Analysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress 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. The practice of re-education is a big part of the traditional society. The purpose of re-education is to take those who are intellectually gifted and teach them how to farm and do tasks that dont require having any sort of intelligence.this makes†¦show more content†¦That immediate response to cover up the truth is a prime example of how their culture brainwashes them and distorts their point of view along with their way of life. In the second half of the passage, re-education is broken down and explained. There is a huge reflec tion on cultural values and Mao Zedong (their leader) as to why his decision to do this was put in place. This reveals a deeper truth about the culture because it shows that being intelligent or any sort of smart is frowned upon. And there must be underlying feelings of fear of what could happen if a citizen were to outsmart the government. The whole time of this passage is very intense. The people of this time felt that they were being used as guinea pigs in a human experiment. However, they were not the first or the last. The Narrator stated that â€Å"Millions of young people had gone before us , and millions were to follow† this reveals a major theme of the novel, which is hostility. Everyone living in the era was aware of what was happening and felt ashamed to be themselves. Both the Narrator and Luo had very intelligent parents who were put in harsh positions and one of them was even tortured. This passage is a great introduction to this book because it lays the found ation for the whole novel. It shows what their society values and the characteristics of each character that plays an importantShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress845 Words   |  4 Pagesbut 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 â€Å"civilized†. ByRead MoreCritical Analysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress1606 Words   |  7 PagesCritical Analysis of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress During the period right before the Cultural Revolution began the country of China was in the middle of a peasant revolt. There had been many things plaguing the country, especially an economic crisis. According to Singh (1968), this was a very important moment in the country’s history, because in such a short time frame the revolution brought created tremendous changes in the political, social and cultural life of the Chinese people.Read MoreBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Analysis1061 Words   |  5 Pagesmore valuable to the people than the nationalist regime. However, in the novel, this concept is as prominent as it can possibly be in the little seamstress. Although she is not necessarily the main character, her actions and transformation reflect the power of ideas more than any other character in the book, hence giving it the name Balzac and the Little Seamstress. Through her actions, she tells the reader that it was thought that provokes such drastic change. The government was not foolish enoughRead MoreAnalysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Essay1447 Words   |  6 PagesIn Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, written by Dai Sijie, Luo, his best friend the narrator, and the titular Little Seamstress acquire a briefcase full of books. These Western Romantic books, previously denied to the main characters by the Cultural Revolution, allow the main characters to gain something that they had previously been denied: education. As he reads these books, his language moves from the sparse way of speaking to the thoroughly Romantic language it becomes at the book’s apexRead MoreAnalysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress By Dai Sijie1381 Words   |  6 Pages Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is about two teen boys being sent out to rural China for reeducation. Set on Phoenix Mountain, the novel introduces us to the local beauty, the Little Seamstress, who quickly becomes the girlfriend of the narrator’s best friend. The Little Seamstress, for much of the novel, was a static character. She was a project that Luo, the narrator’s best friend, was bent on completing. However, towards the end of the novel, the princess of Phoenix Mountain