Plot - Red Scarf Girl

The exposition is described with the setting, situation/climate, and characters. The setting in this book is Shanghai, China. The scenes mostly take place at her house, her neighborhood, and her school. There is one change in setting throughout the whole story. This is when Ji-Li has to go to the rice harvest in the countryside. The situation/climate in this book is the Cultural Revolution. The whole story is about the Cultural Revolution and how the main character struggled through this. The main character and narrator in this story is Ji-Li Jiang, and most of it is about her family members: her grandmother, parents, siblings. Some of her 'friends' are included as an important feature in this book. Three main events that happen during the story is when 1) Ji-Li enters Xin-Zha Junior High School. 2) The Red Guards invade Ji-Li's house in passing for the first time and take their belongings that may be involved in the fourolds. 3) Identification of Ji-Li's family's problem of a different political background. The protagonist (Ji-Li Jiang) v.s. the antagonist (brainwashing of the Cultural Revolution) leads to the conflict. The climax has two parts: external conflict and internal conflict. The climax of the external conflict is when the Red Guards invade Ji-Li's house the second time in search of the letter. The climax of the internal conflict is when Ji-Li goes to the police department to change her name and to break her identity from her family background, but actually ends up not making that decision and refusing. The start of the falling action is when Ji-Li's family ends up looked down on, and Ji-Li ends up worrying about each member of her family, and blaming herself that she hadn't hid the letter well enough. Concludingly, her mom is classified as a landlord's wife and is humiliated even more so. The resolution is when the Cultural Revolution ends, Chairman Mao loses power, and Ji-Li realizes that her family was the most vital and significant detail during the time of the Cultural Revolution and her life. Though the ending of the book isn't a "happily ever after," the real "happily ever after" ending of the story takes place after the Cultural Revolution ends in Ji-Li Jiang's life.