Literary Analysis

Source

To begin with, the protagonist has clearly changed througout the entire book and there lies many reasons for the change. At the start of the book, Ji-li is a child who wants to live like everyone around her however, her thoughts changes over time just like everyone else's. One of the main reasons why Ji-li's thoughts changed from an innocent child to a rebel against the Chinese Communist Party was because Ji-Li found out that her family was at risk of revealing their secret that will make them suffer severe prejudice. Also, near the end of the book, the red guards found out that her family was a black family and resulted the confiscation of the protagonist's family properties. This clearly made up Ji-li's mind that her family's major enemy was the Chinese Communist Party.
Another reason Ji-li turned against the Communist Party was because of her secret. Ji-li's family's major secret was that her family was a black family. The protagonist's family was considered as a black family because her grandfather was a landlord and her father was considered a rightist (Wikipedia). On page 27, Ji-li tolde her biggest secret when her dad said, "This is for her own good. Her classmates and teachers will just be surprised if she says that her father won't let her go. But swhat she passes the audition an can't pass the political background investigation? Then everybody will know that the family has a political problem." As soon as Ji-li realized that her family was facing political problems, she found out that her family was not the same as others and got shocked. On page 30, it clearly proves Ji-li's surprisement. "Until that spring, I believed that my life and my family were nearly perfect." The protagonist was extremely young when she was taught about the ultimate secret of her family and so she was shocked. Due to this, the protagonist went against the Communist Party.
Overall, we can we that Ji-li changed from an innocent young child to a rebel who is against the Chinese Communist Party.