Little Chinese Seamstress 2 Andrew

at the beginning of this  book things were going very slow but now that im almost done things have really picked up. i find it interesting that the two main characters who are in the mountains for a re-education have taken a interest in western literature after a friend "four eyes" gave them a book in return for help when his glasses were lost. the reason i find it interesting that they have found a liking for these books is because they were banned because of the revolution taking place. these characters now have a suspicion that "four eyes" has a suitcase full of these kind of books hidden in his house. now "four eyes" mother has come up because he is done with his re-education. now because four eyes is leaving the two main characters have devised a plan to steal this suitcase full of books during the parting ceremony for "four eyes". i am curios to find out if they succeed in stealing all of these banned books or even if it really exists. this book is a good way to learn about the revolution because i can relate as the book is written through the eyes of two teenage boys trying to figure out life.

Wild Ginger- Tamed by society?

Hello there, all those hearing this in technicolor from cyberspace. Wild Ginger, the half breed, is not so wild. Truly, she is being tamed by society. Maple, the protagonist, stumbles through an absurd world, that of Mao's communist china. At the heart here we see the highest level of absurdity, that of gender roles and sexuality in communism. With the goal of equality in mind, Mao worked to make his people the same, and Wild Ginger is a criticism of this. The standard Mao set for equality was male, signified by all the indoctrinated youth wearing male clothes. Gender roles have been erased for equality, for example Hot Pepper as a leader of the red guard, but an unexpected consequence of this was the perversion of sexuality. Referenced throughout the beginning both subtly and blatantly are similes or details of female fertility, and the oppression therein. Hot Pepper wears her Mao pins like nipples. The school teacher lactates through her shirt. Maple believes her first menstrual cycle to be "fire" and evil in her body. These details, unnecessary to the plot, speak to the symbolic oppression of sexuality for equality in communism, especially communist China.

WildGingerHannah

Because Wild Ginger is half Oriental and half French, she reminds me of the main character in The Color of Water. I think that she has some psycological problems from feeling like she doesn't belong to either race. Also, the pain the she is feeling from not having a father figure around and seeing her mother's dead body must be unimaginable. I think that WG likes to stand up for Maple so much because she feels like no one ever stood up for her when she was younger. Although her mother probably tried her best to take care of her, it must have been extremely hard to raise a child with very little income all by herself. I also think that WG would make a great canidate for the Red Guards because she isn't super controlling but still knows how to keep collectiveness between people. She is very caring inside, but she just doesn't let anyone know. It's also tough for her to be taking care of herself at such a young age without any help from any type of guardian, eventhough Maple does help her out.

Stefan-Son of the Revolution

At the beginning of the book Mao seemed to be a positive character and most people gladly followed his philosophies. However, as Liang Heng got older Communism seemed to take a different course. The main character began to face more problems as different revolutions took place. At the start of the Cultural revolution, Liang Heng was excited at first because he wanted to participate and even founded his own propaganda club in school with which he accused all his teachers of being Intellectuals. However, soon his father also got accused for being an enemy, which Liang Heng did not understand because his father had great respect for Mao. Communism can also be noted for splitting up the main character's family. First it happened with his mother but then with his older sister Liang Fang, who thought that her father's accusation ruined her life. Liang Heng was constantly scared because guards would take him and try to make him confess of a "crime" so they could have a reason to arrest his father. Later on the father was beaten by young revolutionary guards because he hesitated to give up his older possessions (in the movement where people tried to distance China from its history). So far Liang Shan (the father) is the most significant character to me because I wonder how can a man who was so dedicated to Mao be accused so many times of not being loyal to the government?

Wild Swans #2 blog: Jenn S.

This book is a descriptive novel about the hardships of life during a cultural revolution. I have just reached the part in the book where the mother has just gone to the hospital because she was bleeding to death and needed to seek help. When she awoke she found that she had had a miscarriage which was most likely due to the long march that she had to endure on foot while her husband got to ride on a horse. This shows that even in health conditions people are still expected to act according to rank. Then she says that she will not go back to the revolution after that and her husband says that she must because otherwise it will show a sign of weakness. I couldn't believe that he would say something about that when she had just gone through that much pain. How could that be a thought or a major one at that after such an ordeal.

Through out this book one can see that women did play a major role and had many hardships that they had to face. Culturally they were looked down upon and thought of as the nurturers of the culture, the ones that could take care of it. I found it amazing how the mother went and stood strong and got things done and tried to get groups together to help other people. The part where she was taken to prison for several days was amazing in and of itself. She actually was able to listen to all of that pain and suffering around her and take from it to make her stronger and fight harder for a better way of living. When she was taken out into that court yard and blind folded she thought that she was going to die and still said that she wouldn't name names because she had done nothing wrong and she almost seemed to not be afraid of the death that she thought was coming. Then when the blind fold was removed and she saw the man that was shot she didn't flinch and still said that she wouldn't name names. This to me is amazing and shows the strength of not only a women but of having faith that eventually things can get better if one tries hard enough and believes in that change. The book is a telling book that has much history and a lot of insight through the eyes of a bystander. It helps to show the cultural revolution because it not only talks of how the civilians encountered problems as far as having food taken away, along with housing, and clothing becoming scarce, but it also goes from a little of the army point of view. It shows, not just tells that the civilians endured much and many had to struggle and lost their lifes for pointless reasons, like the one part where it talked about how some people were killed because they couldn't give back the food that they had been given when the communist were there (because they had eaten it because they were starving), they were killed because they couldn't give it back to the greedy. I thought that this was wrong and it seemed unjust that they were killed for such a reason basically as survival when they were given the food, they did exactly take it.

Over all this book seems to highlight most of the struggles that the Chinese culture endured during the revolution and does a great job at going through detail of a story to show these struggles. This book is very interesting and holds my attention rather well. I like how it is set up and it shows how things, I think were during this time in some parts and areas of China. It is a very descriptive and intense book. I am interested to see what is the next ordeal that they shall go through.

elizabeth g wild swans

ok didnt get very far this time. The book got a bit confusing, but you can definatly tell there is a power switch going on. I thinks its very interesting and a neat strategy for the mother of the narrator to pretend like she's going to visit a lover and then walk with him while he completes w/e mission he has. It's simple and creative. I've kind of forgotten the rest that ive read but i hope we get a chance to reveiw in class with our book groups so things get cleared up a bit.

Willis- Son of The Revolution II

As of now I am around page one hundred and this government just keeps getting more and more strange to me. It seems as if instead of helping the citizens it is trying to advance the hierarchs in the ountry and treat the citizens like slaves. This government has been treating Liangs family based on the parents decisions. The problem is everyone in the family has their own decisions in the family and they can't compare the Liang to the rest of her family. For example Liang's sister joined the red gaurd to help oppress the rebellion while Liang created a gang of rebels. The story moved rediculously slow in the beginning but now things are changing at an alarmingly fast pace. It has given me a lot to think about. In our society we don't need to worry about groups of people being oppressed unless they actually broke the law. Not to mention the fact that hatred isn't past down from generation to generation like Liangs family in the book. I'm not sure what to think about this government though because i haven't heard from the side of the government, only the side of the rebels. I'm sure they have atleast a few reasons for their actions, and I'd like to know more about the governments plans