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Chapter 12: My Own Voice
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mao’s Last Dancer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Opportunity, Hard Work, and Success
Love and Family
The Power of Stories
Freedom vs. Repression
Summary
Analysis
In the spring of 1974, when Cunxin is 13 years old, the dance academy is invited to hear Chairman Mao speak at Tiananmen Square. Cunxin feels lucky to have been born into Mao’s China, but he also feels unworthy of the honor. He barely sleeps the night before the rally, thanks to his excitement. Thousands of people throng the Square in a carefully organized display of unity and devotion. The crowd’s anticipation reaches fever pitch. Finally, Chairman Mao, Madame Mao, and the rest of the Gang of Four appear on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Cunxin weeps at being in the presence of Mao, who seems to him like a god.
Cunxin’s discomfort with the status quo in the country and his doubts about the Party grow slowly during his time at the academy, but he remains a child of Mao’s China, devoted to the Chairman himself. The fervor and excitement with which he—and everyone else in the square—greets Mao and Madame Mao suggests the power they have over the hearts of their people.
Themes
Soon afterward, the dance academy students visit one of Mao’s model farms, Pingu, on the outskirts of Beijing. The students each take a sapling and two buckets—plus a symbolic pocketful—of dirt as gifts. Cunxin imagines Pingu will be an agrarian paradise. It is not. Small green patches dot the dry, rocky, hills. There are more tourists than fruit trees. A local guide claims that it only looks barren like this in the fallow season, but Cunxin grew up in the countryside and knows poor dirt when he sees it. He doesn’t question Mao’s directive to create such model farms, but he does wonder if Mao ever sees them in action.
The visit to the model farm brings into focus several of the unspoken concerns that Cunxin has entertained about the Party. The attempt to force an unsuitable tract of land into agricultural production suggests the Party’s emphasis on conformity and obedience. It also highlights the Party’s arrogant assumption that it can force nature (not to mention people) to accommodate its demands no matter how unreasonable they may be. What’s more, it suggests that Mao isn’t as wise or perhaps benevolent as Party propaganda claims. Perhaps, Cunxin begins to think, blindly following Mao’s ideas won’t guarantee that society flourishes.
Themes
Later in Cunxin’s third year at the dance academy, the Communist Youth Party invites him to apply for membership. He feels flattered and lucky because only the most devoted students can join. Soon he stands underneath a red Chinese flag, his Red Book in hand, swearing his love for Chairman Mao and promising to bear all hardships and to place the Party’s needs above his own. Being in the Communist Youth Party gives Cunxin a life a sense of belonging and purpose. He cannot wait to participate in Party affairs, even as the political winds rapidly shift and change.
Despite the doubts Cunxin secretly entertains, his outward behavior conforms so well to Party expectations that he gains a coveted spot among the academy’s Red Guards. His vow to the Party highlights the degree to which it expects the right to control him and openly subordinates his life (and, by implication, his happiness, his desires, and his choices) to their whims and needs. Although Party membership brings social and political advantages, it costs Cunxin more of his already slim freedom.
Themes
Things at the academy change, too: Madame Mao’s ministers recruit new teachers, including Zhang Ce, former principal dancer of the Central Ballet, and his student, Zhang Shu. Zhang Shu takes an immediate liking to Cunxin. Soon afterward, Cunxin finds that someone has hidden a foreign ballet manual under his mattress. He finds it inspiring but knows that it’s dangerous because it’s not a Party-approved, Chinese publication. Zhang Shu and several other teachers have been rehabilitated after being accused of rightist views. The school’s new piano teacher is a rehabilitated rightist, too. When these people aren’t on their official duties, they do demeaning, physically demanding chores. One day, Cunxin earns censure from the Young Communists for helping a rehabilitated Russian ballet expert with a heavy cartful of dirt.
Hints about the political pasts of the dance academy teachers suggest how pervasive punishment for alleged counterrevolutionary crimes and beliefs has become during the Cultural Revolution. The book implies here that some people must be rehabilitated politically for Madame Mao’s initiatives to succeed. This in turn suggests either that there aren’t enough ideologically pure teachers to go around or that, when pressed, Madame Mao and other Party officials are willing to look past ideological purity if it suits their larger goals and plans.
Themes
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In the second half of the year, the Beijing Dance Academy recruits a few musicians, including a violinist named Liu Fengtian. Cunxin quickly befriends him. Under Teacher Xiao’s gentle instructions, Cunxin makes noticeable progress in ballet classes during his third year. And the better he does in ballet, the better he does in other classes, especially acrobatics. Still, this doesn’t stop him from panicking in the middle of a backflip at practice and crashing to the floor, knocking himself unconscious. The academy doctors send him to bed for a day. Then they tell him to get back to his normal routine despite his ongoing symptoms of neck pain. Eventually, the Chongs take him to see a traditional healer. She helps, but Cunxin never fully recovers.
As Cunxin builds a supportive community around himself, including the Bandit, the Chongs, and now Liu Fengtian, he begins to flourish in his dance and academic classes. This confirms the book’s view that human flourishing grows out of loving and supportive—rather than controlling and repressive—environments. Still, Teacher Xiao’s gentleness alone cannot change the school’s culture, as Cunxin’s injury demonstrates. When he’s doing well, the academy is happy to claim his successes for the Party. But when he struggles, he’s left to take care of himself.
Themes
Despite Cunxin’s improvements, Teacher Gao continues to berate him. One day when Cunxin can take it no more, he talks back. Teacher Gao kicks him out of class, telling him never to return. Cunxin rushes to Teacher Xiao and tells him the story. Xiao promises to support Cunxin but wants him to apologize to Gao. Teacher Xiao encourages Cunxin with this story: an imperial guard wanted to become an excellent archer. He begged a master to teach him. Although the master always said no, the guard asked daily, in wind and rain, for a whole year. Finally, the master accepted him. First, he made the guard carry heavy loads until the bow felt light in his hands. Then he made the guard test his eyesight on distant objects until he had perfect vision. And soon the guard became the best archer in the land.
The longer Cunxin remains at the academy—and the stronger his own dancing skills become—the more the lack of freedom and respect he feels from the teachers bothers him. He knows that he does better when he’s treated well, but Teacher Gao has little interest in supporting him as an individual and more interest in getting his students to conform to his expectations as quickly as possible. Once again, a story from Teacher Xiao gives Cunxin a frame to apply to his life. It reminds him that he’s been given an opportunity that he can take advantage of if he’s willing to work hard no matter what—the archer only succeeds because he keeps trying despite the teacher’s reticence.
Themes
As soon as the class period ends, Cunxin runs to Teacher Gao’s office, where he apologizes, explains what made him late to class, and politely asks the teacher to stop calling him names. He explains that he knows his form has been poor, but now that he has gotten over his homesickness, he is improving. He promises to work hard and do his best. Teacher Gao accepts his apology and agrees to stop calling him names. Afterward, Cunxin feels as light and free as a bird. This is the first time in his life he’s truly faced—and worked through—a problem on his own. He feels like he can do almost anything, even face the terrifying mid-year exams.
In confronting Teacher Gao and standing up for himself, Cunxin learns an important lesson about freedom. True freedom isn’t being able to do what you want: it’s the right and the responsibility to choose your own actions in any given situation. His material circumstances haven’t changed measurably, but his attitude has shifted in a crucial way. He no longer sees his success as the product of others’ expectations. Now, he sees it as the result of his own hard work. In other words, he holds himself accountable to his own expectations first, rather than those of his teachers, from this point on. And in doing so, he discovers the power—and the perseverance—to succeed.
Themes
After apologizing to Teacher Gao, Cunxin skips his afternoon nap and practices split jumps in one of the studios. It takes him hours of frustrating and painful work, but eventually, he teaches himself to perform the move perfectly. In the exam that afternoon, Teacher Gao looks on in disbelief as Cunxin easily completes a move that was so challenging for him just days before. Cunxin’s good performance in the exams boosts his confidence. With every boost, his dancing skills improve, thus bolstering his confidence even more. He earns a “good” in ballet and an “above average” in Beijing Opera Movement. It’s good, but not enough, and he sets his sights on becoming one of the academy’s top students.
Because Cunxin now understands that he’s more responsible to himself than to Teacher Gao’s expectations, he sets about improving his weak skills with fervor, determined to show that he has what it takes to make a great dancer. When he was dancing for others, he remained a lackluster student. But in dancing for himself, he claims the freedom to control his own destiny.
Themes
The autumn of Cunxin’s third year at the academy is marked by massive dust storms brought about by short-sighted Party policy. The students must wear face masks when they go outside. On his way home for the Chinese New Year holiday, he stops to visit Cunsang on his naval ship. Cunsang confesses that he’s grown tired of service. He longs to go home and marry his girlfriend. His superiors recommend that he apply for Party membership because it will make him eligible for promotions and benefits. But it will also mean he has to stay for more than the standard four years of service, so he’s decided not to do this.
Like Cuncia and Cunxin, Cunsang has an opportunity to escape the well of rural life and poverty in the village. Unlike his brothers, though, Cunsang has little appetite for worldly success. He sees the sacrifices necessary to succeed in the Party and decides that they aren’t worth it. Crucially, however, he returns home and marries out of his own volition—in direct contrast to Cunyuan. Cunxin doesn’t judge his brother for this decision, suggesting his willingness to embrace others’ freedom of choice.
Themes
At the end of the Chinese New Year holiday, Teacher Xiao pays a surprise visit to Cunxin’s family. He refuses to let Niang make him a special meal, choking down the family’s standard fare of dried yams and sorghum soup instead. Cunxin finds the situation funny, but he doesn’t dare laugh. Afterward, he shows Teacher Xiao around the village. Xiao encourages Cunxin to honor his family with hard work and effort. He says Cunxin has the physical capability—and the inner resilience—to become an excellent dancer. He reminds Cunxin about the archer in the story and encourages him to make his family proud by becoming the greatest dancer possible. Cunxin takes these words to heart, returning to the fable of the archer whenever he encounters difficulties and challenges.
Yet again, Teacher Xiao’s reaction to the Li family’s normal diet suggests that he, like many, many others, lives a much more comfortable life elsewhere. But, although he sees the family’s poor circumstances, he also sees the love and support they offer each other. His words of encouragement to Cunxin pick up on this observation, emphasizing the way that Cunxin’s success will positively impact his family. And as Cunxin turns toward the second half of his career at the academy, he draws on his family’s love, the resilience his challenging life has given him, and the inspiring stories Teacher Xiao, Dia, and others have told him to carry him through.
Themes
