Paragraph Essay Red Scarf Girl

     The author is Ji-li Jiang. The book she wrote and the book I read is Red Scarf Girl. This book is about how a girl in China deals with the Cultural Revolution. The main character is Ji-li Jiang, she is 12 when the book starts and 14 when it ends. Her family has a bad class status so she is treated very poorly because of that. Many people scorn her and humiliate her. Her family is always scared of being arrested or killed. The book is about how she deals with all of it and her feelings towards it. 

     Ji-li Jiang the author, has important information about herself. Her birthday is Chinese New Year, 1954. She was born in Shanghai China. In her family she was the oldest child. Her dad was an actor and so was her mom. She went to school at the University of Hawaii and Shanghai University.

   Ji-li Jiang has achieved many things in her life. She wishes to connect China and the Western countries. By doing this she has won a lot of rewards writing books. To be precise she has won 20 awards. Some of the rewards are 1998 Notable Children's Books, 1998 Best Books for Young Adults, Best Books of 1997, 1997 The Year's Most Wonderful Children's Books, and 1997 Books for Youth Editors' Choice. Her other novels are The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven and Red Kite Blue Kite. She doesn't have a specific type of writing style, all of her books are a different genre.

Prompt 4 Red Scarf Girl

    In the book the Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang, the most memorable part of the story for me was when the main character was thinking of ending her life. The book states, "As I trembled down the stairs with Grandma, a thought came to me for the first time in my life. Should I continue to live at all?" This quote is explaining that the main character is so sad and devastated that she is thinking of committing suicide. She was forced to feel this because her house was searched by the Red Guard Committee, they took all of their belongings and furniture. She also was feeling this way because the government forced her parents and grandmother to do shameful hard labor. All of this horrible things made the main character, Ji-li, think to commit suicide. 

Prompt 3 Red Scarf Girl

 


     In the book The Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang, the main character is motivated by what other people think. In the book it says, " Maybe I shouldn't help her either. People would probably say something if they saw me, especially since I was from a black family too...." The quote is saying that Ji-li, the main character, wants to help someone but then stops herself because of what other people might think. She thinks that her opinion isn't as important as other people's because the majority of people would say she is wrong. In her mind what society is doing is wrong, but she can't say that because they have too much power over her and her family. She thinks that it is just safer to think what other people think. The main character is motivated by other peoples opinion.

Red Scarf Girl Prompt 2

Letter For The Red Scarf Girl

Dear Mother and Father,

      I found out in my class that you are not who I think you are. Du Hai said that grandfather was a landlord, and you father are a rightist. How can that be? You always supported me towards school and the revolution. Maybe Du Hai is wrong and just lying to win the election. If he is right then I want to know why. Did you not tell me because of fright, or of thought of losing my trust. Please let me know the truth and help me understand.

Your concerned and frightened daughter,

Ji-Li Jiang

Red Scarf Girl Prompt 1

     In the book Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang, the writer captures my attention by telling me a lot about the main character, named Ji-li. The book states, " I was born on Chinese New Year". (pg.1) This quote was the first sentence in the book, so it is getting right to the point on who Ji-Li is. The second sentence of the book says, " Carefully, my parents chose my name: Ji-li, meaning lucky and beautiful." (pg.1) This sentence is explaining a little bit about her. This caught my attention because I thought it was interesting that Ji-li's name meant lucky and beautiful. The author captured my attention because she started off by telling me a lot of information about the main character.

Poems

Poems

By: Sofia Anderson

They explain how we feel,

What we think and say.

Some emotions are held up ,

Inside you and are ready to come bursting out.

These feeling can make your mind work like,

A very complicated well oiled machine.

Very fast and precise.

All of theses ideas come rushing to your head,

Like metal to a magnet.

Once you get one good idea,

The rest just comes naturally.

Or sometimes you really have to think about,

Your upmost realist feeling.

How you feel or how someone else feels,

I guess that is the question,

Isn't it.
Do we really feel some things,
Or is it someone else's emotions telling,
You what to do?
That is the biggest question of all.
Do we really do things for ourselves or for other people?
When we do good is that just wanted attention?
If you are true and real than you can answer that question without a problem.
See what poems can make you think of.
How they find that spot in your heart that make you feel so passionate about something.
That is why I love poems so much,
They make you feel something.

My Dream

My Dream

By: Sofia Anderson

As my head rests against the pillow,

All these images and memories come floating to my mind.

Deep feelings that I once felt or still feel,

Take over my mind and soul.
Some horrible feelings are tossed out of my mind,
Like a mouth spitting out food.
I am silent and calm.

For a long time I lay like that,

So still that it looks like I have gone into an eternal sleep.

With one feeling and image my brain makes up a story.

This is it.

I am by myself wandering the streets of a crowded city,
The people are a lot bigger than I am,
They look down on me like I am a toddler.
Then all of a sudden I am on a tiny island.
There are islands all around me,
I am by myself once again.
In the distance I see the city I once walked.
Winds howl and I see a big eagle,
It swoops down and grabs me,
Taking me to the different islands.
At first it was fun,
But then I got sick and tried to get down.
I strangled my way out of it's big talons,
And down I went into the abyss.
I swam back up above the water,
Onto one of the islands that I saw.
I was miles away from the city so I could't swim.
I first panicked,
Then I got all the supplies I needed to make a boat.
When it was ready, I woke up.

I think that dream was a message,
A message that only the one who had it could understand.
At first I thought it was just a meaningless dream that had no purpose.
One that was just too simple to make anything out of.

The message was that the easy way was not always the best way.
In the dream when I was stranded on the island the easy way was the eagle.
When the eagle flew me to the different islands it made me sick.
So that wasn't the best way.
The best way was making the boat and putting some hard work into it.
My dream was like a message in a bottle,
It was valuable and rare.