Monday, May 18, 2009
Wild Ginger....Brianna
During China's cultural revolution in the 60's and 70's it was a scary place to be. Chairman Mao and his devoted people demanded self-sacrifices from people for their "great cause". Maple, the narrator of my book, loses her father to a labor camp. And whats so unfiar is that crimes of parents are blamed on the kids! his teeny criminal record, if any leaves Maple vulnerable at her school to beatings by Maoist, (and bully girl of the school) Hot Pepper and her gang. No one really speaks out either because they're afraid of being accused a reactionary or anti-mao which would get them in deep trouble. The new girl, named Wild Ginger, and Maple become friends because theyre the two outcast and targets at school. Thats all i've read so far but i plan to read a lot more for next time and so far its a good book
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Since I can't figure how to do a blog, I'm just going to comment on Brianna's writing and hopefully that counts as a blog. Very good job, Brianna. Anyway, my book is basically about the life of Madame Mao, otherwise known as Yunhe that is given to her by her grandfather. This woman has some mental disabilities it seems to me. I took a psych class last semester and I can tell you right now that it is not healthy to want to pretend to be someone you're not for your whole life, which is what Madame Mao did. She won't allow herself to be unsatisfied with her life, and if she does something she isn't proud of, she will erase it from her memory and make something else up in its place that seems better to her and more heroic. Her dream is to be a leading actress in an opera, although so far she hasn't made a whole lot of progress in that area, which frustrates her greatly. She was also part of the communist party for a short time until she was captured and tortured for answers and was finally let go by signing papers that said she wasn't a communist (which she declined ever happened). I am almost scared to learn about what role she will put on when she becomes Madame Mao because she is a very radical being and I can see her taking things to the extreme very easily...
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies - I've enjoyed reading your comments. Katherine...Interesting comment about the psychology of pretending to be someone else! I wonder if actors suffer in general from this.
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