With two completely different settings and backgrounds, most people wouldn’t associate the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie and the short story “A Walk to the Jetty” by Jamaica Kincaid. But one aspect of their way of writing ties there styles together, which is the way they use their minor characters. Dai Sijie and Jamaica Kincaid use minor characters to help develop the major characters by teaching them important life lessons. The authors use the minor characters such as Luo from Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and Annie’s parents, especially her mum, from “A Walk to the Jetty” to introduce new perspectives to the major characters which in turn changes the main characters’ attitudes and decisions.
In Balzac
…show more content…
He makes it very clear that without an improvement to the Little Seamstress’s countryside personality and level of knowledge, he would not be interested in her when he said “She’s not civilised, at least not enough for me!” (Sijie p.27). Ironically, Luo then goes on to have a serious mature relationship with the Little Seamstress despite no evident development to her civilization, but reconnects with his former claim when he realizes he can use the books from Four Eyes to educate the Little Seamstress. The book the narrator and Luo received from Four Eyes was written by a famous French author called Honore de Balzac, and the book was called Ursule Mirouet. Luo felt so touched by Balzac’s words and he felt like he had to share the teachings of Balzac to the Little Seamstress. Luo’s actions do seem selfish, but in contrast to that, from the short story “A Walk to the Jetty”, …show more content…
In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, there is obviously a change in personality and attitude of the Little Seamstress as she is an uneducated girl from the countryside and she learnt one thing from Balzac which completely changed her view of the way she lives compared to the way she deserves to live. Luo states “She said she learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price” (Sijie p.184). By the way that Luo treated her, and everyone treated her for her beauty, in addition to the one thing she learnt from Balzac, she gets this sense of arrogance that she believes her beauty alone can keep her alive and give her a much better life in the city than what she was living in the countryside, where she was never properly educated to a level where she could read or write. Again, although the two authors use similar techniques to create development in their main characters, the way and purpose they use minor character are completely different. Annie believed that her mum was a hypocrite and that she didn’t really love Annie, just because her mum said she could never live without Annie but she was keep trying to get Annie to go study abroad. This caused some confusion, but later on when Annie had to leave for England and she was
The shocked and flabbergasted diction of this section lends itself to a similar purpose. The surprise that the narrator shows when Luo initially begins the procedure is indicative to the fear within the protagonists and the absurdity of the situation as a whole. When the narrator says: “what the devil had got into him?” (Sijie 142) it shows the reader that the strangeness of the scene had not escaped the notice of those involved. The befuddled diction continues when the narrator says: “even today it confounds me” (Sijie 142) showing that the situation his oddness was not reduced with time. Overall, this section sets the scene for an intense and decisively odd situation.
In the second section of the passage, in the first two thirds of page 31, the narrator shows that he is understanding of the situation that he and Luo are in, despite the aforementioned conditions mentioned earlier. One instance of this can be found in the use of the selection of detail where it says: “Luo would often help me work my cargo to the top and out of the tunnel”. The reason why this is important is because it shows that Luo and the narrator were able to work together to get through the situation, despite the noticeably awful conditions they were in at the time. Instead of panicking, they understood how to get through the situation effectively and carried it out. Another example in this passage is when it says, “In olden times the Phoenix of the sky was famed for its copper mines”. Despite his personal experiences in the mine, the narrator’s mind does not wander to self pity and fear, and he instead is able to assess his situation and the reason for his existence in
Joining Luo on his journey to the Seamstress on a whim, the Narrator and him soon reach the precipice mentioned above. Here he begins his new attempt at launching away from Luo in a lust for freedom and autonomy. This path was no stroll through the woods, for
“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
Written by Dai Sijie, and published in English in 2001, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a contemporary piece with a classic story. The book is about a boy, known to us as “The Narrator,” and his friend Luo. It takes place in communist China. Luo is the son of a well known dentist, while the Narrator is the son of a lung specialist and a consultant in parasitic disease. Due to their parents’ education and status, the boys are sent to a mountain village to be re-educated. While there, the boys live in treacherous conditions and live life, similar to that of Sisyphus, but instead of a boulder, they carry sewage. The Narrator possesses the skill of playing the violin beautifully, while Luo was graced with a story telling ability. While being re-educated, they become acquaintances with The Little Seamstress, eventually becoming more. They begin to read her stories, which they steal, and begin to put their lives in danger. By then, it gets interesting. One major scene that showcases their actions is when Luo has to tend to his sick mother, pages 158 to 160, leaving the Narrator watching over the Little Seamstress. Within this passage, the Narrator’s usual tone drastically changes into a militaristic attitude which reveals that when he is put into a position of power, he conforms to the idea that he should be emotionless and straightforward, in order to hide his true desires.
In the book Balzac and the Little Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, A re-education process is taking place. Children are being sent away from home for extended periods of time to be re-educated to the government's standards. The main characters, Lou and the Narrator have been sent to live in a mountain village to complete this process. While they are there, they go and meet an old friend of theirs who has something they desire, books. In order to receive these books they decide to run an errand for their friend, Four Eyes. After running his errand, Four Eyes is granted his completion of his re-education process and his village is preparing a celebration for his completion of the process. In this passage, on pages 100-101, Four Eye’s ceremony has
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
Throughout his novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie illustrates the powerful influence that books have on their readers. Through his narrative, he establishes his stance on the controversial issue of whether or not storytelling is good. He combines countless events and feelings to create a novel that demonstrates the good of storytelling and the iniquity of book banning and burning. In the end, Sijie portrays storytelling as a means of good entertainment, enlightening experience and positive encouragement.
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
Through the Seamstress’ time with Luo at the lake, she expresses her individuality therefore building on her character. Repetition of “you’re” such as “I know what you’re getting at…” shows the Seamstress’ ability to be brave and stand up for herself. She is aware that others make judgements of her vulnerability due to her strong loyalty to Luo, however she addresses the reader through these pronouns to uphold herself, exhibiting vitality. Her confrontation with the reader shows confidence and strength, characteristics she didn’t have when being cooped up inside her house. Through the selection of detail, the Seamstress claims she isn’t like the “French girls Balzac talks about” and describes herself as a “mountain girl”. Here, the Seamstress is acknowledging that she is different and unique. She separates herself from other girls with the descriptive word “mountain”, applying that she is more adventurous, bold, and courageous than the “French” girls.
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’
The protagonist, Shinji, in The Sound of Waves can be contrasted to the protagonist, the narrator, in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Shinji found a girl, Hatsue, which he loved, and pursued to go after her even when it was forbidden by her father. On the other hand, the narrator loved the Little Seamstress, but didn’t go after her because his best friend, Luo, already had a growing relationship with her. Since Shinji was determined to win Hatsue’s heart, he went after her. This action of
In the beginning of the novel, Luo is performing as a high-caliber kind of individual towards his best friend, the Narrator. He is acting like he is superior over the Seamstress, saying things like, “She isn’t civilized, at least not enough for me” (29). Luo doesn’t believe that the Seamstress is that important of a figure, at least not considerable enough to be in his life at this point and time. All that he believes that she is to him is a little seamstress girl that he can read books to. Nothing more than that. The a Seamstress isn't as polite and courteous, as so he thinks. Despite his “uncivilized” feelings about her, he still reads books of reeducation to her and goes by her every chance he gets, which conveys that there is something there that he may be trying to hide, such as his underlying feelings for her. The Narrator noticed that Luo had been “following her every move”(29) and “taking his time to reply”(28). This specific action that Luo tried to hide wasn’t hidden enough for the Narrator to pick up on. Luo doesn’t want to admit that there may be some
I made this choice because I didn’t want to overlap any of the events described in the last chapter. - Chose to write it in the little seamstress’s perspective My understanding of the little seamstress over the course of writing the written task changed from thinking she still needed Luo and the people in her town, into believing and writing that she left because she needed something for herself, something that would put her talents to use and something that would make her become more independent. In the book, it is quite sexist, making the little seamstress the only girl in the story and making readers think like she is this innocent, weak, mountain girl who is unable to stand up for herself and make hard decisions. My written task proves that it takes incredible strength to walk away from the life that she had.
The Narrator is not free of such infractions, either. On page 162, when he is reading to the Seamstress in Luo’s stead, the Narrator says he is “merely a substitute reader” to her, but goes on to claim that “She even seemed to appreciate my way of reading... more than my predecessor’s”. He is reading too deeply into her opinion of him, and feels a sense of entitlement to her affections; he tricks himself into thinking she is more into him than she is her actual boyfriend. Later on, once he learns that the Seamstress is pregnant and seeking an abortion, he “summoned every means of persuasion to stop her from running to the sorceresses for a herbal remedy” (page 172). Describing her as “running” off on her own shows his own lack of trust in the Seamstress’s judgement, and reveals that he thinks she is irrational. On top of this, nearing the novel’s end at page 196, the Narrator is indignant that the Seamstress “had not thought to tell [him]” about her plans to run away to the city. His entitlement to her affections shines through once again, in that she didn’t even want to tell her actual boyfriend about her