Red Scarf Girl Essay

630 Words2 Pages

“Where ever I go, the Cultural Revolution followed me,” Said a reminiscing, Chinese woman as she summarized her troublesome past in only one sentence. That woman was Ji-Li Jiang, author of children’s books such as The Magical Monkey King and Lotus and Feather. But one auto-biography has touched the hearts of many with its inspiring, melodramatic memoirs of a girl’s life during the Cultural Revolution. The Red Scarf Girl tells the story of Jiang as a twelve-year old girl in 1960s China through a central theme of having courage, even in the darkest times.
While the Cultural Revolution struck terror into the souls of many people who were condemned “black”, Jiang and her family kept courage and survived until the end. For example, she stated that, “Excited at the idea of getting up and going out at dawn, I volunteered to buy meat and vegetables at the market. This was the hardest job, but considering Grandma’s age-she was over seventy-and Mom’s and Dad’s busy schedules, I felt it was my duty.” This proves that Jiang shows extreme dedication by stepping up to support her siblings, parents, and grandmother through a period of suffering. Even …show more content…

“You have self-esteem, and you always try to excel. That’s why I believe you are brave enough to face and eventually overcome the difficulties of life.” he described his heartfelt thoughts to her. As it was back in her primary school days, this message opened Jiang’s mind to the opportunities that she thought her family background was obstructing her from. She now had a new objective; to stand up as an “educable” child and prove that she wasn’t corrupt as her landlord heritage said she was. Teacher Zhang also wanted her to relive the same enthusiasm as her past self in primary school; always brave enough to tower over the test score rankings in her class overall, and always proud as a student council

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