Son of the Revolution Essay Example

his private life brought Heng an attitude of scruple to the Party. Furthermore, the Party’s tread in terms of humane values had turned him even further away. The gory battles among the adversary Red Guard groups had eventually pressed Heng to ask the relevant point of these atrocious fights for the sake of Mao’s revolution (Heng 1984).

After experiencing the Cultural Revolution’s policies on agricultural reforms, and the brutality of the cadres of Mao, Heng had realized that the revolt only brought distress to the peasants.His strong conviction towards the Party began shaking. At the penultimate point happened when at some stage in a cruel erroneous questioning by the revolutionary commission, the 15-year-old Heng’s conviction in the Party absolutely bowed and collapsed and even thought of committing suicide (Reynolds 2001). The book focuses on five main concerns: the significant role of the family, Liang Heng's personal transformation due to his self-discovery, the influence of relationships, the supremacy of Mao contemplation, and the related political reforms encompassing the country.

The Role of the FamilyThe story on the "Son of the Revolution" started with one occurrence in Heng’s life that proved to be the most vicious: his parent’s subsequent divorce following his disappearance, and the re-schooling of his mother. The divorce of his parents became the ground for the family to be scorned, due to the rudderless character of their own ancestors unit. The family was relatively disliked both on the political as well as on the social level. His two sisters were deprived of joining the prominent Red Guard, due to the political and social disparagement forced on his family.The dubious adherence on the political aspects

of his family would eventually spate all of the members of the family during the novel. The eminent deficiency on the family structure of Liang Heng was apparently alluded to on the entire book, specifically more on the apparent absence of Heng’s family members.

The reforms, made Liang Heng’s family away from each other. His two older sisters, in order to escape the above pressure, had joined the Red Guard. Also, His mother went away after the divorce in accordance to the request of his father, Liang Shan.After succumbing to social pressure, his father re-married again. Heng’s stepmother eventually resurrected the social standings of his family but did not offered any role as a mother.

Liang Shan, Liang Heng’s father, was one of the main characters on the story. An intellectual person, he served as a reporter on a newspaper and at the same time studied the undertakings of Chairman Mao. His deep devotion can be seen as a manifestation of love and admiration to the ideals of communism and to the leader. At an early age, he was able to instill to his son the ideals, and eventually the devotion to the political party.He had hoped that someday, Lian Heng would become a pompous member of the party.

Moreover, Liang Shan had made a pledge to his lasting alliance to Chairman Mao as reflected all throughout the book. His steadfast support, and absolute personality, had eventually brought in a very life of turmoil and heartache to his family. As his father, Liang Shan, fought with his sagacity of "righteousness" in opposition to his fidelity to the party, Heng actually had struggled to gain a

slot in the superior progress of the party.The relationship between the father and the son was strained on several times as reflected on the book, "Son of the Revolution", upon which had illustrated the different and contradicting views between the young and the old generation. Heng's Personal Transformation due to Self-Discovery Throughout the story of the "Son of the Revolution", Liang Heng had struggled with emotions or feelings of self-discovery, self-evaluation, and independence, which was typical for a growing person on the adolescent period.

The main instrument that allowed for his discoveries of such desires was the prominent intellectual foundations being thought and instilled to him by his father; and his amusingly passion for literature. Heng consequently argued with the current and controversial issues that the reader can recognize with, due to their inherent usual incidence, but was astounded on foreign retort regarding the "rites of passage" (Tamura 1997).Heng's primary transactions with relationships, with the opposite sex, longing, and love, had surprised the reader on the depth of assessment, in this case shame; Heng consequently approached these personal emotions and feelings with. He also experienced a vast deal of individual transformations as described all throughout the book.

The development of Heng’s independent and individual thought among the collective context was considered the most difficult stage of his transformation. He struggled on the concept of going against the tradition, the question of absolute authority, and the demystifying myths.All of which had provided the important cornerstone on Heng’s apparent personal transformation. The Relative Influence of Relationships Relationships, in general, had both negative and positive effects on the eventual development of the character of Lian Heng in the “Son

of the Revolution”. Several positive effects on the relationships concerning Heng’s life included the following: his apparent relationship to his fiance or future wife, Judith Shapiro; relationship with his father and mother, Peng Ming (his role model on the political arena), his first love Little Gao, and the so-called Dao’s.The Dao’s or commonly called countryside peasants who ultimately showed and gave Heng his much needed affection and love during that time.

Some of the negative or the less-productive effects on Heng’s relationship included the following: his relationship with his mother, who wanted always the best in him, but adversely scarred him on his role towards the society; and his stepmother, though fixed the problem of their family’s social standards but lacked the necessary maternal obligations and duties.The Exceedingly Power of Mao Zedong’s Thought At an early age, his affection to the political party created a self-proclaimed allegiance and support to the leader Mao Zedong (Goldman 1987). His eloquent passion was clearly described on the book on several instances: Subsequent to the trip of Chairman Mao Zedong on a park at Peking, several individuals had claimed that they were able to shake hands with the Chairman Mao. This announcement literally led to enraged visitors shaking hands with Mao, with Heng also included on the crowd.Other instances of his passion on Mao thought happened on a political rally held by Mao and when Heng saw him aboard the military jeep he congruently shouted his outstanding pledge of allegiance to the Chairman (Heng 1984). He then afterwards narrated his “close encounter” with Mao to everyone and expressed his extreme gratitude being in proximity with Chairman Mao Zedong.

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eventual authority of Mao Thought as described earlier had its most reflective consequence on the life of Heng’s father, Liang Shan. His father had gained a prominent figure with the peasants due to his writings on the newspaper and his comprehension regarding Mao.It was, however, the same body of literature scholarship and knowledge that destroyed the life of his family and his personal life as well (Becker 1998). Shan’s enduring passion on Mao thought had brought him be crippled at the age of 46, at the instant destroyed his life and tore his family apart. The same thing happened to those Chinese intellectuals who were dedicated to the society; to those who held the purest ideas; and to those who were harmed due to the harsh political reforms on the government (Brown 2007). Political ReformsThe book, "Son of the Revolution", also discussed the significant effects of various chronological engagements in China, or on the entire nation, as well as on the individual aspects.

The activities that were described on the book included:”The Great Leap Forward”, "The Hundred Flowers Movement", ”The Sixteen Articles”, and "The Anti-Rightist Movement", upon which all were created on the context of the greater Cultural upheaval (Thurston 1987). One significant effect of the conflicting movements of the society on the people was that of unpredictability.The action or decision an individual made and accepted today could be criticized on the following day by the government (Handleman 1999). Therefore, this could lead to a scene of doubtfulness in nature to saturate the most consecrated aspects of societal associations, friendships for instance. The authority of the government to execute specific and critical life-changing means was

spectacularly prominent in the family of Liang.

The significant and critical influences of the conflicting reforms applied on the Chinese people had resulted in diminutive satisfaction and stability on a person’s self-political development (Gittings 2005).As a summary, the book is all about the life of Liang Heng during the period of the Cultural Revolution and the effects it brought to his life and to his family. The main protagonists on the book are Liang Heng, his father Liang Shan, and Mao Zedong. On a Global perspective, the book reflects how an individual’s thought can be very influential to the point having the capabilities of changing one’s life. This can be clearly depicted on the effects the Cultural Revolution has brought to Heng, and to his family, his apparent passion on Chairman Mao, as well as his father’s admiration to the party.