Ji-Li's mother's trial questions (Claudia)

Character: Ji-Li's Mother Student Name: Claudia

1. Question: How did the Cultural Revolution affect your life?
Answer: It made me feel scared every second of every day. I was afraid that the Cultural Revolution would get so bad that my children would be taken away. Every day I felt sad and sometimes a little bit angry because of my husband's background. I don’t understand why my husband’s background has to do with anything that has to do with my children and me. I have been accused of being a landlord’s wife because of my husband’s dead father. Being accused of being a landlord's wife made me feel very angry and upset because my family and I were NOT wealthy and I did not own any land, my husband and I had to work just like any other family hat to. In other words my family lived a pretty normal life. I also feel ashamed and sometimes embarrassed that my children, especially Ji-Li, cant participate in being a Red Successor or in class exhibitions because of her class status.(page 57-58, 228, 253

2. Question: How do you feel about Mao?
Answer: As said on page 26 through 27 I was not enthusiastic about the "Destroying of the Four Olds". I knew that my family (husband’s background) had a bad past (background). I did not want to get involved into the event because I was afraid that somebody would find out about our family background and possibly ransack our house for Four Olds I would lose all of my family heritage backgrounds. I am not happy with what Mao has done. (Page 26-27)

3. Question: Why did you keep your family heritage items all of those years, why was it sad to destroy them?
Answer: I kept my family heritage items all of these years because they were just too nice to throw away, so me and my mom kept them in old trunks. It was sad to cut them up because they were part of my family; they were part of my life. When I had to cut them up that meant that I was cutting up my family, I was cutting up my life. In addition I or my mom couldn’t feel sad about them because they were four olds. (Page 96-97)