Abstract This paper introduces, discusses and analyzes the book "Red Azalea: Life and Love in China" by Anchee Min. According to this paper, the book is based on "Red Azalea" a film Anchee Min worked on at a film studio in China. This paper tells us that "Red Azalea" is the story of the "perfect" Chinese woman - a woman who was loyal to the Communist Party and its teachings above all else, and that the film "Red Azalea" was written by Chairman Mao's wife, Madame Mao (Jiang Ching).
From the Paper "The film means different things to the characters that are touched by it. For Min, it represents hope and the ability to make a name and a career for herself, and it represents respect from those around her. It also represents her absence from Yan, who she loves, or at least thinks she loves. Min is touched by the story, but she is more impressed with what being a star will mean to her life and her family. However, because her dream of being a star does not come true, the film also represents the end of Min's dreams, or at least the end of her life with Yan and the beginning of a new life. Min writes, "In the dark I realized that it was a lion's den I had entered. The darkness silenced a roaring cry. The coldness of thoughts froze me. I could hear the sound of my dream's spine breaking" (Min 170). Her dream of happiness seems like it will never come true, but that is not how the story ends. "
Abstract This paper summarizes Anchee Min's autobiographical book, "Red Azalea" about her personal experiences growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. The paper describes the main characters in the book, the relationship between these characters and Min's effective use of irony, metaphors and similes.
From the Paper "Min's work as a narrator in this book is exceptional, and full of ironies that are surprising, even shocking, and yet revealing of what it was like to live in a totalitarian regime. On page 3 Min writes, "I was an adult since the age of five." That is both ironic and sad, since a child of five should be able to enjoy life as a child, and should be engaged in activities befitting a child; but in the Cultural Revolution (CR), there was nothing to do but obey, fight, survive, and try to stay one step ahead of a big social misstep or verbal mistake which could cause severe pain and anguish. "It was like a regular meal that I got a purple cheek or a bloody nose," she wrote on page 5."
Abstract The following paper discusses one of the many historical attractions in Wilmington, the famous Airlie Gardens. Designed at the beginning of the 1900?s, it encompasses some sixty-seven acres of post-Victorian European style gardens, including ten acres of freshwater lakes. This paper also focuses on the life and works of Minnie Evans, who worked as a gatekeeper in the Airlie Gardens, from 1948 to 1974, painting the scenery in the gardens whenever she had a break. This paper discusses the way in which her drawings of the Airlie Gardens helped her start her career as a well-acclaimed artist.
From the Paper ?A descendent of slaves from Trinidad, Minnie was born in a log cabin in Long Creek, North Carolina on December 1, 1892. She and her mother moved to Wilmington in 1893, and there Minnie was raised by her grandmother. She completed the fifth grade, and then went to work as a sounder, selling oysters and clams door-to-door. Minnie always saw a world invisible to everyone else and throughout her life, even her childhood, her night dreams were filled with visions, and her days filled with sights and voices only she experienced.?
Abstract This paper discusses how two books, "Red Azaliea: Life and Love in China" by Anchee Min and "Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean boyhood" by Richard Kim, portray societies in which ordinary life is subject to extraordinary political repression. How do authorities in each case try to assert control? How do the protagonists come to an outlook different from the official line? Both of the central characters in these autobiographies suffer at the hands of oppressors, and both survive to live better lives. The authorities use power, control, and repression to hang on to their political authority, but all they do is create hatred and animosity in the people, and ultimately, their control comes crashing down around them.
From the Paper "Both of these autobiographical tales show the great cruelties and evils that can be inflicted on a society by an aggressor or a despot who employ extraordinary political repression. In "Lost Names," Kim's memories of occupied Koreas show how the Japanese attempted to infiltrate every facet of Korean life. The Japanese begin programming the young Koreans early by hanging the Japanese flag and propagandist slogans in their school classrooms (Kim 31). Throughout the book, the Japanese break the Koreans; spirit by stealing what is theirs by their hard work, and leaving them with next to nothing. For example, the Japanese take the prevalent and favored rice from the Koreans and send it home to Japan, leaving the Koreans feeling nothing but hunger and bitterness. "
