Mao’s Last Dancer
Mao’s Last Dancer
Li had no way out of his tough times. He was born into a large broke family. Li lived in the Li Commune, a poor village near the city of Qingdao in the Shandon province. When Chinese officials visit his village in search of potential ballet dancers to attend the Beijing Dance Academy, Li is selected even though he is only eleven years old. At the dance academy, Li perfects his moves through sixteen-hour days of training, and eventually Li is one of the first students from the Academy to go to the United States. While in America, Li joins the Houston Ballet Company and then rushes to marry an American girl so he can remain in the United States. Li questions his ...
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of group. Throughout the book, Li uses motivation, perseverance and inner strength to survive his tough times, whether it be fighting off his loneliness at the dance academy or learning how to live and function on an empty stomach. But Li founds the ability to do this by the intangibles he learns from the different groups he is associated with. Li takes pride in his groups, responsibility to succeed for his group and the traditions of the group to become a success dancer. Throughout the book and life, Li is associated with his family, the Dance Company, and China. Li sense of belonging is wrapped in his association with a group.
One-way Li feels a sense of belonging is by having pride in the groups he is associated with. At the start of the book, Li talks about the tough times his family endured. He talks about how they only ate yams and how his father would try to give him and his brothers food. While his family had no money, no food, no clothes and a small house, Li does say, ...
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does Li take pride in the groups he is associated with, Li feels responsible to succeed for his group. Before Li leaves for Beijing dia says, “The Li Family has one more scholar today…don’t lose face for the Li Family. Make us proud. (82)” Li throughout the books feels the need to succeed but the members of the groups also feel that Li should succeed. This added pressure makes Li feel the need to do well. Moreover, when Li is at the Beijing Dance Company, Li becomes very homesick and wants to go back home but Li then says, “I fought my fear and growing loneliness. (130)” Li knows he has to succeed for his family. He knows his other brothers would die for an opportunity to not only live in ...
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Mao’s Last Dancer. (2011, April 28). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Maos-Last-Dancer/98573
"Mao’s Last Dancer." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 28 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Maos-Last-Dancer/98573>
"Mao’s Last Dancer." Essayworld.com. April 28, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Maos-Last-Dancer/98573.
"Mao’s Last Dancer." Essayworld.com. April 28, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Maos-Last-Dancer/98573.
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