Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Characters

Luo decides to undertake the project of educating the Little Seamstress by reading books by western authors to her in hopes that she will learn from the characters in the stories and try to adopt their civilized ways. The Little seamstress forms a connection with the books almost instantaneously from her first exposure to Western Literature. According to Luo, “after I had read the passage from Balzac to her word for word...she took your coat and reread the whole thing, in silence. When she’d finished reading, she sat there quite still, open-mouthed. Your coat was resting on the flat of her hands, the way a sacred object lies in the palms of the pious” (Sijie 62). The is astounded by the wise words of Balzac and it is and eye opening experience for her. Through Sieves diction in this passage, the word “pious” also indicated that reading books is also a sacred or spiritual experience for the Little Seamstress. This moment is one of the most significant in the whole text, because it makes the beginning of the Seamstress's Transformation, by showing the great effect that literature has on her. From the Little Seamstress’

Stories give people new ideas and experiences along with lessons that they are unable to realize in their own lives. The narrator feels as though he is in the land of Balzac’s Ursule Mirouёt even though he has never before seen France. He is so fascinated with the story that he does not put the book down until he has finished the last page (Sijie 57). This allows him to experience life in an entirely different manner from which he is accustomed. From these stories, the boys gain insights into thoughts and emotions that are completely foreign to them. While Luo visits the Little Seamstress telling her of the stories he as read, the narrator feels one of these unfamiliar emotions. He states, “Suddenly I felt a stab of jealousy, a bitter wrenching emotion I had never felt before” (58). Although jealousy is not usually seen as a good feature and while this emotional awakening may seem like a negative effect of storytelling to some readers, it is actually an amazing accomplishment. Stories provide their readers with a new perception of life. They are able to feel what they have never felt, to see what they have never seen, and to be what they have never been. While these experiences may not be the most enjoyable, all experiences leave people with a more extensive idea of what life really is.

In the novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, it can be observed that through another character’s perspective as well as their own, Luo and the Seamstress’ relationship is less than ideal and what once may have been a whimsical experience would soon fall from its glorious state.

Lou lost the Little Seamstress to individualism and her wanting to have free will. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress suggests that we as people evolve in our lives. We learn thing about ourselves and change our perspectives based off of our experiences. One of the major themes in this novel is that you cannot dominate people completely and try to force people to do things then you are in the place of power. The human imagination cannot be restricted and put into a box called communism. The Little Seamstress realized that Luo was trying to control her like the government authorities of China was trying to do to their people towards the end of the book when she says told Luo that “she had learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price” (184). People are going to want to live as individuals freely and find a way to escape the rules. The topic of not being able to fully dominate and control people is a topic that is still relevant to today’s

In the 20th century, the world saw the rise of many new political regimes that would redefine how the people of the world were governed. New political structures such as communism and Fascism took control in countries such as the USSR and Germany. Ultimately, all of these governments failed by the dawn of the 21st century, but the legacies they left behind have not been forgotten. China is one of these countries, and installed a communist government led by Mao in the mid 20th century. As part of their new regime, China instituted a process of re-education, where citizens would be educated in the ways of communist principles. The book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress details two young Chinese men, the narrator and his friend Luo,

As the lost boys continue through there long hike through deserts and jungles they tell themselves that they will survive and by the end, their spirits are as high as ever. There he kept their minds off the horrors going on around them like their friends starving or them themselves starving. When their village was being attacked our main character never gave up hope that him and his family could be reunited and would be together in a good home again. He never did find his family ut his hope that he would find them kept him

China is and always will be a land seen as mysterious to those with roots in Western culture. And in its own way, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is what can happen when Western and Far Eastern culture interact. Outside of the cultural revolution, headed by Mao Zedong, which makes the whole novel possible, and was a push back against Western involvement in China, the novel includes many other ideas of cultural interaction. However, it also prominently provides complex emotions and changes within the characters who are followed throughout the novel. In fact, one passage in particular reveals much character change and development in the narrator of the story (who will simply be known as narrator for the entirety of this essay), and it occurs on the pages of 166 to 169. The passage is a daydream of the narrator’s after having taken a beating by a band of hooligans and potential suitors of the Little Seamstress. In it, readers can see the narrator develop to the same sort of manhood as Luo: the satisfaction of changing something and reaching independence. However, after reaching this stage, he also realizes the drawbacks to having done so, causing him to feel remorse for his actions. This is achieved by the narrator’s expression of hidden desires he developed over time and what lustful feelings and desperation accompany them.

Love. Adventure. Lust. Individuality. Liberty. Influence. Freedom. These are the things that give people the will and desire to live, and most of us cannot imagine a world or life without them. But what if these aspirations were taken away overnight? In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie (戴思杰) illustrates these turn of events with a significant focus on three characters: Luo, the narrator, and the Little Chinese Seamstress. The story takes place during the Cultural Revolution in Maoist China when young intellectuals from the city were forced to be re-educated in the peasant environments. The narrator and Luo are among these people. They are relocated to the mountainous countryside and re-educated by the peasants there. Even though they are stripped away from all outside influences, they experience bits of freedom by reading forbidden foreign books in a suitcase. In addition, they share their findings among those in the countryside, especially with the Little Chinese Seamstress, an ordinary peasant girl as a result of her romance with Luo. Thus, their eyes are opened to new ideas, and their lives are changed with new understandings and perceptions. In his novel, Dai demonstrates the importance of intellectual liberty through the influence of outside cultures and the development of the characters.

“When I finished the book Luo had not yet returned, there was no doubt that he had gone to visit the Little Seamstress so he could tell her this wonderful tale of Balzac’s. In my mind’s eye I could see Luo telling her the story and the Little Seamstress listening vigorously open - mouthed. As I was thinking about her I felt a sudden stab of jealousy, a bitter emotion I had never felt before and my desire to be with the Little Seamstress grew stronger. Later that day, Luo came back with leaves of a gingko tree. “We made love there, against the trunk”; those words made me feel somewhat sick in the heart, I didn’t even know that was possible. I strained to imagine it but words failed me... Why does Luo always get everything? He even said himself

Storytelling can be found in every corner of the world. It is used to pass the time, tell of past or current events, and is the way that we communicate with each other. In Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, storytelling occurs during times of hopelessness when life seems hard and allows the characters to live vicariously through the tales told. The narrator and Luo use storytelling as an escape from reality in times of desperation. The tailor is influenced by the stories to the point where he changes the style of clothing he creates to escape the boundaries of Mao approved clothing. The importance of storytelling to the little seamstress is that she learns the importance of beauty, and is able to leave the current life

Storytelling can be found in every corner of the world. It is used to pass the time, tell of past or current events, and is the way that we communicate with each other. In Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, storytelling occurs during times of hopelessness when life seems hard and allows the characters to live vicariously through the tales told. The narrator and Luo use storytelling as an escape from reality in times of desperation. The tailor is influenced by the stories to the point where he changes the style of clothing he creates to escape the boundaries of Mao approved clothing. The importance of storytelling to the little seamstress is that she learns the importance of beauty, and is able to leave the current life

In the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress written by Dai Sijie, the interaction between Luo, the Narrator, and the headman reveals the purpose of re-education and its cultural values that shaped Chinese culture and shows the impact that it left on characters such as Luo and The Narrator. Not only does the Chinese government encourage re-education, but through this, it discourages individuality and showing your intellectual abilities.

Love can immensely impact a person so much, entirely changing their character. In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, the theme of love blossoms throughout the story. In the novel, two teenage boys are sent to be re-educated during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Lou, an exceptional storyteller and the unnamed narrator, a talented musician, meet “the region’s reigning beauty”: the Little Seamstress. Both fall in love with the illiterate girl, however Lou has won the Seamstress’ heart. Through the Seamstress’ relationship with Luo, she has revealed a deep fascination for the outside world, developing characteristics such as being curious and outgoing.

People are the sum of their different traits, but too often, we tend to define each other by one specific quality. Dai Sijie’s 2001 publication Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress demonstrates this in the form of two young men and how they consider their female companion. The Narrator and his friend Luo are being reeducated in a village in Communist China. Along the way, they both become captivated by the tailor’s daughter, the Seamstress. However, they only see her for her physical beauty, and for her potential to become “civilized”. By the novel’s end, the boys are forced to reassess their narrow views and come to recognize the Seamstress as her own multifaceted person.

Luo finds himself caught between attractions of The Seamstress and feelings of superiority towards her. In the novel, Balzac and The Little Seamstress, written by Dai Sijie, one of the main character’s, Luo, finds himself evaluating the same lack of awareness. Throughout the novel, Luo often treats the Seamstress as if she is not something of importance, resulting him to act as a more superior figure than her.