Mao's Last Dancer Flashcards
What are generic features of autobiographies subject matter?
- main focuses often on childhood & teenage experiences
- describes family, relatives, friends, home, schooldays, memorable occasions, personal highlights and lowlights
- can give a child’s eye view of important political or social changes
What are common language features in autobiographies
- Proper nouns are frequently used
- many words refer to family, friends & relationships
- heavy use of ‘action’ verbs to tell of things that have happened to the author
- local dialect used at times to create authentic cultural context
What is Li’s motivation?
- help family
- desire to improve his material situation
- frog in the well. He didn’t want to be the frog
- Baryshnikov
- make his family proud
- desire to prove himself to his teachers
In what ways does Li show perseverance?
- practising at night by candle light
- continuing to practise after severe injuries
- striving for perfection
- ‘walking without talking’ scene
- not screaming when being tested
In what ways does Li show inner strength?
- he gets it from the archer fable and from thinking of his mother
- teacher Xiao says ‘Now I understand where you get that inner strength from. It’s the strength of your parents’
- he always preserves
Where does Li get his confidence from?
- Li’s teacher taught him the importance of believing in himself and accepting his ability
- when the teacher asked him to be the lead in a performance his confidence was boosted
What is foregrounding?
When a writer emphasises certain people or events in their life. Eg, Li pays a lot of attention to the food he gets at the dance academy. It is a narrative technique
What are scenes and summaries?
A narrative technique, where time seems to have been adjusted, by summarising some things, and having whole informative scenes for others. For example, his second year was just briefly touched on, but the time he took the bird from the roof was a whole scene
What are generic features of autobiographies?
- They are often book length
- usually organised into chronological order
- generally made up of separate episodes
What are motifs?
A repeated reference to an image, idea or symbol, which develops or explains a theme. For example, the frog in the well story is a motif, that is used and referred to a lot. It is a literary device
What is an anecdote?
A short story, to entertain or inform, for example, when Li steals the toy car. It is a narrative device
Why does Li include background social and political information in Mao’s Last Dancer?
So we can understand or gain a broader/different perspective. It also puts anecdotes into context and helps us understand his family’s situation
What is the difference between an autobiography, a biography and a memoir?
An autobiography and a memoir a written by the person it is about, and autobiographies and biographies are written over a life span, not just one aspect of a life
