colors of the mountain
In Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen, Da is greatly affected by the environment that surrounds him, his grandfather, and the communist government that ruled his country, China. Throughout the seventies communism was in power in China. The communist government desired complete control over its people. People were not allowed to have a higher education than their communist leaders. Anyone who did become wiser than the communist leader would have been punished by the leader. When a person of the town spoke harshly against the government, its leaders would punish that person. Some forms of punishment included jail time or public embarrassment. There was a boy named Yu Xuang, who was assumed to have made bad counterrevolutionary remarks against the government. While on the school platform in front of his classmates Yu confessed. He was condemned to sweep the dirty streets of Yellow Stone and was sent to labor camp. Another young boy, Shi He, was caught listening to a banned love song. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Communists also strongly frowned upon landlords and their families. Descendants of the landlord were also highly scrutinized, which Da was. Da because of his status, was despised by his militant teacher, La Shan. Da was often precluded from participating in school activities that previous teachers had allowed. A meeting was held where La Shan and students discussed what to do about landlord families, and about what politics would be off limits to Da.