"Mr. China's Son" -review

Essay by cryosamuraiCollege, Undergraduate January 2009

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Mr. China's Son by He Liyi was an outstanding autobiography written in perfect English. The life of Mr. He was extraordinary and really displayed the details of China during the 1930's through the 1990's. A difficult time to live in, proves to be an enlightening story for the world to read when written by such a capable author.

Mr. He had a limited amount of control over his own life. The government was very influential during He's life and had tight control over people nationwide. In an economy that stresses communist characteristics, it is difficult to make a life of your own because you and everyone else are required to work together for one collective benefit. This takes away from individuality. Jobs in the revolutionary period were not at a liberty to be chosen by the people, instead they were handed out and people were assigned work units. Mr.

He was at the mercy of what the government gave him. He wanted to become a teacher of English and was very lucky to even attend college; however, his destiny was delayed for most of his entire life because of governmental restrictions and lack of personal control. He was thrown into labor thought reform camps by the government, he was struggled against multiple times, and illegitimately bullied by the village heads. All these things are examples of the lack of control over Mr. He's own destiny and life. The only control he did have was to make very small changes to his everyday conduct to tweak or alter and make the best of the situations that were given to him. The oppression he experienced lasted until the country became more liberated in the post-Mao era. The overall extent of Mr. He's control was not much more than that of a...