Red Guards, kids, teenagers, etc. However, you have no idea what they really think about him because true thoughts lie behind closed mouths, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
Gabi, I really like the quotes you chose for your blog post. My favorite one is, "Maybe I had a bad class status, but I would have good grades. No one could take those away from me."
ReplyDeleteI really like that quote because, as you said, it's when she realizes that her world is turning upside down. Before, she wouldn't have to care for problems because she didn't have any, she didn't have to work hard to try to reach happiness, and she didn't have to worry about her family. Now, she has to care for problems because she has them, she has to work hard to try to reach happiness since nothing good seems to last for her, and she had to worry about her family. Adding, I liked how you got the quote from other chapters and how you actually explained how important it is now. Further, I really like the image you chose and what you said at the end of the chosen image. The last sentence was outstanding for me. "While no tears are shed during this conversation, you could tell just by reading, that inside, both of them were crying." For me, this shows me first, how powerful books are to transmit feelings and ideas that were not actually written. Second, it reminds me of a conversation we had in class another day about faking your emotion. I remember Mr. Beck said that we see people and we say hi and ask how are they are doing and that most of the time people respond "good", but we will never know if they actually are doing good. This relates to what you said because no tears come out in that moment, but in the inside they were dying of sadness.