Sexism In The 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.

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

Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)

In the Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress book by Dai Sijie, the passage that stood out most was The Old Miller’s Story. This is a story told by the old Miller and when he passed a waterfall on his way to cut firewood and noticed Luo and the Seamstress having sexual interactions but decided to stay and hide while watching it all happen. When reading this scene, it was evident that it displayed the feeling that as a character the old Miller is very curious and zealous about the physical attraction between Luo and the Seamstress. However, as the Miller analyzes the physical attraction between the two of them, it reveals that he is in shame and regret with his own body which has decayed with age.

In the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, the two main characters Luo and the unnamed narrator are sent for reeducation in the Countryside of China in the 1970’s for crimes of their parents. The main characters encounter a village girl known as the Little Seamstress along their travels in the Phoenix Mountain Area and Luo and the Little Seamstress pursue an interesting relationship throughout the course of the book. From pages 149-151, the portrayal of the relationship between Luo and The Little Seamstress through Luo’s perspective reveals his condescending nature towards her and his idolization of her physical features while overlooking the majority of her personality.

As the story opens up, Silko makes it a point for the reader to realize the

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.

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.

The Seamstress has started to be interested in novels that Luo read for her and shows how she develops through the new knowledge she acquired. Luo believed that he could “transform” the “little mountain girl” by reading different kinds of novels. The evidence of this transform begins with the change of her attitude towards education. At the beginning of the novel, the seamstress wasn’t really attentive towards education. Yet, when Luo started to read her books, hoping to “make her more refined and cultured”, he shares the magic of literature with the Seamstress. She starts to yearn for more knowledge. Her approach towards books also changes drastically, which is shown in the part where after listening to Luo reading the book, and “the coat was resting on the flat of her hands, the way a sacred object lies in the palms of the pious.” This quote highlights the passion of the seamstress towards the words written on the coat. The coat is a symbol of education, and it is portrayed as a divine which shows that she is appreciating literature so much it resembles a devotee. This strongly highlights the power of literature and how it could change one’s

Some people say that sexism no longer exists in the workplace, yet only "19%" of women are in a presidential or chief position at work(Bomey ). Women are less likely to be hired for a job despite having all the qualifications, women earn less than men, and women are continuously harassed in the workplace. Despite the fact that women are capable to "perform with the same skill and success" as men, the issue of gender discrimination still continues to rise( ). In society, sometimes it can be difficult to recognize issues of sexism not only at work but in life. With the failure to realize gender discrimination and harassment in the world, educating people on the issue of sexism can make the workplace a success.

In the novel ‘Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress’ Dai Sijie uses key moments in the novel, such as the seamstress’ departure, her transformation, and Four-eyes’ and the two boys’ change of attitude to display the significance including the importance of literature. At the end of the novel, the seamstress decides that she has outgrown both Luo and the Narrator and decides to leave. The line “She said she had learnt one thing from Balac: that a womans beauty is a treasure beyond price” adresses how the two boys were not to tie her down anymore. Throughout the novel, the boys are constantly trying to ‘re-educate’ the seamstress with western literature, in hopes that she will reach their ‘level’ of intelect.

Sexism in the Workplace The workplace is the area in which sexism is most commonly found. Sexism is in evidence in unfair recruitment practices, unequal pay, and intimidating behavior towards colleagues. Legislation is now in place in many countries that prohibits unfair treatment of staff on the grounds of their sex. The problem with this legislation is that they are often difficult to apply.

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

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