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Story Elements - The Red Guards - Coggle Diagram
Story Elements - The Red Guards
Events
Ji-Li Liang's mother comes home and tells her children to leave the house, as she had to talk to Grandma and to her husband
Ji-Li Liang and her siblings enter the house again, which is now filled with the smell of burning
Ji-Li Liang's parents were burning pictures that might be considered fourolds
The morning after they burnt the pictures, a knife and incompletely burnt picture are discovered in the communal garbage bin
That day, Grandma, Ji-Li Liang and her siblings spend a dull day at the park, scared that the Red Guards may discover their secret
That night, everyone sleeps early, but they are woken up by the Red Guards who had come to search their relatives' house below theirs
Then, their house is searched next, which results in a disastrous aftermath
All of their belongings have been thrown everywhere, with their prized possessions broken or confiscated
Characterisation
Ji-Li Liang
Curious
Ji-Li Liang wanted to see her parents burning pictures that might be considered as fourolds, and begged her Grandma to see the burning
Brave
When the Red Guards went through their belongings, she mustered up enough courage to save her stamp book
Mature
She was old and mature enough to understand the whole Cultural Revolution, and was also old enough to knit with her Grandma
Grandma
Kind
She helped Ji-Li Jiang ask her parents to see them burning the pictures.
Ji-Li Jiang's parents
Timid
Through their act of burning the pictures, this shows that they want to eradicate anything that might link them to the fourolds, showing their fear of the red guards.
Setting & Atmosphere
Eerie/Uneasy
The emotions experienced by the characters contribute to the atmosphere greatly.
Set in China
During the Cultural Revolution
During the Communist Rule
Themes
Unrest and Instability
Family
Writer's Style
Vivid Description
Details of people's appearance/attire described well
Figurative Language
Personification
Used widely during the burning process of the pictures
Extended Metaphor
Also used in the burning process of the pictures(describing flames engulfing the picture)
Emotions & Thoughts
Fear
Experienced by the whole family when their house was being searched by the Red Guards
Fear of being caught
Disappointment/Sadness
The terrible state the apartment was in at the end made them feel sad and upset
The writer lost her stamp book, and her other prized possessions e.g. butterfly, glass beads
Uncertainty
Uncertain if the Red Guards would come or not
Point of View
Ji-Li Liang
Story written in first-person narrative
Emotions and thoughts of person described
