Mao’s Last Dancer Thematic

In your view, how have literary techniques been used to reveal memorable ideas in Li Cunxin’s Mao’s Last Dancer?

Li Cunxin’s effective use of literary techniques provides us with a valuable insight into the most memorable ideas of his life experiences. In the novel ”Mao’s Last Dancer”, Li uses characterisation to express the key themes of inner strength, determination and courage, change and journey, and traditions and beliefs.

Inner strength, determination and courage have played a major role in Li’s life as they have enabled him to overcome the many physical and mental barriers that he encountered.

This is portrayed through the descriptive language in “I am, deep inside, happy about this god-given opportunity, but I am overwhelmed by sadness as well. I don’t want to leave my niang, my dia, my brothers and my friends. I can’t imagine how alone I will feel in Beijing”, displaying how even when things seem daunting through bravery and fortitude fears can be overcome.

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Li uses emotive language when Teacher Xiao insists that “Great things don’t come easily”, highlighting the absolute necessity for Li to try as hard as he can to achieve his dreams. Great deeds require supreme effort and courage in the face of adversity, and require self-belief to not give up when things go wrong. Through the quote “Work hard and make a life of your own. There is nothing here except starvation and struggle!” he reinforces the same concept of struggling to achieve one’s goals by being focused and determined.

To escape his life in China Li would have to work very hard indeed. Li also uses an anecdotal reference “At times the pain was excruciating. I fell many times, but then I thought of the archer in the fable and how he’d persevered, and I practiced again and again” revealing how he overcame severe pain and disappointment by keeping his goal in mind.

Change and journey are memorable concepts in Li’s life as he moves from one poor restricted world to another full of opportunities, all the while accepting and embracing his new environment and the sacrifices he is forced to make. Li uses a simile when quoting his mother’s saying “The sound of your cries was like a thousand knives cutting into my guilty heart” to remind him of her love and devotion, and the intense emotional pain that she endured while Li was on his journey. The powerful imagery provided by the quote “I thought about that poor frog in the well many times. Like him we had no way out. I felt sad and frustrated” vividly suggests Li’s frustration. He knew that he must escape from his current environment and this required that he must be proactive and do something to bring about this change. Li’s insecurity and fear is laid bare when he when asked, “Why are you, peasant boy, here in this magnificent city” and he responds with a simile thinking, “I felt like a feather swept up in a whirlwind”. Li felt insignificant and afraid that he was not in control of his destiny as a result of a dramatic change in his surroundings. Li’s burden in dealing with change on his journey is magnified when he uses a metaphor to help us understand his feelings, stating “It only made me realize how much freedom I was being denied” and “ Now I was a bird trapped in a cage”.

Traditions and beliefs played a key part in Li’s life as they instilled important values and ideas in his psyche that enabled him to become all the things that he desired to be. Li reveals to the reader in the quote “But most of all, she worries about her unbound feet” the depth of influence that such beliefs had in Chinese culture. Tradition could force women to mutilate themselves despite any logical thoughts that they may have to the contrary, and unbound feet were considered unfashionable in China. The influence of traditional values exerted enormous pressure on the younger generation to comply. The effective use of symbolism in “It was Chinese Imperial corruption, foreign invasion or Chiang Kaishek’s Guomindang regime that were to blame. I’m eternally thankful to Chairman Mao for saving us” reflects the all-pervasive impact of propaganda. Mao and his ideas, or new beliefs, were indoctrinated into the minds of Chinese civilians, brutally enforced to manipulate and shape the communist state. Further symbolism emphasizes this theme when Li states, “The good characters were always beautiful and handsome. The evil characters have big crooked noses and fat ugly noses”, this being an example of a false stereotype that society had adopted. Li reflects that “Fair skin was considered beautiful in China” reinforcing to the reader the extreme traditional controls placed upon women, who should have bound feet and be seen but not heard.

In conclusion, we can see that Li has brought the most memorable parts of his experiences to life by the effective use of literary techniques. His characters express the key themes of inner strength, determination and courage, change and journey, and traditions and beliefs in a simple but powerful way. Li was in all respects “Mao’s Last Dancer”, a person who overcame tremendous obstacles to change his life and escape from “the well”.