Commune Leaders and Mortality during the Great Leap Forward
The novel, Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See, takes place in China during the Great Leap Forward, and describes the famine that took place as a result. In the article, Agency and Famine in China’s Sichuan Province, 1958-1962, Chris Bramall analyzes factors that may have caused the varying death rate in communes, and found “differences in local cadre responses to central government policy were decisive in determining the scale of famine.” (Bramall 990). When compared, See’s novel and Bramall’s article reveal that the commune leaders could have spared a number of lives during this time. While See’s novel follows two characters, Joy and her mother, Pearl, Joy’s time spent in the Green Dragon …show more content…
While weather did have a major effect on the production of crops, which were doomed anyways by the demands of the Great Leap Forward, there were other factors at play as well that may account for varying death tolls. For instance, “Where cadres meekly accepted high procurement quotas, cuts in sown area and orders to invest heavily in industry, mortality soared.” (Bramall 1004). See’s novel is a great example to support Bramall’s statement, because Brigade Leader Lai ran the commune dry trying to execute every order given to him by his higher ups. “Brigade Leader Lai snaps. ‘Our great Chairman says he wants wheat. Wheat we will give him.’” (See 197). By being so overzealous to meet quotas the party set, Lai is setting the commune up for failure, and a higher death toll. In Guan county of Sichuan, the cadres were known to be less ardent when it came to the Party’s expectations, and as a result Guan had a lower death toll than the provincial average. Perhaps if Lai had not been so strict, and kept in mind how everyone would be affected, Green Dragon Village would not have suffered so horribly (Bramall
The novel, Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See, takes place in China during the Great Leap Forward, and describes the famine that took place as a result. In the article, Agency and Famine in China’s Sichuan Province, 1958-1962, Chris Bramall analyzes factors that may have caused the varying death rate in communes, and found “differences in local cadre responses to central government policy were decisive in determining the scale of famine.” (Bramall 990). When compared, See’s novel and Bramall’s article reveal that the commune leaders could have spared a number of lives during this time. While See’s novel follows two characters, Joy and her mother, Pearl, Joy’s time spent in the Green Dragon …show more content…
While weather did have a major effect on the production of crops, which were doomed anyways by the demands of the Great Leap Forward, there were other factors at play as well that may account for varying death tolls. For instance, “Where cadres meekly accepted high procurement quotas, cuts in sown area and orders to invest heavily in industry, mortality soared.” (Bramall 1004). See’s novel is a great example to support Bramall’s statement, because Brigade Leader Lai ran the commune dry trying to execute every order given to him by his higher ups. “Brigade Leader Lai snaps. ‘Our great Chairman says he wants wheat. Wheat we will give him.’” (See 197). By being so overzealous to meet quotas the party set, Lai is setting the commune up for failure, and a higher death toll. In Guan county of Sichuan, the cadres were known to be less ardent when it came to the Party’s expectations, and as a result Guan had a lower death toll than the provincial average. Perhaps if Lai had not been so strict, and kept in mind how everyone would be affected, Green Dragon Village would not have suffered so horribly (Bramall