Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress - 764 Words

Courtney Dunn Mrs. Besnard World Literature 02 November 2015 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress In 1971 the Chinese Cultural Revolution has begun to take off. In this story the protagonist, an unnamed a fine musician, and his storytelling best friend luo, are sent away from Chengdu to a secluded mountain village to be re-educated. After arriving to the Phoenix of the Sky, the Headman of the village wants to burn the protagonist’s violin. Luckily, Luo saves the violin by encouraging the musician to play a Mozart Sonata, â€Å" Thinking of Chairman Mao†. The Audience finds out that the narrator s parents are doctors and Luo’s father is a dentist when he recalls a time of Lou’s father being publicly humiliated. As for the two boys, they work at a local coal mine just near the mountain village. Thankfully, Luos skill for storytelling catches the headman s attention. As a result the boys are sent to a nearby town of Yong Jing so they can retell the movies they watch there to the villagers. Soon after, the two boys meet the Little Seamstress, the daughter of a tailor in village not to far from theirs. They are both captivated by the Little Seamstress’s beauty and talents. At first, luo is interested, but later explains how she’s not civilized enough. After working in the coal mine for quite some time, luo comes down with a case of malaria. Luo tries to overcome his unknown illness to make plans to see a cinema show with the narrator and the Little Seamstress. Soon after theShow 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 More The Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Essay1249 Words   |  5 PagesBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a marvelous novel, written by Dai Sijie, which himself was re-educated between 1971 and 1974 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. In Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Seamstress three separate accounts are given of an incident in which Luo and the Little Seamstress make love in an isolated mountain pool. Two of these perspectives are given by the participants while the third is provided by the old miller who observes their love making from a distanceRead MoreBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress 4 Essay1323 Words   |  6 PagesIn 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 storyte lling to the little seamstress isRead MoreEssay Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie1315 Words   |  6 PagesIn 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 isRead MoreEssay on Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie1293 Words   |  6 PagesBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie 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 storytellingRead 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 MountainRead MoreDeath and the King’s Horseman, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, and The Storyteller all1200 Words   |  5 PagesDeath and the King’s Horseman, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, and The Storyteller all have multiple messages that can be obtained through reading these novels. Due to the great number messages that can be obtained throughout the readings, the authors have a lot of different, but also a lot of similar messages within the books as well. When reading these novels, the authors display a great deal of personal growth and change, a great empathy and compassion for others, and also a great imageRead MoreBalzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress2226 Words   |  9 PagesKhalil Mack 16 July 2014 Summer Reading Assignment Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Setting the Stage Genre: After reading the novel, I realized that the genres of the book are historical and it is an autobiography. Author: The author of the novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is Dai Sijie. Dai Sijie was born in Putian, China in 1954. He spent most of his childhood working in his father’s shop. At age 30, Dai received a scholarship to study Western art and cinema in France.Read MoreAnalysis Of Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress710 Words   |  3 PagesBalzac 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. Read MoreCharacterization In Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress1788 Words   |  8 Pageshardly recognize the main character who transformed so much from the starting character. In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai’s characters exhibit considerable character development due to the banned books they acquire. The author depicts his thoughts on the way books affect peoples lives through the in depth perspective of the narrator, his best friend Luo, and the Little Chinese Seamstress. The characters are illustrated in the time of cultural revolution where there is great censorship