Analysis 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.

Of course not everybody in the world likes to talk about exactly what they are feeling or thinking all the time. There is a certain degree of things that generally are kept private. However, in the book The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, the main character (who doesn’t ever reveal his name to the audience, so is simply called the Narrator), comes off as an especially closed-off character-specifically in the beginning half of the story. He rarely ever speaks what he is actually thinking, which makes him a kind of difficult character to relate to. The Little Seamstress, a local beauty, has caught his eye-along with every other male in the village-, but he struggles with how to express his feelings because he is not used to doing so, and because his best friend (Luo) is dating her. On pages 161-163, Luo has left the village and asked the Narrator to keep an eye on the Little Seamstress while he is away. However, even though the Narrator keeps his word, he can’t help but feel attracted to her and an inner battle between what he wants and what is right begins. In this part of the story, the Narrator feels torn between his love and affection towards the Little Seamstress and his commitment/promise to Luo. Here, the Narrator finally portrays to what extent he feels towards her, but does so very subtly (which is fitting seeing as that’s who he is a character: altogether reserved).

In communist, Mao-ruled China, children were ripped from their families to be “reeducated” to have individual intellect snuffed out and made to better fit the mold of the ideal communist. Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Seamstress tells the story of two boys subjected to this practice. A boy named Luo and an unnamed narrator who are put through the difficulties of being forced into another way of life. . In pages 142-144 the headman of the village the protagonists are staying in comes to arrest the narrator for telling forbidden western tales. To avoid this arrest the protagonists decided to help the headman with a tooth decay. While the narrator controls the speed of the makeshift drill, he starts to slow down the rotation speed to

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress tells the story of two boys being re-educated during the Cultural Revolution in China. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is inspired by the author, Daj Sijie's experience with being sent to a re-education camp in Rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974 due to him being born and raised into an educated family. The process and experience of China re-educating their citizens is called the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution lasted from 1966 to 1976. The Cultural Revolution started because Mao Zedong wanted to change China and reassert his control over the country and its government. Mao Zedong believed that the Communist leaders of China were taking the country in the wrong way. Luo and the Little

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.

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 Communist China during the Cultural Revolution, almost all literature, as well as anything related to the west was banned. In Dai Sijie’s book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Luo and the narrator, are sent off to the mountains to be re-educated because their parents are labeled enemies of the people. They have had almost no contact with literature, except for textbooks about industry and agriculture issued by the government. Miraculously, through another city youth sent away to be reeducated, the boys become exposed to Western literature, which greatly influences their actions. The literature they encounter gives them enjoyment and inspires them have new experiences, but these actions cause harm to them in the future.

These words show the deep comparison between the two worlds: inside and outside of her comfort zone or as she sees it: safe and dangerous. The repetition of “you” and “your” showcases that the Seamstress is trying to communicate to the reader. For example, “pierce your skin” is directly warning the reader of the dangerous, unknown world and that we should be cautious. Since, the Seamstress is so fearful of the outside world, she is fearful for the reader, too.

In the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, author Dai Sijie utilizes character experiences to reveal different important aspects of the characters and their personalities. One passage that exemplifies this is on pages 143-144. The headman of Luo and the Narrator’s village overhears the Narrator reciting stories to the tailor and gives them an ultimatum that if they don’t fix his tooth, then he will report the Narrator to the authorities. The passage picks up when the Narrator is taking over the job of running the sewing machine with a needle attached to act like a dental drill. The focus is on his range of emotions as he goes through the process. The experience of attempting to repair the headman’s tooth help the Narrator to realize his own frustrations with re-education revealing that it’s difficult for him to interpret his emotions.

Authors are often considered the voice of the people and through their words, stories can be remembered for years or even centuries. Some of them risk their lives so that the voices of millions of people can be heard hoping their literary work would inspire change and bring relief. They choose to record the atrocities and injustices happening before their eyes because they feel a moral obligation to capture every moment so that they are not forgotten by society.

In this novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, one of the main characters, Luo, is quite into the Seamstress. In this part of the story, each character, the Old Miller, Luo and the Narrator, are telling their points of view of when Luo and the Seamstress went to their little secret area. In Luo’s point of view, he explains what happened with the Seamstress. The relationship between the Seamstress and Luo reveals that Luo has a manipulative attitude.

In Dai Sijie’s 2001 novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the narrator is constantly evolving, and adapting to his new life. The passage being looked at here details one of his final ‘major’ changes. The narrator, Luo, and the tailor have teamed up in effort to help the Headman with a bad tooth that has been bothering him. Throughout this passage, as previously mentioned, the narrator undergoes a change. What makes it notable, however, is that it’s not necessarily a change that he’s very fond of. Regardless, he does little—nothing, actually—to stop it.

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