Spider Eaters paper

PROMPT 1
There are many examples of tensions and conflicts between family ties and radical ideals propounded by the PRC state and especially in during the CR. Overall, do you think the experiences of the Mao era weakened or strengthened family bonds and identity?

PROMPT 2
Using Spider Eaters as your main source, discuss the role that family* played in the Mao era, particularly the Cultural Revolution. Historical comparison to earlier eras need not be your main focus (though it can be) but it should be at least an element of your paper. IN other words, it would be great if you can use some of the other readings in this course to some extent to inform your paper.

* I am being intentionally vague about “family” because I want you to construe it however you like; in other words, make it clear in your paper how you are defining/framing the concept of family. We have discussed a wide variety of frameworks for defining or analyzing the family. For instance:
• The family as an economic unit and thus as defining one’s social-political position;
• The family as a set of emotional ties and relationships distinguished by connections based on filial piety, affection, closeness, parent-child ties (or their lack);
• The family as an institution with key roles in choosing a life-partner, determining appropriate work/life roles, etc.
• The family as a key institution in a value system about appropriate roles for the sexes, gender identities, (proper and improper) sexual activity; etc.
• The family as an institution that has (or is imagined to have) an important relationship with the state—perhaps as a training ground for inculcating state values (as we saw was the ideal version of the family in the Confucian empire); perhaps as an obstacle to proper identification with the state or with a particular set of ideals.

PROMPT 3
Ba Jin complained that Confucianism was horribly repressive of the individual. Rae Yang seems to be making so similar claims in Spider Eaters? How did an radical movement for liberation end up with such an outcome?

PROMPT 4
Write about the complex and contradictory ideas about sexuality, gender roles, and gender inequality in Spider Eaters.