Red Scarf Girl Sparknotes

The book Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang takes place during the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai, China. The main character of the book, Ji-li, lives with her mother, father, grandmother, housekeeper Song Po-Po, and two younger siblings Ji-yong and Ji-yun. Ji-li always thought her life was perfect until one day she was taken out of class and asked to audition for the Liberation Army’s dance class. She became very excited, until her parents they told her she couldn’t try out because they will check her family background. Ji-li does not understand why, and her father will not explain. This is makes Ji-li upset because she did not know there was anything wrong with her family. Ji-li has always been very supportive of the revolution. For example,

The language and how letters are pronounced is different from my language. For example in the book it says “The letter “c” when followed by a vowel is pronounced “ts”. The letter “q” is pronounced “ch”.” These letters are pronounced differently in english. Another difference is the family traditions. In the novel the grandmother lives in the same house and the some of her cousins, uncles, and aunts lived in the same buildings. “My Fourth Aunt, who has been married to my Dad’s half-brother, lived downstairs with her daughter, my cousin You-mei, and You-mei’s lovely baby called Hua-Hua.” My extended family lives very far away and only my mom, dad, and brothers live in my house. Lastly, the culture shown in the book had family classes and were judged by them. “ ‘What I mean is that the political background investigations at these academics are very severe.’.. ‘That is an investigation into the class status of your ancestors and all members of your family.’... ‘Ji-li, the fact is that our family won’t be able to pass these investigations.’” The culture in the book looks down on landlords and anyone related to them and they are not allowed to participate in many things. In the novel Red Scarf Girl, the culture differs from

The Red Guards tore up people’s houses and tortured them for being disobedient. They walked the towns in their uniforms and holding their red books ready to punish anyone who was rich, smart, attacking the revolutions, or disrespecting Chairman Mao. Even after Mao decided to stop using them, people in the low classes were still abused. I also learned that the revolution had a huge impact after it was over. The economy declined, old historic buildings were destroyed, and education was poor. Because of the large amount of youth that joined the Red Guards, they put school aside and never continued their education. Also, old historic buildings were considered Four Olds so they were vandalized and torn down. The economy declined because the workers were called into political rallys or taken in for political confession classes so often that not much work got done. Lastly, I learned how the revolution ended. The Cultural Revolution did not end until Chairman Mao died on September 9, 1976 He died from Parkinson’s disease. After his death, his wife was jailed forever because of her involvement in the revolution. Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping took power after Chairman Mao’s