Becoming Madame Mao #2--Morgan

As I read further in to Becoming Madame Mao, I have realized that a huge motif in the story is the depandance Lan Ping has on always disguising her true self with the personality traits of a character she made up, or remembers from a past production, to make herself look better to the public, and feel better about herself too. To me, I think that this motif can also be used as symbol that depicts the uprising of communism in China: on the outside, communism is portrayed as a great revolutionary change in society, but in reality, it is the cause of many deaths, puts many citizens into poverty, and forces people to do things that they don't want to do. This is just like how Lan Ping rarely reveals the dark secrets of her past, and if someone already knows about it, she punishes them with either exile or death. However, on the outside she appears to be a beautiful young woman who only wishes the best for her people and country.