What are the motifs in Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang?

Confusion is a recurring theme in the book. The years of the Cultural Revolution are years of chaos in which the traditional rules and customs of the society break down. The cause of this is a power struggle at the upper levels of the Communist Party, but the people did not know this until years later. People are indoctrinated at work and children are indoctrinated at school. They try to conform to the Party doctrine but they do not always know what it is and how to conform to it. The children are more susceptible to the indoctrination than the adults are and it is a very confusing time for them as evidenced by the confusion of Ji.li.