Thomas DeMatteo Red Scarf Girl The Liberation Army Dancer In this chapter, a girl named Ji-Li Jiang

was in school when an army official came into her school and asked if she and another girl could come down with her to the gymnasium. Since she was very flexible she was asked if she could audition for the Central Liberation Army Arts Academy. She went home to tell her family about the news and her dad said that she could not do this because of her political background. Before this she thought her family was perfect but she thinks this has changed now. After this she just wanted to be left alone. Destroy the Four Olds Almost every Sunday Ji-Li and two friends would travel to her grandpas bookstore to rent books. This time she was watching the four olds being destroyed and letting the four news come into play. The city was trying to snap a sign in half buy they couldnt so a guy used an axe to break it in half. They were trying to bring a new life to China. They had student inspectors to see if clothes were part of the four olds. Some of the government owned was considered four olds. Almost everybody was into stopping the four olds. Writing DA-ZA-BAO Chairman Mao had realized that the schools had not been teaching kids to become red socialists and communists they were becoming revisionists. All students were directed to write DA-ZA-BAO on white banners and to put them up around the whole school. Ji-Li and a friend could not come up with anything to write to criticize their teachers so they went outside to see what other people were writing. After that they made her go to her aunts house with other kids to hang up a banner on her door that criticized her for not letting students pick leaves off of her mulberry bush and other personal things. When she got back to the school yard someone had wrote on a banner that she was in a relationship with a male teacher. The kids who wrote this she had always helped with arithmetic in school. The Red Successors She had stayed home from school for ten days so she was still angry about the poster. When she got back to school they were having elections about who is to be one of the ten red successors in her class. When she had to stand up and tell her class about her familys social status a kid says she was lying and said that her grandfather was a landlord so her father was a rightest. This caused her to run out of class and go home. The next day her father told her that it wasnt her fault and that he was not a rightest. Then the next day the Red Successors had told her to stay after school to talk. When she met them in the gym they had told her that she had serious problems to think about when she went home. On her way out she was crying then she saw a little wild flower that she said that she was going to take care of it as she wished she was going to take care of her.

Graduation Ji-Li had always wanted to go to Shi-Yi Junior High, a top elite school in Shanghai. When she was walking along the halls her homeroom teacher told her that that they changed the laws so the teachers pick what high school to go into. Ji-Li and her best friend An-Yi were also picked to go into that same school. Then everybody graduated. Not long after they changed the laws so the residential districts assign the school that they are going to. So from her neighborhood all the kids would go to the same school, Zin-zha Junior high school. After she got the bad news she took one last walk through her old school and saw a sign on the door that said closed for sorting. This meant that a teacher was getting ready for the new standards. The Sounds of Drums and Gongs In the Destroy The Four Olds campaign red guards were ransacking houses to eradicate houses of relics of the past. Day after day Ji-Li heard drums meaning the guards were going into another and taking possessions. Her parents had to let go their housekeeper Song Po-Po because it was against the Destroy the Four Olds campaign to exploit working people. Also Ji-Lis grandma got sick so they had offered to take her to the clinic to get acupuncture. Soon after the family was looking at some old clothes in a chest that all was Fourolds so they decided to make them into quilts or other things. But it still was possible for the Red Guard to search Ji-Lis house. The Propaganda Wall There was a wall in the back alley where Ji-Li lived and there had always been a picture to promote a campaigns message. She would go to the market every day and people bowing to the picture of Chairman Mao. An-Yis grandmother had also committed suicide. She jumped out of a window on her home. Suicide was considered a crime so her funeral was private, An-Yi could not help herself from crying and she cried for most of the funeral. A Search in Passing Granma, Ji-Li, Ji-Yong, and Ji-Yun were sent to have a picnic and relax by Ji-Lis father. The grandmother told them that she was worried that the Red Guards would come and search the house that they lived in. she also told them that if the mop was not on the balcony they could not go in. The family had to burn all the pictures that were considered Fourolds without the smoke being seen. Eventually at night the whole family had heard the Red Guards searching the apartment below them which was there mother-in-law, and then they came upstairs and ransacked her house while she was watching in bed. Half way through they confiscated her stamp collection and sent the kids in the bathroom so they would not get in the way of the revolution. Fate An-Yi's mother had been a model teacher so now they call her a black model. Ji-Li and An-yi were discussing on how fate was affecting them. Everyone that was not a part of the revolution was humiliated in public and also sometimes abused in public. Things were getting a little better for Ji-Li but not for An-Yi. So they decided that fate was affecting them. They made three pieces of paper with three possible outcomes and put them in the windowsill and whichever one that blew off first was the one that was going to happen. Even though it was considered Fourolds to predict the future, it couldnt hurt to do it. The one that blew off said some bad and some good will happen to them.

Junior High School At last For more than a year Ji-Li could not wait to go to Junior High School. When she found out that she did not know anyone in her class she was even happier. She could start over and no one knew about her class status. After the first few days of school it was not really exciting except math class. She met a girl that was shy and found out that she was a good person. She lent Ji-Li a cover to her book so she would not get in trouble for not bringing it to school. Later that day she got a hundred on a test and everyone smiled at her. Then later she was asked to see Teacher Zhang after class about the newspaper club because she had extremely good hand writing. She decided that she would not go to this and told the other person who got called down to see him to tell him that she had lots of house work and was busy after school. Locked Up At Chinese New Year eve Ji-Lis dad never came home that night and soon later they found out that he had been imprisoned and forced to reshape his life through hard labor. Her mom also was scolded for being married to him and also for being stubborn and not admitting to something she did not do. Later Ji-Li went to the theater to see her dad and that was when the foreman of the scene shop told her that she could see her father but she could not talk to him. Then he asked if he could have a word with her and he told her that she was raised in new china and she could make a clean break with her parents and follow chairman Mio and start off on a clean slate. An Educable Child Ji-Lis friend Lin-lin went to her house to deliver a textbook and an assignment that she missed. That was when she said there was a meeting at the school and it was mandatory to go to it. At school in the middle of the meeting she left unnoticed and went to go talk to Teacher Zhang. She told her that she was not a leader and has a bad class status. He said that she could not change the past, but she can change the future and be whatever she wants to be. Then the girls and the boys worked on a project and finished it overnight because they had to get it done and that was when Ji-Li had been talking with her friend Lin-lin and found out that her brother had epilepsy and had seizures every day. This made her feel really bad for her. Half-City Jiangs After some time Ji-Lis father was cleared of the charges against him and was supposed to come home but after a few day he came escorted by two people and said that he was only coming to get clothes. Soon later she found out that her family was involved with landlords more that she knew already. This made her so upset that she went to the police station to change her name and start off on a clean slate. When she got in the officer explained what she would do and also said that she would break away from her parents and if they gave her any trouble just call the police and they will take care of it. When he left the room for a brief second she thought of what she was doing and ran out and went straight home. At home her old made was arguing with her Granma about how she felt embarrassed about letting the old made do it. She had said that she did it for so long it felt wrong not to do it.

The Class Education Exhibition At the exhibition Ji-Li read a touching story that was very emotional and very successful. Everyone liked it including Chairman Jin. He had said that she should tell the other students on how to write a real good story. This made her feel confident. Right after she was called out to have a meeting with her teacher, foreman of the scene shop, a woman from the theatre and two other people she didnt know. They had told her that they would welcome her if she had said what her dad said that was counter revolutionary and they wanted her to testify against her dad in front of thousands of people to criticize what he had done. They had given her one day to think about it. The next day she came into the auditorium when Chairman Jin said that due to her class status she was replaced by someone else and that he would talk to her later. She ran out and on her way a boy said that she had left a dictionary in there and he was giving it back to her but she just ran right by him. The Rice Harvest Ji-Li was called to see Chang Hong about something. When she went there she was convinced to change her mind about working in the factory and to work out in the rice fields. When she went there she accidentally cut herself with the sickle she was using. A few days later of very hard work she woke up sore everywhere so she took two of the painkillers that she had brought with her. Later that day around noon she fainted and woke up in the storage room where everyone slept and she was greeted by Chang Hongs words. They said that she was going home back to Shanghai to have a meeting with the foreman of the scene shop and the rest of the people in the previous meeting. The Incriminating Letter Ji-Lis mom had been talking with a friend about a letter they wrote about trying to reverse the charges on her dad. While her mom was in the shower she read it and was scared that the Red Guards might find it. In the middle of the night the theatre people came to search for the paper. Her mom told her to hide it so she scurried around to find a place and that was when she put it in the litter box for the cat. After they started ransacking the place the Forman slapped the Granma and told her that she would have to kneel on the floor until they found the letter. Soon later the cat moved around the sand after it went exposing the letter and somebody found it and game it to the Forman. He told Ji-Li that he would inform the school about her decision to not tell him, and basically ruin her life. Sweeping In the last chapter Ji-Li was helping washing her moms hair when she said that she would let her aunt adopt them so they could live a happy life. Than Ji-Li said that she had made promise years ago to always take care of her family and that her family was too precious to forget. Later she had realized that her dream was not to be a red guard was unimportant now she had to take care of her family and do her job as a loyal member of the Jiang Family.