In this weeks section the cultural revolution
Q: Why does Ji-li support the revolution even though she can see people suffering and being killed in front of her eyes.
A: First, there is no right answer to this question. It actually depends completely on your beliefs and on the characters beliefs. In my opinion, because of her lifs experiences she has this very stron and good idea of the communist party. And because all of her teachers, friends and community has the same idea, she was molded into what she is now (yes, maybe a little brain washed along her life). Even though she knows her family is four olds and that she may be in danger, deep in side she always has and always will have the same feeling that Chair Man Mao is doing the right thing and that he will make china a better place from all of the other people. It is really extraordinary that Ji - Li thinks that Chair Man Mao is a good person and not a good communist, she even memorizes some of his heroic moments. Like the painting of him going to Anyuan and even sayes she is "ready to follow him anywhere" (pg 101).
Q: Why does Ji-li support the revolution even though she can see people suffering and being killed in front of her eyes.
A: First, there is no right answer to this question. It actually depends completely on your beliefs and on the characters beliefs. In my opinion, because of her lifs experiences she has this very stron and good idea of the communist party. And because all of her teachers, friends and community has the same idea, she was molded into what she is now (yes, maybe a little brain washed along her life). Even though she knows her family is four olds and that she may be in danger, deep in side she always has and always will have the same feeling that Chair Man Mao is doing the right thing and that he will make china a better place from all of the other people. It is really extraordinary that Ji - Li thinks that Chair Man Mao is a good person and not a good communist, she even memorizes some of his heroic moments. Like the painting of him going to Anyuan and even sayes she is "ready to follow him anywhere" (pg 101).
Chair Man Mao's Painting
Q: Is it part of human nature to have the more power and controll possible at all times?
A: For some people yes. The main reason for they to have this uncontrolable need of power is that they are afraid that someone will go against them and they will lose. Or that conciouse thought that he is not as power full as the people think. So they mold peoples minds to make them think that he is the most power full and that if someone goes against him they will die. He takes the right of the people to go against him to make people have fear and respect him even more. Like on page 152 when six-fingers cought a scratch metal catcher on the streets peeling off paper off the wall to recicl eand that paper was actually a poster of Chair Man Mao. He was arested.
Dear Guilherme,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your post! I think that your questions were different and I hadn't really thought of them before reading your post. On the other hand, I disagree with you on the first question. To begin with, I don't think that Ji-li is supporting the Cultural Revolution, as you stated in your question. In fact, I think she doesn't really like what it is doing to her country, and more specifically, to the people around her. For example, she saw that An Yi's grandma suicided herself, and clearly in my opinion, she doesn't support what Chairman Mao is causing, even though it is indirect. Does it make any sense for her to support something that made her family members suffer? Or that made her suffer? For example, the da-zi-bao that they wrote about Ji-li and her teachers. I think that she doesn't support the revolution, yet she is doing somethings like removing four olds just because she will be punished if she doesn't do so. In addition, I think that maybe she might try to run away from the revolution to a place where she and her family can be "free". What do you think is going to happen?
Thanks,
Lucas T.
Gui, I also had similar questions while reading this week's section of chapters, and I think I will attempt to answer your last question.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe there is a right or wrong answer for this question. A possible answer to this could lie in a scientific explanation on evolution and how natural selection still plays a role in our daily lives. Perhaps, we humans will always have that need to gain more power to "survive" against our own kind. It could be that it is just in our nature to keep climbing up the food chain until we are at the very top (which includes rising above our own kind). Ever since the earliest form of modern-day humans (Homo Sapien Sapiens), we have fought to survive against animals and other hominids for control of the planet. Throughout history, some of us have created and worshipped gods for a sense of security, while others have attacked these beliefs with scientific reasoning for the same purpose. It might be that, soon, some people will gain so much power or control over the rest of the human population that they will be worshipped as new gods, such as during the rule of certain emperors in the Roman era and the Cultural Revolution. On page 108, the direct worshipping of Chairman Mao during the cultural revolution really showed how he was portrayed as a "savior" to the Chinese and a "liberator" of mankind. In my opinion, I am sometimes sickened when hearing about certain people who are so power hungry that they take any means possible to control others.