Summary Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress

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 second section of this passage, the author uses a horrific imagery and tone, as well as a fearful diction to show the narrator’s impending sense of dread as he comes to realize that his repressed hate is rearing its head. When headman is put into the vulnerable position of the operation, the tone of the piece darkens and creates foreboding and menace. When the drill is in the patient’s mouth, the narrator describes the noise made as “dreadful gurgling” (Sijie 143) and uses words such as “juddered” (Sijie 143) and “trembled” (Sijie 143) in describing the movement of the headman. This dark tone foreshadows the emergence of the narrator’s sadistic

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,

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.

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.

The tailor finds another way to escape the controlling grip of Mao. On his customary tour of the villages before the New Year, the tailor decides to stay with Luo and the narrator while working in their village. The two are baffled upon the

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.

She considers that “some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil.” (Kingston 6). Kingston writes her initial version of the “No Name Woman,” who was raped, raided, and died an outcast, but Kingston determines that this telling does not fit her understanding of China. Therefore, Kingston entertains another hypothetical, that her aunt took a lover and saved him from shame by giving “silent birth” and not revealing the lover’s identity (Kingston 11). Here, Kingston critically examines the inherited talk-story of her mother to determine the meaning she should obtain from the death of her aunt. Her mother’s conclusion is that she must not become pregnant, but Kingston is uncertain about the simplicity of her mother’s story. In the “No Name Woman,” Kingston introduces the fictitious memoir structure that she utilizes through the variety of interpretations of her aunt’s story. Consistently through the memoir, Kingston writes contrasting accounts of the same stories and imagines the stories of others to further her themes about silence, authenticity, and identity formation.

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.

Lu Xun’s New Year’s Sacrifice (1924) begins with the narrator returning to their hometown for New Year after several years. The narrator can be said to symbolise the dilemma of an intellectual hoping for social reform but feeling helpless when it comes to helping women. The female protagonist is Mrs Xianglin who lives under three oppressive powers: that of the husband, of the father, and of religion. From the outset of the story, we are presented with a very traditional setting; we are introduced to Uncle Lu who is described as a “diehard Neo-Confucian of the old imperial college” and “a man ruled by superstition”. The narrator then goes on to describe the preparation for the New Year’s Sacrifice with the women as the workers “Hens are slaughtered // everything scrubbed and scoured until the women’s arms are soaked red”, however Lu Xun tactfully adds that although the women are the main labourers, they are excluded from ceremony, “Once devotions – from which women are banned – have been made, the firecrackers are lit.” This shows the reader that women appear to be the backbone of the household however are held in much less regard than their male counterpart. When Mrs Xianglin is introduced as a young widow, although however capable she may be, Uncle Lu is unconvinced in hiring her as she is a widow and may bring bad luck to the household; “Uncle frowned; my Aunt knew what was worrying him – the fact that she was a widow”.