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| Plot Summary of Wild Swans |
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"This inspiring biography tells the story of three daughters of China and their struggle and survival against Communism in China.
Beginning in the early 1900's and ending in 1978, it chronicles the endless struggle of China as a nation to find it's place in the world, the countless suffering of its people and the evil and terror that reigned and almost destroyed the nation.
From concubines, to the Japanese invasion, to the Red Guards of China, from denunciation meetings, gulags, humiliation, poverty and disease, there is also a theme of loyalty and love."
Brigitte Jocubeit, Resident Scholar
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"Wild Swans is a biography that follows the life of three different people. It starts off with the grandma of the author who is sold as a prostitute in order to escape the rigors of peasantry. She hates life and eventually escapes with her child. After marrying a wealthy doctor, she continues her life and raises her child. Her child is a happy girl who grows up for the most part normal until she starts getting into politics. She joins up with the Kuomintang party until the communists beat them out. Then she marries a "good" communist who puts the party before her.
He forces her to go on a march while, she was pregnant, of 1,000 miles. When the trip ended, she had a miscarriage and had doubts about whether she loved her new husband. As life went on, she became part of the communist party also. Life was good.
Several years later, she had a daughter named Jung Chang (the author of the book). She grew up through many of the hardest years of China. From the day she started school until she was about 16 years old, she was hardcore communist. She did however have doubts about certain things. First of all, her favorite teachers at school were being accused has having rightest views and were beaten nearly to death. Also, her father and mother were tortured into insanity because they held true to the original communist beliefs.
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Jeff Geddes, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Wild Swans |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Political/social rights fight
Yes
Plotlet:
- communists!!!!
- suffering under communism
Ethnic/Relig. of subject (inside)
- Chinese
Ethnic/regional/gender
Yes
ethnic of society (outside)
- Chinese
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
Age:
- long lived adults
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Biography of famous person?
Yes
Ethnicity
- Chinese
Nationality
- Chinese
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
- Very much smarter than other people
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 8 ()
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- China
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Misc setting
- prison
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
- rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to torture
- very explicit references to deaths and torture
Book makes you feel?
- depressed
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- capitalism
- war
- justice system
- wicked men
- wicked women
- dying
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Writer's slant towards subject:
- somewhat unfavorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of nearly entire life
Is this a biography of several people?
Yes
If this is a kid's book:
- Age 16-Adult
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
- More 6-10 B&W
How much dialogue in bio?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- little dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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