Chapter+22

Chapter 22 Nellie Shuford, Sonia Shah

Language style: In chapter 22 of Colors of the Mountain Da Chen’s language isn’t very artistic or. In this chapter, he writes with slang and obscenities. He primarily only speaks to his close friend Dia and his enemy, the Head, and so there is little opportunity to use poetic language. There was one simile that described how Dia looked with his new Mao army jacket, but that was also rooted in trying to make Dia look like an idiot.

Tone or mood: There are several moods in chapter 22, but the strongest mood or emotion of the chapter is determination. In this chapter, Da shows his determination to study hard and go to college, and he also shows his determination to get Dia to study harder.

Narrator’s point of view: As in the rest of the book, Da Chen writes in the first person and consistently gives an accurate account of his thoughts and emotions. There is never an instance where Da fails to accurately narrate his thoughts, emotions, and events throughout the memoir. Whether we can trust his account of events, however, is uncertain. We can’t tell if he is an honest narrator or not.

Symbols: There is quite a strong and ironic symbol in chapter 22. When Da enters his classroom to study, he finds a quite of Mao that says to study hard. On the arrival of Peking man, the students learn that when Mao said this, he meant his Little Red Book, not Chinese history and literature. It symbolizes the integral role that Mao continues to play in the lives of the Chinese even after his death.

Summary: In chapter 22 Dia tells Da that the word on the street is that Da's friends stole the money from the shoe factory that Siang's father owns. Da thought that his friends won the money by gambling, but everyone else in the town thinks they stole it. Da is worried that he will get framed for the money too.

Quotes: "My heart sank deeper. There was a scheme out there to frame and ruin Siang and his friends, and possibly me." (253) This quote shows that Da does not want to get into trouble. If he got into trouble he might not have as good of a possiblity of getting into college. And now his friends were running from the police and could get into serious trouble.

"No you don't, pal. Don't look for trouble." (254) This is what Dia says to Da. Dia knows that if Da tried to help his friends it would just get him into more trouble and that would hurt his chances of getting into college. Da wanted to do something about it because he knew that hte rumor wasn't true and he knew that his friends weren't theifs, and that they didn't steal the money.

Picture: I put a picture of money because in chapter 22 Da finds out the rumor is that his friends stole the money from Siang's dad's shoe store.