This is why Ji-Li seems somewhat paradoxical as a character it's hard to understand why she did not try to rebel against a regime that ruined her family's lives, but the regime was her reality, and she simply had no knowledge of anything else. When a child only hears one opinion, they do not have any other information that will enable them to make one of their own. Despite this, she believes that Chairman Mao's views on everything were correct, because she simply never learned anything else. This proves problematical when she will not make up lies about her teachers' political views, and again when she refuses to betray her father by lying about him. Ji-Li is a very nice and straightforward girl who will not get other people in trouble just to save her own skin. However, as things progress, she realizes that her family have been honest with her, and that the instigators of the revolution are the ones who are distorting the truth and putting a different and evil spin on it. While Ji-Li loves her family very much, and tends to side with them, even a loyal girl like her is being brainwashed by the Revolution she begins to wonder why they have not been honest with her about their past decisions and actions. Before Mao, Ji-Li believed that the only limitations on what she could achieve were the ones she placed on herself, but after the revolution she quickly realizes that outside forces will be limiting her achievements and that her life is not her own to direct and live anymore. She will not have the opportunity to try out for the Liberation Dance Troupe because her father rescinded his membership of the Communist Party. Ji-Li is now seen as the sum of the actions of her ancestors she is an evil presence because her grandfather, who is no longer living, was wealthy, and so her possessions are taken away.
Her entire life changes overnight, for the worse, once the Cultural Revolution begins to take over. She has friends, she bickers with her siblings, she likes school and she has big dreams. Twelve years old at the start of the book, Ji-Li is both narrator and protagonist, and despite geography, to all intents and purposes is like any pre-teen in any country growing up during the 1960s. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.
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